Oettinger Davidoff CEO Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard says the company is ready to work with the Cuban cigar industry again when the conditions are right, but only to add its current offer – not replace it.

 

In an exclusive interview, he confirmed to TRBusiness last month that he could see Davidoff back in Cuba, although this still depends on a lot of factors.

 

“Basically we are ready to go back whenever that opportunity arises and this is obviously closely linked to the lifting of the trade embargo – and as we know, President Obama cannot do that himself. That is a Congressional decision, which we know in these times, can take a long time.

 

“I am in touch with the Cubans and they are very interested in getting us back and we are interested, but not to replace what we have – but to add a sort of a certain pillar of taste and product portfolio.”

 

 

He added that ’it’s clear that Cuba is still the origin of cigars in consumers’ minds’ and Davidoff would obviously like to be part of that again, but if it is to happen, then he adds that there would have to be very clear conditions underpinning the company’s return.

 

“We need to be in charge of the quality in the growing of the tobacco. It was really a quality issue when the divorce happened,” said Kristian Hoejsgaard.

 

“They actually burned all 350,000 Cuban cigars in the square in Basle in protest. The good news now is that the people who were involved in that big dispute on our side and on their side are no longer around, so I think it is smoothing out.”

 

 

Having said that he points to the irony that just as the basis for a better relationship appears to beckon on the horizon, the Cuban tobacco industry has actually had ‘very bad harvests in the last two cycles’. As such, that obviously means that there is not a lot of tobacco in the pipeline anyway

 

Hoejsgaard told TRBusiness that he is nevertheless ‘confident’ that Davidoff will return to Cuba, although how long it may take is anyone’s guess: “Is it going to be three years, five years or ten years…? I don’t know, but the train has left the station with the opening of US and Cuban embassies for sure.”

 

For the full interview with Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, see the September 2015 edition of TRBusiness magazine.