Thompson Cigar

Thompson Cigar Company is a cigar and cigar accessories retailer located in Tampa, Florida. Thompson Cigar is the oldest mail order cigar company in the United States.^[1] Originally located in Key West, Florida, Thompson Cigar first opened in 1915. In 1920, after hurricanes decimate most of the cigar factories in Key West, original owner M.A. Thompson moves his factory to Ybor City, located in Tampa, Florida, 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 moves his factory to Bartow, Florida where it will remain until 1960.^[2]

Thompson Cigar's Factory located in Florida

Incorporation and growth

In 1960, Thompson Cigar Company is sold to Robert Franzblau. Franzblau relocates cigar production to local Tampa factories like M & N Cigars and Gradiaz-Annis, which will make cigars under the Thompson brand. Both Stanford Newman and Morton Annis will 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. Expansion led Franzblau to permanently establish corporate headquarters at 5401 Hangar Court, Tampa, Florida 33634. Today, Thompson Cigar runs the single largest inventory storage humidor in the United States, totaling over 300,000 cubic feet (8,500 m³).^[2] Thompson Cigar distributes private label cigars, national cigar brands, boutique cigars, humidors, and smoking accessories.^[3]

Initiatives

In 2008, Thompson Cigar becomes 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 of over 300,000 cigars to American troops.^[1] Troops who received cigars include those in combat areas of Afghanistan and Iraq, plus Korea, the Horn of Africa and three Navy aircraft carrier battle groups.^[4] As of January 2015, Thompson Cigar has donated over a million cigars to American troops.

In January 2009, Thompson Cigar took another initiative to expand their online business. Doing so incorporated Fry, “a multi-site e-commerce solution for Thompson Cigar's Brands.” Fry is an “e-commerce solution that provides retailers with a feature-rich, scalable online store. As with all sites on the Fry OCP platform, Thompson Cigar sites feature robust content management and flexible promotional tools, targeted merchandising capability which clearly now includes spam, and refined search.”^[5]

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  Uniformed Troops Smoking Donated Cigars in Iraq

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  Troops in Afghanistan smoking donated cigars

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  More Troops in Afghanistan enjoying Thompson Cigars

Operating divisions

Thompson Cigar was affiliated with Thompson Group Inc., which was listed #73 on the 2004 Catalog Age top 100 list.^[6] 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).^[5] The company does business in three different catalog and online formats: tobacco, general merchandise, and membership cigar club.

Customer base

Thompson Cigar has over 600,000 active customers nationwide. On average 167,800 people visit their website monthly. Thompson Cigar caters to a 69%, more affluent, male demographic.^[7]

Thompson Cigar Outlet Store

Thompson Cigar runs and operates one outlet store located in Tampa, Florida. Located at their headquarters resides the cigar outlet open to the public six days a week.

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 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 governed privately by owners Robert Franzblau, Alix Franzblau, and Charles Franzblau. Upper management includes Steve Cobden, Chief Marketing Officer and Colm Conway, Chief Financial Officer.

See also

• Famous Smoke Shop
• JR Cigars

References