Caldwell Long live the Queen

The initiator and founder of the cigar brand is Robert Caldwell, an American from Florida who is known for his unconventional approach, his creative brand management, and rather unorthodox naming. He does not have a traditional background in the industry; he is a career changer who cannot look back on countless generations of tobacco farmers in Cuba. However, this is by no means a disadvantage! He sold his first cigars in the hospitality industry, which is how he established contact with the cigar world. Since 2008, he has been producing his own cigar lines, originally under the brand Wynwood Zigarren, which he developed together with Christian Eiroa (the former Camacho maker) in Miami. Wynwood is a trendy neighborhood, an art district in Miami.

Robert Caldwell: The Creative Career Changer Behind Exceptional Cigar Brands

Since 2013, he has had his Caldwell Zigarren manufactured at Tabacalera William Ventura. The next major turning point was the sale of his brand in 2023 to the company Laudisi, which until then had been exclusively active in the field of pipes and pipe tobacco. Among others, the pipes from Peterson and the tobaccos from Cornell & Diehl belong to the company. That both pipe tobacco and cigars are distributed by one company is rather unusual, but fundamentally not a bad thing.

Mexican San Andrés Wrapper and Dominican Filler: Blends with Character

The blend consists of a San Andrés wrapper from Mexico, a binder from Indonesia, as well as filler tobaccos from the Dominican Republic and the USA. Robert is an imposing personality, not only due to his height. We really like his cigars; it is always exciting to see the different blends and “wild” graphic creations he puts together! In the past, he was distributed in Germany by Thorsten Wolfertz, then—following the sale of Wolfertz GmbH to VCF by the Vandermarliere Cigar Family—this changed. Nowadays, due to the owner Oliver Kopp’s focus on pipe tobacco, he has found a home with them and their company Kopp Tobaccos in Germany, which now imports and distributes his products.