Laudisi Acquires Caldwell Cigar Co.

Laudisi Enterprises has acquired Caldwell Cigar Co. and Lost&Found Cigars. As part of the acquisition, Robert Caldwell and Juan Jaramillo, the founders and owners of Caldwell Cigar Co., will join Laudisi’s management team. In addition, both will have equity stakes in Laudisi, which is better known as a pipe company though has been gradually expanding its presence in the cigar industry.

“We have been more than fortunate to have had an amazing first 10 years,” said Robert Caldwell in a press release. “As we enter our next decade, we want to build on our rookie season with new partners that can help us continue to build and grow on a stronger foundation. Laudisi has everything that we need to guarantee our continued success.”

Caldwell’s foray into the cigar business was first with a company called Hotel Humidor, which supplied cigars to hotels and restaurants in Miami. Eventually, he launched Wynwood with Christian Eiroa before launching his own company, Caldwell Cigar Co., in 2014. Caldwell does not have its own factory, but is best known for his association with the Ventura family’s Tabacalera William Ventura and El Maestro factories in the Dominican Republic, though he’s also worked with AJ Fernandez, Davidoff, Drew Estate, E.P. Carrillo and others.

Lost&Found was launched by Caldwell, Tony Bellatto and Jaclyn Sears as Impromptu in 2014. Caldwell would visit factories and buy old stocks of finished cigars that were leftover for one reason or another. Sears was responsible for creating the packaging, which oftentimes relied on whimsical names like 15 Minutes of Fame, Holy Braille and Supreme Creme. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Lost&Found has transitioned to a more traditional cigar company that commissions its own blend at factories, which are then aged for longer periods of time.

According to the companies, talks began between the two parties in June 2023 and an agreement was signed on Feb. 9, 2024. Beginning next Friday, March 8, Laudisi Distribution Group will begin fulfilling orders for Caldwell and Lost&Found out of its South Carolina-based warehouse.

“I’ve personally been a huge fan of Robert Caldwell’s cigars since I walked into Liberty Tobacco in San Diego, California, as a consumer about 10 years ago, and saw The King is Dead and Long Live the King on the shelf,” said Shane Ireland, vp for retail at Laudisi. “During the first discussions with Robert about the deal, the synergies between our two companies were immediately obvious… Ultimately we all agreed that the exciting and most important bit was to allow Robert to focus on what he does best — creating cigars and brands that captivate smokers all over the world.”

Zachary Harpold, a full-time sales rep for Caldwell, will join Laudisi and the company says it plans to add two new territory sales managers.

“Laudisi has been involved in the cigar world for almost 20 years,” says Sykes Wilford, ceo of Laudisi Enterprises. “While we’ve steadily expanded our cigar offerings over the past decade, we hadn’t sought a step like this into the cigar business. The more we grew to know Robert Caldwell and Juan Jaramillo, however, the more it became clear that this was a perfect fit for both parties. I don’t pretend to be a cigar expert; I’ve spent the last 24 years utterly immersed in pipes and pipe tobacco. But Robert is. And I’m thrilled that he and Juan will apply their passion and expertise to leading our new Caldwell Cigar division.”

Caldwell will be part of the Laudisi booth at the upcoming 2024 PCA Convention & Trade Show, which takes place March 23-25 in Las Vegas.

Laudisi Enterprises is best known for its presence in the pipe tobacco world, where it is the market leader with brands like Cornell & Diehl, Peterson and others. In addition, the company has retail operations through Smokingpipes.com and Low Country Pipe & Cigar in Little River, S.C.