15 Years of Cheyenne Cigars
Fifteen years ago, Cheyenne International launched a brand called Cheyenne Little Cigars. What is now commonly known as a filtered cigar or little cigar across the industry was virtually unknown back then. Entering the filtered cigar category in 2004 wasn’t spurred from a spike in sales in the category. It was actually quite the opposite. Cheyenne saw an opportunity to give adult tobacco consumers a choice when making tobacco purchases and decided to seize the chance to reinvigorate the category. With the goal in mind, we set out to change the game. But what makes an unknown brand in a virtually nonexistent category successful? We’ll tell you.
Cheyenne International has always been about providing high quality brands at a fair price. The Cheyenne Filtered Cigar brand did not diverge from that focus. First things first – the tobacco. Creating excellent cigar tobacco blends was key to getting the brand off the ground. Our experts worked tirelessly to craft blends that provided a truly unmatched smoking experience. From there, the brand name came easily. The name Cheyenne was a no brainer frankly. Good product, good name, good start. Once the pricing structure and wholesale and retail support programs were established, our sales team set off to do what they do best: sell.
However, Cheyenne Cigars did not sell. At all. Our reps were constantly told no and we had made no traction with the brand. We could have abandoned the opportunity we saw at that point but we didn’t. Our team persevered and slowly saw retail and wholesale customers come around as they started seeing the opportunity too. Little by little, we saw Cheyenne Cigars on store shelves. Then we saw reorders. Then more reorders and more distribution. Before we knew it, we’d accomplished what we set out to achieve. We provided the adult consumer with a choice when they purchased their tobacco products while also providing additional profit for distributors and retailers.
Cheyenne dominated the category until others caught on and started to flood the market with low-priced filtered cigars. Their price was great but the quality wasn’t. Those other brands were short lived and before long, hung up their hats and exited the category. What remained was a smaller segment of filtered cigar brands, all vying for the #1 position. Now, after 15 years in the category, Cheyenne Cigars are still reigning supreme. We’re proud of that fact and proud to be the #1 filtered cigar brand* in the country. For that, we say thank you.
*Source: MSAI 52 weeks ending April 2019
