West Tampa Tobacco Co. Adds Distribution in Malaysia

West Tampa Tobacco Co. has announced that its cigars will be distributed in Malaysia by Tag Ventures Sdn Bhd, beginning March 16.

Tag Ventures is a distributor that also owns Kamelah Tobacco House, a chain of 20 tobacco stores in Malaysia.

“With Tag Ventures Rick (Rodriguez) and I already have a long business (relationship),” said Stijn Elbersen director of global sales and marketing for West Tampa Tobacco Co. “We keep on expanding in Asia and with this introduction in Malaysia and working together (again) with Tag Ventures we took another important step for West Tampa cigars.”

West Tampa Tobacco Co. was launched last year by Rodriguez and Gus Martinez, both longtime General Cigar Co. employees. Despite being less than a year-old company, West Tampa has been uniquely aggressive about its international distribution. Its cigars are distributed in more than 25 countries.

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 handle the editing of our written content, the majority of the technical aspects of the site and work with the rest of our staff on content management, business development and more. I’ve lived in most corners of the country and now entering my second stint in Dallas, Texas. I enjoy boxing, headphones, the Le Mans 24-hour, wearing sweatshirts year-round and gyros. echte liebe.