STG Closing Sutliff’s Cigar Distribution Service

Earlier this year, Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) purchased Mac Baren Tobacco Co. A/S in a deal valued around $77 million. Mac Baren is best known as a pipe tobacco company, though Sutliff—the company’s U.S. division—also had a cigar distribution company out of its Richmond, Va. facility.

As expected, STG will be shutting down that business.

Multiple sources told halfwheel that STG has informed the various companies involved that it is ending Sutliff’s cigar distribution and fulfillment service at the end of the year.

When asked about the closure of Sutliff’s businesses, a spokesperson for STG provided the following statement:

Over time the Mac Baren and Sutliff facilities will close, that is correct. The brand portfolios of Scandinavian Tobacco Group (“STG”) and Mac Baren / Sutliff will be combined and simplified. This is to ease the way of doing business for our customers: one point of contact, one order, one shipment, and one invoice. This will take time, though and no decisions have yet been taken on specifics. When we come to this point: clear communication will go out to our customers.

Niels Frederiksen, ceo of STG, told a Danish outlet that STG would be closing Mac Baren’s facility in Svendborg by 2027. He said STG is working to try to move some of the 200 employees to an existing STG facility in Assens, though acknowledged not all of them would be part of the transition.

What that means for Mac Baren’s pipe tobacco portfolio is unclear, other than that, at the very least, the blends will be made at a different facility.

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On the cigar side, it’s very clear. STG won’t be handling backend logistics for third-party cigar companies for much longer.

At one point, Sutliff was handling fulfillment and logistic services for nearly a dozen smaller cigar companies. The companies were responsible for the sales, but Sutliff would warehouse the product and ship it to stores, handling the requisite paperwork and other logistics in the process. Illusione also offers a similar service out of its warehouse in Reno, Nev. Representatives for Sutliff told halfwheel that they added the business because they already had the physical infrastructure and expertise of dealing with tobacco regulations.

When the STG acquisition was announced, it seemed highly unlikely that Sutliff’s distribution and fulfillment business would continue.

STG has a diverse portfolio of cigar businesses, including retailers such as Cigars International, Cigar.com, Cigarbid.com, Thompson Cigar, PipesandCigars.com and Cigora. It also owns General Cigar Co. and Forged Cigar Co., which sell Cohiba, La Gloria Cubana, Partagas and other brands in the U.S. In both the U.S. and international markets, it sells Agio, Alec Bradley, CAO, Macanudo, Room101, and Toraño.

While the company does distribution other brands through Meier & Dutch, a wholesale division of Cigars International, it’s quite different than what Sutliff was doing.

A year ago, Kevin and Anne Dinkins—former Sutliff employees—launched City of Palms Distribution Services, which offers similar services. Since its launch, City of Palms has been steadily acquiring the fulfillment rights for a number of companies that previously used Sutliff including ADVentura & McKay, Escobar, Matilde, Patina and, most recently, Lampert Cigars. Yesterday, Lampert announced that it would begin utilizing City of Palms effective next month.

Patrick Lagreid contributed to this story.