A.J. Fernández Cigars has acquired the Sosa Cigars brands.

Sosa has a variety of brands using its names including Sosa Classic, Sosa Super Selection, Macabi, Imperio Cubano and Santa Julia. These brands were sold and distributed by Antillian Cigar Corporation, which also distributed The Cigar Cork and Headlines brands.

News of the acquisition was first reported by Cigar Aficionado.

The brands were made at A. Fuente Cigars y Cia., where Juan Sosa has worked as a manager, as well as a small factory in Clearwater, Fla. In the U.S., they were sold by Arby Sosa. Previously the younger Sosa has told halfwheel he planned to leave the cigar industry before his 40th birthday, which happens next year.

According to a report, production of Sosa cigars at Fuente has stopped and the other factory will begin to shut down earlier. Production will move to Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua, in Estelí, Nicaragua.

The acquisition will give A.J. Fernández a host of predicate products, i.e. brands that meet the Feb. 15, 2007 grandfather date set by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Any cigar that was sold prior to Feb. 15, 2007 is grandfathered and as such, not subject to most of the upcoming regulation by FDA. A.J. Fernández didn’t begin selling its own cigars until 2010.

In addition to the brand, Sosa also operates a retail store both online and a physical location in Disney’s West Side in Clearwater, Fla.

Emails sent to both companies were not immediately returned.

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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.