Beginning next month, there will be one fewer cigar factory in America.
Parodi Holdings, LLC—the parent of the Avanti and Parodi brands of small cigars—has announced that it will be shutting down its Dunmore, Pa. factory at the end of this month, marking an end to more than a century of making cigars in the U.S.
“The last two years have been difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic: it is getting harder and harder to hire skilled people, able to learn and manage production activities and to guarantee business sustainability in medium and long term,” said the company in a statement. “Furthermore, all costs have risen. Those reasons have been crucial in the decision.”
Parodi will source its cigars from Family Tobacco Traders, which is said to contract the manufacturing to La Aurora in the Dominican Republic. Parodi says the cigars will continue to be made with only American tobaccos, following the same process that it’s used since the company was founded.
According to The Morning Call, a total of 17 people will be laid off at the end of this month when the manufacturing operation closes, 15 of them are eligible for a severance package.
The company was founded as Suraci Brothers, named after the three Italian brothers who had come to America and started the company. Eventually, the company changed hands and was renamed Parodi. In 1930, following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, it moved from New York City to Scranton, Pa. It remained in Scranton until 2013, when it moved its operations to neighboring Dunmore, Pa., which will remain open as the company’s distribution facility.
Manifatture Sigaro Toscano SpA purchased Parodi in 2015.