Maybe I just lucked out. but Thompson was the first place I ever ordered cigars from way back when I started in 2008. I have never received a phone call from them and I get no more email from them than I do from any other vendor. I still have several of their "cherrywood" desktop humidors I picked up back then as part of various "combo" deals that ran about $30. The humidors are among the most stable desktops I own. My oldest sons have a couple that I've given him. Their housebrand cigars are nothing to speak of, although I confess I have a certain sentimental attachment to their Don Lugo and Phoenix brands. And I remember their Match Play brand being decent, too.
Somehow, I missed the news about Thompson being purchased by STG last year, but last May, I ordered a 10-pack of La Boheme Pittore cigars from CI. When I got my order, I was surprised to get two fivers, both of which had Thompson labeling on the cellophane wrapper. I contacted CI asking about it, and the rep was clueless.
So with Thompson moving/shutting down in Tampa, Altadis having shuttered Hav-A-Tampa's Tampa operation in five years ago, and Swisher International closing down in Jacksonville a couple years back, I guess that leaves JC Newman in Tampa as the last big cigar operation in Florida. Granted, Fuente, Don Pepin Garcia and a couple of other big names have small operations in the Miami area and there are still smaller boutique-y operations around the state, but the days of Florida's dominance in the cigar world are long gone.
