ACE Prime, Crowned Heads Ending Distribution Agreement

ACE Prime will soon be distributing its cigars on its own.

In dueling announcements, the two companies have each announced that Crowned Heads will no longer distribute ACE Prime products effective Nov. 1.

Based on the few public statements, the ending of this relationship is acrimonious. Late Thursday, Crowned Heads issued a press release saying that it had terminated the agreement with ACE Prime and indicated that it believed that ACE Prime would be issuing its own statement in the future. Luciano Meirelles, founder of ACE Prime, told halfwheel that he was the one who terminated the agreement. Regardless, both parties agree that Crowned Heads will continue to fulfill ACE Prime orders through the end of October. The distribution agreement—which saw Crowned Heads and its salesforce sell ACE Prime cigars—began in April 2020.

As for ACE Prime’s next distributor, Meirelles told halfwheel a larger announcement about the company—including its distribution and larger changes to its structure—will be made next week.

In addition to the distribution agreement, the two companies also have a manufacturing relationship that sees Tabacalera Pichardo—owned by Meirelles, Eradio Pichardo and Thiago Splitter—make cigars for Crowned Heads including lines like Juárez, Le Pâtissier, Mil Días and others.

As to what will happen to those cigars, Jon Huber—co-founder of Crowned Heads—said that Crowned Heads has “spent (the) last six months securing the futures for all brands. Will reveal more details and specifics in future press release(s).” He declined to comment on why the distribution agreement was ending.

For his part, Meirelles told halfwheel that he hopes to continue making cigars for Crowned Heads and Ozgener Family Cigars. He too declined to comment on why the agreement was ending but said that he wished Crowned Heads well.