Hearing from a few sources that Sam Leccia will be out at Oliva Cigar Co. Still waiting on official word from Oliva, but it sounds like the NUb and Cain brands will become part of the recently launched STUDIO TOBAC extension from Oliva. Also hearing reports that there will be some limited releases that will be launched under the STUDIO TOBAC brand. No word on where Sam might be going, but I would guess he’ll try to do his own projects.

Update: I should be clear, I am not sure if Leccia left or Leccia was asked to leave. I’m also unsure what would be the cause of either. Oliva’s recently announced STUDIO TOBAC will be launched shortly and I imagine that there will be some more answers.

Update II: CA has quotes from José Oliva: “It’s true that Sam will not be at the company beyond this year. I can confirm that he won’t be at the company beyond 2010. Because we’re still in a series of talks, we’re not really ready to release the details of this parting” I forgot to mention this earlier, NUb and Cain are both Oliva brands, so Leccia won’t be taking those with him. Given that the STUDIO TOBAC Twitter page and the quote above, Sam Leccia is done at Oliva.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.