Kingston, Jamaica – Barrington Cigars Jamaica Ltd. has brought a different side to the usual spectrum of the taste of Jamaica products and holds the title as the sole manufacturer of authentic Jamaican cigars.
Founded by Barrington Adams of Barrington House International, Adams is a direct descendant of one of the most heralded tobacco estates in Jamaica – Barrington Hall. Barrington Cigars currently operates from their factory in Kingston, with a corporate office in New York, with plans to open a sale office in Montego Bay to further export Jamaican cigars in high demand world-wide.
Employing an approximate twenty-two persons, all of the company’s cigars are specially hand rolled by skilled Jamaican tobacco experts and with all Jamaican products. According to Managing Director of Barrington Cigars, Margaret ‘MJ’ Adams, Jamaican cigars have exploded on to the overseas market.
“We export large scale to the United States, Germany, Canada and more recently we have successful begun to penetrate China. We are also constantly looking to expand into other markets,” Adams said. Main sellers overseas for the Barrington brand are the ‘Pride of Jamaica’, ‘Montalvo’, ‘Fundadores’ and the ‘Harvill’ brand which comes in five matured flavours: Rum, Cognac, Passion Rum and Coffee.
Despite their success overseas, according to Ms. Adams, selling Barrington Cigars to the local market has been getting better but has had its challenges. Having participated in JAMPRO’s Business Linkages Programme at the 2011 Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) tourism trade fair held in Montego Bay, has come a long way in realizing the company’s dream of selling their products to the local market.
Their local market consists of: hotels, duty-free shops, gift shops, airports, lounges and supermarkets. Following JAMPRO’s Business Linkages Programme 2011, Barrington Cigars now supplies to Grand Bahia Principe, Chukku Caribbean, Iberostar and Superclubs.
Managing Director of Barrington Cigars, Margaret ‘MJ’ Adams showcased the company’s authentic Jamaican cigars at a function held in Montego Bay recently.
Ms. Adams said, “It has really gotten to be quite explosive. We’re really unique in what we have to offer. We do not just supply the cigars, we offer an entire service. We will go into the hotels and scout the area and then build a custom made humidor for the location. We will then be in charge of maintaining the humidors and training the staff on the cigars so that they can successful sell the product. So our customers are not just buying a cigar, but a service.”
Another avenue that opened for the cigar manufacturer following last year is the expansion into the wedding scene. “From being at the Business Linkages event last year we expanded into weddings. We provide additional services to hotels where we send a roller to the hotel or the event to roll a custom made label for the bride and groom or for the event,” Adams added.
These wide range of authentic Jamaica cigars were recently on display at JAMPRO’s Business Linkages Programme at the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) tourism trade fair staged at the Sunset Jamaica Grande from September 30th – October 2nd.
Being a part of JAMPRO’s Business Linkages Programme, Ms. Adams explained, also assisted in providing credibility in Jamaica for the brand. Barrington Cigars once again took place in JAMPRO’s Business Linkages Programme at the recently concluded JAPEX 2012 staged at the Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios from September 30 – October 2. This year Barrington Cigars is aiming to double the success they achieved.
She said, “We wanted to create a relationship with the customers and being here at JAPEX helped to do that and gave credibility to our products. We were very successful last year and are very happy to be at the 2012 staging of the event.”
According to Ms. Adams JAMPRO provided the necessary support saying, “JAMPRO gave us the avenue to connect to our clients and we would not have able to that so quickly without them. They have been really encouraging us to go to the next level and we love the partnership.”
