Scandinavian Tobacco Group Purchasing Thompson

[litup]

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I tend to think of STG as a pipe tobacco company but this article makes it apparent that the focus is going to continue being on cigars. All the same, I'm glad to see that they are doing well enough to acquire and grow.

 

[sablebrush52]

Boy, the comments under the article don't sound happy. I guess that proves that cigar smokers are just as contrary as pipe smokers.

 

[cerfer]

Thompson's was a terrible company after the cigar boom. They only recently righted the ship, maybe since 2010 or so. Back in the day they had overpriced name brands and then really crappy re-banded/re-branded Victor Sinclair cigars (Iguana, Manolete, Tusker, etc., although I liked Tuskers a bit). Now, their prices are semi-competitive, their five pack special--when stacked--is one of the best values in primo cigars. But they were known for hounding their customers with calls, emails, and catalogs, so a lot of the backlash you see is from those of us who can't think of Thompson's as something other than an annoyance.

 

[litup]

I haven't purchased anything from Thompson's in years because the last time I bought a box of cigars from them they arrived in terrible condition. They were dry to the point of being unsmokable. And I'm basically a pipe smoker exclusively now so I don't have any desire to order from them.
It's a shame though. A company like STG with millions of dollars to spend . . . I know several people on this forum that are probably wondering why they couldn't have spent some of that on acquiring the Dunhill blends.

 

[lazar]

Wow. Cigars Int'l, Cigar.com, Pipes and Cigars, and now Thompson. Not to mention blends like Sasieni, Escudo, SWR, Erinmore, and by extension all the P&C/H&H blends, and all the pirated Cuban cigar brands, CAO, hell even White Owl! Is it time to start a rumor that that they're buying out McClelland yet?

 

[blendtobac]

I tend to think of STG as a pipe tobacco company

Actually, the cigar side of STG is a much larger part of their business since they own General Cigar and CI.
Russ

 

[mikethompson]

I read the title and thought, "well I guess I should learn Finnish now"

 

[papipeguy]

I had to laugh at some of the comments railing against the Danes when STG is a Swedish company.

We're lucky anyone is willing to invest in tobacco these days.

 

[saltedplug]

Sold a ton of pipe tobacco in 2011 to buy cigars. Didn't know very much about cigars and ended up buying ~16 Padron Anniversary for~$450.00. No sooner did I place the order they're calling me to sell me more stuff. Since, ran them down to those who would listen and never spent another dime for goods from them.

 

[danish]

I had to laugh at some of the comments railing against the Danes when STG is a Swedish company.

We're lucky anyone is willing to invest

Not that it matters much but STG is Danish and headquarters are in Denmark. Swedish Match was part of the group but no more, according to the STG homepage.

STG board

 

[jvnshr]

STG is a Swedish company

Really?

 

[metalheadycigarguy]

I've never bought anything from Thompson. When I was heavily into cigars they were always the highest priced online retailer, and never had any offerings/samplers that appealed to me. Plus I never heard anything good about their business. Maybe they're a different company now, but I'm content on purchasing cigars from Cigar's International and their Cigar Bid site.

 

[deathmetal]

We're lucky anyone is willing to invest in tobacco these days.

Flipping that around, we should do whatever we can to encourage people to invest in and enjoy tobacco.

 

[pappymac]

About 11 years ago I bought a box of cigars from Thompson that was banded with my company logo and with the logo stamped onto the top of the box. Wasn't expecting much, but the cigars were pretty good. Even had some clients asking if I had more I could give them.
Bought another box. They were crap. Burned uneven, dry and almost tasteless. In fact, tasteless would have been an improvement.
Never bought another thing from Thompson and I still throw their catalogs into the recycle bin when they come in.

 

[papipeguy]

I realized my mistake this morning. I need a scorecard to keep thingsss straight.

 

[lazar]

They're going to have to work pretty hard to distinguish Thompsons from their other online retail sites.

 

[mso489]

By coincidence, I happen to be smoking a Thompson house pipe, stamped "Thompson" and "Made In West Germany", gifted me by friends, a freehand with plateau brim, so Thompson was in the pipe business during the days of a divided Germany.

 

[deathmetal]

Feels like market concentration, not expansion, to me. How interesting.

 

[mso489]

Cigars are the revenue stream that gets the millions in the price tag. I wonder if STG has poked around Dunhill blenders and priced out that.

 

[plugugly]

I sometimes think that without Denmark European tobacco (caveat: there will always be an England) would be on the endangered species list.
Plugugly