Cuban Cigar Supply in Europe: Chen Zhi and the 5th Avenue Insolvency

5th Avenue Products Trading GmbH formally entered insolvency proceedings when the Waldshut-Tiengen District Court opened them on November 1, 2026, according to a halfwheel report by Charlie Minato published November 3, 2026. Humidorist did no original reporting on this story. Every fact below comes from halfwheel or from a mid-2026 Cigars-connect article, and the page reflects their reporting as of those dates.

Date	Event	Source
December 2025	Tabacalera begins trying to separate Chen Zhi from Habanos S.A.'s capital	Cigars-connect
Late July 2026	The EU introduces new sanctions on Chen Zhi	halfwheel
September 2026	5th Avenue says it can no longer fulfill customer orders, and an insolvency request is filed	halfwheel
November 1, 2026	Waldshut-Tiengen District Court formally opens insolvency proceedings	halfwheel
November 3, 2026	halfwheel reports on the administrator's statement	halfwheel

Dr. André Berbuer of BSK Berbuer Speier Kuhn is the insolvency administrator. He was also involved in the September insolvency request. Berbuer wrote a four-page document for the media, and halfwheel's report draws on it.

Berbuer says 5th Avenue is not broke. The company has both money and cigars, but the EU sanctions have kept it from doing much business. He also says 5th Avenue is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The letter mentions the 50 jobs affected at 5th Avenue several times. It says German retailers around the country have been greatly affected because they cannot get Cuban cigars to sell. It also mentions hundreds of jobs at risk in the German cigar sector and lost tax revenue for the government. According to Habanos S.A., Germany is one of the top five markets for Cuban cigars.

Chen Zhi owns a share of Habanos S.A. and a smaller share of 5th Avenue itself. halfwheel reports that Chen owns 28.55 percent of Habanos S.A. and so, in halfwheel's wording, owns a piece of every Cuban cigar distributor. He is believed to own around 15 percent of 5th Avenue.

halfwheel says Chen has been accused of a multitude of crimes related to other businesses he owns. Berbuer's letter calls the EU sanctions on Chen the "sole" cause of 5th Avenue's trouble. Per Berbuer, the sanctions are unrelated to the cigar business, Chen was not an active owner of 5th Avenue, and his stake was too small to give him control.

Berbuer is using insolvency to find a way for 5th Avenue to keep operating. In Berbuer's view, German law has no framework for this situation, including what halfwheel translates as "frozen tangible assets." The proceedings opened a narrow path to pay employees. 5th Avenue is still functionally unable to do business and cannot run under this setup long-term.

Banks add a second layer. The Cigars-connect article says European banks will keep applying de-risking measures to all Habanos distributors while Chen remains a de facto indirect shareholder. Tabacalera obtained provisional licenses in the United States and the United Kingdom in May 2026 to keep day-to-day operations running.

Any short-term sale of Chen Zhi's stake in Habanos S.A. is blocked by three legal proceedings running at the same time, according to Cigars-connect. The article was written before a June 9, 2026 court hearing, and the sources we read do not cover that hearing's outcome.

• British Virgin Islands: As of the Cigars-connect article, since January 9, 2026, Interpath Advisory has been provisional liquidator of 30 offshore companies linked to Chen. One is Simply Advanced Limited, which controls 57 percent of Allied Cigar Corporation, a co-owner of Habanos S.A. through Tabacalera SLU. The liquidators cannot sell assets without prior court authorization.
• New York: Interpath filed a Chapter 15 case in Manhattan on April 8, 2026. Judge Martin Glenn granted provisional protection on April 23, only to preserve assets, not to sell them. Cosimo Borrelli filed a formal objection on May 22, and a recognition ruling was scheduled for June 9, 2026.
• Hong Kong: On May 4, 2026, the High Court froze 8.94 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 990 million euros) of assets linked to Chen and three associates.

Cigars-connect says a sale to a clean buyer would need explicit court authorization in at least two of the three jurisdictions. El Confidencial reportedly named Renovaire Group, which already owns 42.9 percent of Allied Cigar, as the likely buyer. That was never officially confirmed.

Nobody has put a date on the outcome. A European distributor told L'Amateur de Cigare in March 2026, as quoted by Cigars-connect: "Will it take two months, six months, or a year? We don't know." Berbuer's letter, per halfwheel, offers no specific path forward, timeline or resolution scenarios, and he is working with German authorities and experts on what he calls a novel case.

If you buy Cuban cigars in Germany, ask the shop what it has in hand before you pay or pre-order. At Humidorist, we base that advice on the sourced facts above, but the advice itself is ours, not something halfwheel or Cigars-connect reported.

• Germany: halfwheel reports that retailers around the country cannot get Cuban cigars to sell. Buy from boxes you can see on the shelf rather than paying for incoming stock with no delivery date.
• Austria and Poland: 5th Avenue also distributes here, but the sources do not report the retail effect in either country. Ask the same stock question before you pay.
• Elsewhere in Europe: The sources report no shortage outside 5th Avenue's territories. They are silent on those markets, which is different from saying supply there is fine.
• Travelers: Our guide to where to buy Cuban cigars abroad lists Germany as having reputable Habanos retailers. Those shops may now have thin stock, so plan a purchase in another country if a specific box matters to you.
• United States readers: These EU sanctions are separate from the US embargo, which our page on why Cuban cigars are illegal explains.

The sources do not say which brands or sizes are short, how long current stock will last, or whether retail prices have changed. Our best Cuban cigar brands list and cigar prices around the world guide give background, but neither can tell you what a German shop has today.

This advice does not serve a buyer who needs a guaranteed delivery date for a Cuban cigar in Germany, Austria or Poland. No source gives one. Our answer would change if Berbuer announces a way for 5th Avenue to resume normal business, or if courts authorize a sale of Chen's stake.

If you do find stock and buy several boxes, follow our guide on how to store cigars so they keep while supply is uncertain.

Read the halfwheel report for updates on Berbuer's statements and the Cigars-connect article for the court cases over Chen's stake. This page reflects reporting through November 3, 2026.

If you stock up on Cuban cigars while supply is tight, log each box in the Humidor Tracker so you know what you bought and when.