One of Manhattan’s cigar shops has new owners.

Earlier today, the Fakih family announced that they would be selling to a “subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco Group.”

In a statement posted on Facebook, the company thanked its patrons and said that it believed the stores were in good hands.

“We have full confidence in the new ownerships vision for the future of the Cigar Inn,” said a statement. “We have painstakingly built this business with passion and pride over many years, and we were very particular about who we selected to take this to the next level. We believe the new team is the right people to do this.”

The statement quotes Rob Norris, who is the ceo at JR Cigar. The statement itself simply lists Norris as “president of the Imperial Tobacco unit acquiring The Cigar Inn stores.” A representative from JR Cigar declined to comment to halfwheel.

“I am a long-time admirer of the stores that Gus, Billy and Bass Fakih have built at both Manhattan locations,” said Norris in the statement. “We intend to maintain the relevancy that makes Cigar Inn the No. 1 place for NYC cigar enthusiasts to smoke hand-made cigars and hang out. Despite the change in ownership, no substantial changes are currently planned for the stores.”

JR Cigar was founded in Manhattan by Lew Rothman, but currently does not have a store in the city. It operates two brick and mortar stores in New Jersey, a catalog and renovated brick and mortar business in North Carolina, as well as stores in Michigan and Washington D.C.

Since Norris moved from Altadis U.S.A., Imperial Tobacco Group’s premium cigar manufacturing business, JR Cigar has been on a rapid modernization effort with indications it was looking to expand.

Cigar Inn has two locations: 1016 Second Ave. and 334 East 73rd Street.

The full statement from the Fakihs is available here.

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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.