Gurkha’s planned acquisition of American Caribbean Cigars is no more.

Last May, the company announced plans to acquire the Estelí, Nicaragua-based factory that is responsible for producing a host of Gurkha cigars including the Cellar Reserve Platinum, Heritage Collection and Royal Challenge.

Gurkha says after reviewing the acquisition plan—which was set to close this quarter—it determined it would be more effective to build its own factory, something that is described as a two-year process with the company looking at locations now. The planned factory is said to be targeted at 100,000-square-feet.

American Caribbean Cigars produces cigars for a variety of other brands. At one point both Toraño and Leccia were using it for production of their cigars and the factory also has its own line called La Rosa de Sandiego.

The factory is owned by Damian Tapanes and Alex Mendez.

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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.