Michael Giordano, best known as the owner of Quality Importers, has acquired Orleans Group International, a company that specialized in the distribution of cigar accessory products including humidors, cutters and cases.

If that sounds familiar to Quality Importers, it’s because it is. Orleans Group was one of the company’s largest competitors, but now they both share the same owner, though they won’t be under one roof. Giordano stated the companies are legally separate and will remain in separate buildings for the “foreseeable future.” One of the reasons is that Orleans Group has equipment and expertise for custom printing and engraving, something Quality Importers does not.

“There’s a lot of untapped potential here,” said Giordano to halfwheel. “Specifically, is with their ability to do custom printing and personalization. We are really going to be able to use all this equipment that we acquired with the business and put it into action.”

He gave a specific example of being able to do small batch printing for personalized Palió cutters, a company he also owns, something that was not viable prior.

The deal closed last week. Orleans Group was purchased from Dakota Capital, a Dallas-based investment firm led by Steve Harvey.

As part of the agreement, Giordano acquired Don Salvatore, a humidor brand; the Mardi Gras and Wall Street humidor lines, Paradigm humidifiers and Cigar Classics, a humidor maker. It did not acquire C & C Cigars, which is also listed as part of the Dakota Capital portfolio.

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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.