By Timothy S. Donahue
Top Takeaways:
- Founding member exits: Davidoff’s Dominican subsidiary Tabadom Holding is ending its 34-year membership in ProCigar.
- Global priorities: The Swiss cigar group says regulatory challenges across its 130 markets require it to focus resources directly in individual markets.
- Festival absence: Davidoff and Tabadom will not participate in the 2027 ProCigar Festival, and have been removed from the group’s member list.
Oettinger Davidoff is ending its membership in the Association of Dominican Cigar Manufacturers, stepping away from an organization it helped establish more than three decades ago as the company shifts its focus to global regulatory and market priorities.
The Swiss cigar group confirmed the decision in a statement provided to L’Amateur de Cigare after the publication noted that visits to Davidoff’s Dominican plantations and factory were omitted from the program for the 2027 ProCigar Festival.
Davidoff said its Dominican subsidiary, Tabadom Holding, had been an active member of ProCigar for 34 years. “However, looking at our future vision and priorities, we have decided to end our membership with ProCigar,” the company said.
The move ends a relationship dating back to ProCigar’s founding in 1992. Hendrik “Henke” Kelner, who was producing Davidoff cigars in the Dominican Republic at the time, was among those instrumental in establishing the association.
Davidoff said the decision reflects the increasingly complex regulatory environment facing an international premium cigar company. “Looking at our company’s global vision and priorities, including the regulatory challenges we face in our 130 markets, we feel that we need to focus our strengths on our global priorities directly in the markets,” Oettinger Davidoff said. “At the same time, we will continue defending our industry with the authorities in the many countries we are active in.”
The company did not identify specific regulatory issues or markets that informed the decision. Davidoff also emphasized that its departure did not repudiate ProCigar or its work promoting and defending the Dominican premium cigar industry.
“We deeply appreciate the years of collaboration, shared learning and mutual experiences and wish ProCigar and all its members greatest success in their future endeavours and in their continued efforts to defend the Dominican cigar and tobacco industry,” the company said.
ProCigar’s current membership page lists 11 active manufacturers: Arturo Fuente, La Flor Dominicana, La Aurora, General Cigar Dominicana, Tabacalera Palma, Tabacalera de García, Casa Carrillo, Quesada Cigars, De Los Reyes Cigars, PDR Cigars, and Arnold André. Davidoff and Tabadom are no longer listed.
The departure also creates an unusual situation for ProCigar’s leadership team.
Hamlet Espinal, a vice president at Oettinger Davidoff, was elected secretary of ProCigar in May as part of the association’s 2026-2028 leadership team. Ciro Cascella, CEO of Tabacalera Fuente, was elected president, succeeding Litto Gómez of La Flor Dominicana. ProCigar has not yet publicly explained what Davidoff’s departure means for Espinal’s position.
Davidoff’s exit will also be evident at one of the Dominican cigar industry’s highest-profile events. ProCigar separately confirmed that Davidoff and Tabadom will not participate in the 2027 ProCigar Festival.
The annual festival draws cigar consumers and industry professionals to the Dominican Republic for factory and tobacco-farm tours, seminars, and evening events. The 2026 edition attracted nearly 1,000 guests from more than 40 countries and raised $618,188 through its charity auction. Tabadom contributed a humidor that sold for $28,000.
Despite losing one of its founding members, ProCigar retains most of the Dominican Republic’s major manufacturers of handmade cigars and describes its mission as protecting the reputation and future of the country’s premium cigar industry.
