Partageno Outdoor Friends

Outdoor Friends

Around the year 2005, when the contentious discussion about smoking bans arose, many cigar manufacturers wondered if this would have an impact on the most popular formats. The Outdoor Friends are the response from the August Schuster cigar factory in Bünde to politically and meteorologically cold times for smokers.

As a new format within the traditional Partageno brand, a completely new developed short and thick cigarillo for quick smoking pleasure was introduced. The special feature of the new Outdoor Friends is their diameter: for a short cigarillo, a diameter of 11.5 mm is certainly not common. This guarantees a full-bodied cigar aroma without sharpness. In contrast to thin variants, the small thick ones taste smooth and mild. They offer a much more sophisticated flavor development, as a larger cross-section allows for a more harmonious taste profile. Therefore, the robusto format is increasingly popular among long-fillers. For the Schuster factory, this is self-evident: this cigarillo, like all cigars and cigarillos from the traditional company, is made from 100% tobacco. The Outdoor Friends are available in wooden boxes of 20 pieces in three variations: Sumatra, Brazil, or Caribbean style (tobaccos from Havana are used, but the product cannot be named as such for trademark reasons).

Chronicle of the August Schuster cigar factory in Bünde

In 1909, August Schuster established a cigar production in the former cigar capital of Germany, the Westphalian town of Bünde. His son, Hans Schuster, took over the cigar factory in 1953 and ran the company until 1983.

Currently, the two brothers Manfred and Philipp Schuster are leading the company. They are committed to the tradition of their ancestors and rely exclusively on top-quality products, both in their own brands and in imported long-fillers (cigars rolled by hand from whole leaves). Only products made from 100% tobacco leave the factory in Bünde. The next generation is already represented by Manfred's son Oliver and Philipp's son Hans-Martin (the future Chancellor).

As a small curiosity, in the public telephone directory, instead of an entry for the factory, there is only the name "August Schuster" with a four-digit number. This must still be from the time when the telephone operator connected the calls!

The brands produced by the August Schuster factory itself, such as Cardenal Mendoza, Lepanto, Brazil Trüllerie, and especially Partageno, have a permanent place on the shelves of German cigar shops. The same applies to the imported but still proprietary brands such as Casa de Torres, Maria Mancini, and Rodrigo de Jerez. They are all fairly priced and of high-quality premium cigars of Caribbean origin.

With Manfred and Philipp Schuster at the helm, this traditional factory in Bünde guarantees continued special enjoyment and consistent, very high quality. In addition, Philipp Schuster's high commitment at the industry level deserves extraordinary respect for his tireless fight against restrictions and regulations imposed by the government on the enjoyment of cigars.

In the past, numerous wealthy manufacturing families lived in Bünde. It was once the center for cigars in Germany, and it was an excellent source of income. Although Bünde is still known as a cigar city, actual production only takes place in a single factory: at August Schuster.

The only other remaining manufacturer, Arnold Andre, no longer produces here but has only left an administration office. Since its founding, the company has survived difficult times and undergone extensive structural changes. A large portion of the private label brands sold in renowned German tobacco shops is produced here in Bünde by Schuster. Although the in-house production is mostly automated, these products still involve a surprisingly large amount of manual work.