Kretek Completes Acquisition of Tobacconist, Pipes & Tobacco, Cigars & Leisure

Kretek International has announced that it has completed its acquisition of five former SpecComm tobacco media properties, including:

• Cigars & Leisure
• CTS Report
• Pipes & Tobacco Magazine
• Tobacconist Magazine
• TobaccoReviews.com

The deal was originally announced last July following SpecComm’s sale to the Tobacco Merchants Association (TMA).

At that time, TMA said it would continue to operate two magazines—Tobacco Reporter and Vapor Voice—as well as the GTNF Conference. A third publication, Tobacco Farmer Quarterly, would be incorporated into existing TMA publications. Kretek bought the cigar and pipe-focused publications, which TMA didn’t plan on operating.

Kretek International still hasn’t said what its plans are for the publications, though a press release indicated that “each of these titles (will) continue to have a presence in some capacity” during 2020.

They will be folded into Kretek’s Tobacco Media Group (TMG) company, which operates Tobacco Business and the Tobacco Plus Expo trade show. Ironically, many of TMG’s current employees previously worked at SpecComm.

“We get to continue the voices of these valued publications with our audience and customers. It shows the strength of TMG as a whole, as we continue to invest in and strengthen our portfolio,” said Ben Stimpson, managing director for TMG, in a press release. “This acquisition helps us continue to grow TMG’s voice and presence in the industry as an advocate for tobacco and other OTP products in these categories.”

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.