After abruptly leaving his role as the primary shareholder and chairman of Compañia Hondureña de Tabacos in late January, Ramón Zapata is back in the premium cigar industry as he is launching a new distribution company in Spain called La Casa del Tabaco. Zapata has been at the 2015 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show this week and told halfwheel that he has been having conversations with several premium cigar companies who are looking to expand into the Spanish market and has already signed on several clients. He isn’t yet disclosing his client list, but said that an announcement would likely be made in September or October. He did say that he will only be working with premium cigar companies and will not be offering mass market products. A facility in Valencia, Spain has already been designed for tobacco storage, and the company is also offering custom cigar banding as well as professional assistance with events, tastings, marketing, media relations, point-of-sale monitoring and social network marketing. Neither Zapata nor his son Aitor, who is the company’s director of marketing, will be taking a salary from this new venture, as the profits from La Casa del Habano will be go to a fund called Tobacco ...
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