Tabacalera Palma Acquires Indianhead Distributors, Creates New Brand

Source from:  Cigar Aficionado 10/22/2015

Tabaclaera Palma, the Dominican producer of brands such as Aging Room and Señorial, has acquired Indianhead, a distributor of value-oriented cigar brands.

Formerly owned by Bill Bock, Indianhead's portfolio of wallet-friendly smokes includes Cuban Twist, Dynamite, Plasencia Organica and Dannemann.

"I am going to continue providing these great products from Honduras and Nicaragua," said José "Jochy" Blanco, owner and CEO of Tabacalera Palma. "I have appointed Fabian Barrantes as director of marketing and sales."

Barrantes has previously worked for Boutique Blends and Villiger North America in a similar capacity.

Under Blanco's ownership, Indianhead will continue to exist and operate as its own company and distribute the current line of value brands, but will also feature a new cigar created and produced by Blanco called La Galera.

"I want to start off this venture by complementing it with a very exciting launch, my new premium cigar brand called La Galera," Blanco said. "La galera is the heart of every cigar factory. It's where the magic takes place, where the cigars are produced. I've had this brand in mind for many years, but I really feel that now is the right time to bring it to life."

Blanco, who also owns a tobacco growing operation in the Dominican Republic, intends on distributing La Galera alongside the rest of Indianhead's cigars by the end of the year.

Most of the Indianhead cigars are made in Honduras and Nicaragua at the Plasencia factories. While Blanco has not ruled out the possibility of moving production of some of the brands to his Dominican factory, he plans on leaving the operation alone at the moment and letting the Plasencia factories continue manufacturing as it did before the acquisition.

Details such as sizes and prices for the upcoming La Galera brand have yet to be determined. However, Blanco has finalized two blends for La Galera and told Cigar Insider that he will make the particulars of the blend public in the near future. Enditem