Foundry Parts Ways with Brokers, Will be Sold by General’s Reps

There was once a plan for Foundry Cigar Co. to have a national network of brokers selling its cigars across the country. Yesterday, that plan was officially scrapped.

In a letter sent to retailers, Justin Andrews, Foundry’s sales manager, said that the relationship between CHIMP, Inc. and The Poehlers has ended and General Cigar Co’s reps will be handling sales going forward.

“Unfortunately, over the past 12 months we were unable to establish the nationwide network in the way we had envisioned, leading to this decision,” he wrote. One thing that was not mentioned in the letter was the performance of either brokerage in being a factor in the decision.

Beginning July 1, retailers who had worked with either of those brokers will be placing their Foundry orders through their General Cigar sales rep.

Going with brokers was a unique move for a company such as General, essentially turning over sales of one of its brands to outside reps while maintaining an established in-house sales team for the rest of its extensive portfolio. At the time of the announcement it was heralded as allowing Foundry to deliver “increased flexibility in tailoring programs to retailer needs and the ability to deepen the support of our brands on both the retailer and consumer level” by Michael Giannini, the former creative director of Foundry.

CHIMP, Inc. was announced as Foundry’s broker for the southeast region in March 2016, covering Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington D.C. The brokerage is headed by Taven Johnson and Stefan Mayer.

Tom, Ryan and Jason Poehler represented the Foundry brand in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arksanas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.