Thompson Cigar Company is a

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

and cigar accessories retailer located in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. Thompson Cigar is the oldest

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

cigar company in the United States.Thompson Cigar Announces Donation of Over 300,000 Cigars to American Troops
Published by Forbes.com on May 21, 2008. Accessed on June 3, 2008. Originally located in

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

, Thompson Cigar first opened in 1915. In 1920, after hurricanes decimated most of the cigar factories in Key West, original owner M.A. Thompson moved his factory to

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...

, located in

, known as "Cigar Capital of the World." Thompson acquired Postal Permit #1 in the city of Tampa, which it still holds today. In 1934, M.A. Thompson moved his factory to Bartow, Florida where it would remain until 1960.The Thompson Group. Employee Handbook. Brochure. Tampa: Author, 2006. Published by Thompson & Co. of Tampa, Inc on May 18, 2006. Accessed on June 2, 2009. The Early Days

TAMPA — The new owner of Thompson Cigar is closing the 104-year-old company's outlet store and distribution center just north of Tampa International Airport and will lay off 112 workers as it consolidates operations to Bethlehem, Pa.

Incorporation and growth

In 1960, Thompson Cigar Company was sold to Robert Franzblau. Franzblau relocated cigar production to local Tampa factories such as M & N Cigars and Gradiaz-Annis, which would make cigars under the Thompson brand. Both Stanford Newman and Morton Annis would serve as Franzblau's mentors for many years. Newman bought Cuesta-Rey and Annis owned Gold Label and Macanudo, which he eventually sold to

General Cigar Company General Cigar Company is the largest manufacturer of premium cigars in the world. It is a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group with North American headquarters located in Richmond, Virginia. Company history In 1961 General Cigar, which was ...

. Expansion led Franzblau to permanently establish

corporate headquarters Corporate headquarters is the part of a corporate structure that deals with important tasks such as strategic planning, corporate communications, taxes, law, books of record, marketing, finance, human resources, and information technology. Corpor ...

at 5401 Hangar Court, Tampa, Florida 33634. Today, Thompson Cigar runs the single largest

inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the shap ...

storage

humidor A humidor is a humidity-controlled box or room used primarily for storing cigars, cigarettes, cannabis, or pipe tobacco. Either too much or too little humidity can be harmful to tobacco products; a humidor's primary function is to maintain a ste ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, totaling over . Thompson Cigar distributes private label cigars, national cigar brands, boutique cigars, humidors, and smoking accessories.
/ref> In 2018, the company was sold to

Scandinavian Tobacco Group Scandinavian Tobacco Group is a manufacturer of cigars and traditional pipe tobacco. The city company is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is a publicly listed Company on NASDAQ Copenhagen. History The company can trace its origin back ...

, a public company based in Denmark. In 2019 Parent company,

laid off 112 workers and announced the outlet store along with Thompson's other

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

operations were to close and be centralized in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

as part of its consolidation of operations.

Initiatives

In 2008, Thompson Cigar became a sponsor for Cigars & Guitars, The Tampa History Museum, Thanks Troops Golf Tournament, Southeastern Guides Dogs & Paws for Patriots. Also in 2008, Thompson Cigar announced the

donation A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as blo ...

of over 300,000 cigars to American troops. Troops who received cigars included those in

combat Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

areas of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, plus

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

and three

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

carrier battle groups. As of January 2015, Thompson Cigar had donated over a million cigars to American troops.

Operating divisions

Thompson Cigar was affiliated with Thompson Group Inc., which was listed #73 on the 2004 Catalog Age top 100 list. Thompson Group was a multi-channel merchant that included Thompson Cigar, Café Belmondo (sold 2008), Casual Living USA (sold 2010), and Linen Source (sold 2010).
The company does business in three different catalog and online formats:

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, general merchandise, and membership cigar club.

Customer base

Thompson Cigar has over 600,000 active

customers In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea - obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or exchange for m ...

nationwide. On average 167,800 people visit its

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

monthly. Thompson Cigar caters to a 69%, more

affluent Wealth is the abundance of valuable financial assets or physical possessions which can be converted into a form that can be used for transactions. This includes the core meaning as held in the originating Old English word , which is from an I ...

, male

demographic Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...

. They currently hold an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau, accumulating nearly 100 complaints in the last 12 months.

Thompson Retail Websites

Thompson & Company of Tampa Inc. owns and operates two retail websites, Thompsoncigar.com and one auction site, Thompsoncigarauctions.com. Thompsoncigar.com is the premiere site that was launched in 1999. Thompsoncigar.com supports the Thompson Cigar mail order catalog, established in 1915 and the oldest Mail Order cigar company. Thompsoncigar.com offers thousands of cigars from the World's most popular manufacturers.

Governance

Thompson and Company of Tampa is owned by the Scandinavian Tobacco Group.

References

{{Reflist Companies based in Tampa, Florida Cigar retailers