Who Owns Thompson Cigar and Cigars International?
Thompson Cigar and Cigars International are two of the biggest names in mail-order and online cigar retail, and shoppers often notice the overlap — similar catalogs, similar promotions, sometimes the same warehouse footprint. That's not a coincidence: both are owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), the Danish cigar and pipe-tobacco maker, which already owned Cigars International when it bought Thompson in 2018.
This guide covers what that ownership consolidation means in practice, and where the still-independent retailers fit in for comparison.
Are Thompson Cigar and Cigars International the same company?
Yes, in terms of ownership. Scandinavian Tobacco Group owns both. STG already owned Cigars International when it agreed in early 2018 to buy Thompson & Co. of Tampa, the company behind Thompson Cigar, for $62 million. Thompson was founded in 1915 and was doing roughly $100 million a year in sales at the time of the deal. In practical terms, that makes the two retailers sister brands rather than competitors, even though they still operate as separate storefronts, catalogs, and customer-facing brands.
What that means for shoppers:
| What stays separate | What's shared under common ownership |
|---|---|
| Website, branding, catalog identity | Corporate parent and back-end operations |
| Loyalty programs (usually) | Warehouse, fulfillment, and supply relationships in many cases |
| Marketing voice and promotions | Buying power and vendor negotiating leverage |
If you're comparison-shopping between the two, know that you're often comparing catalogs from the same corporate family rather than fully independent operators competing on separate supply chains. That doesn't make either retailer worse — large-scale buying power can mean better pricing on volume boxes and house blends — but it does mean "which one is cheaper" sometimes comes down to promotions rather than fundamentally different sourcing.
The bigger consolidation story in cigar retail
Thompson and Cigars International aren't an isolated case — cigar retail has consolidated significantly over the past decade, following a broader pattern across the tobacco industry where large manufacturers and holding groups have acquired the retail and mail-order side of the business alongside the cigars themselves. JR Cigar, another long-running mail-order name, followed the same path: the Spanish tobacco company Altadis bought a 51% controlling stake in 2003, and Altadis was itself acquired by Imperial Tobacco in 2008.
The practical upshot is that most of the largest online cigar retailers today trace back to a small number of parent organizations, even when the storefronts themselves still feel independent and distinct to shoppers.
Independent alternatives worth knowing
Not every major online cigar retailer has gone the acquisition route. Famous Smoke Shop has a long history as a privately and family-operated business, and remains a common point of comparison specifically because it sits outside the larger consolidated ownership groups. JR Cigar built its name the same way decades ago, though its ownership has since shifted into a larger tobacco-industry holding structure — worth knowing if independence from a large parent company is something you specifically care about as a shopper.
None of this should be read as a signal of quality one way or the other. Corporate ownership structure affects pricing power and catalog breadth more than it affects the cigars themselves, which still come from the same manufacturers regardless of which retailer's website you're buying from.
Why this matters for cigar shoppers
Knowing the ownership map helps you set expectations rather than change your buying decision outright. If you see near-identical pricing, similar house-blend names, or overlapping promotions between Thompson and Cigars International, that's the shared corporate structure showing through, not a coincidence or a mistake. For monthly variety instead of picking a single retailer, our cigar of the month clubs guide compares subscription options across the space, and if price is the main driver, best cheap cigars rounds up where to find genuine value regardless of which corporate family a retailer sits under.
FAQ
Is Thompson Cigar the same company as Cigars International?
They share an owner, Scandinavian Tobacco Group, but run as separate consumer-facing brands with their own websites and catalogs. For shopping purposes, treat them as sister storefronts rather than fully independent competitors.
Does common ownership mean the prices are always the same?
No. Shared ownership affects buying power and operations, but each storefront runs its own promotions, bundles, and pricing at any given time — it's still worth comparing both before buying.
Is JR Cigar independently owned?
Not anymore. Altadis took a 51% controlling stake in JR Cigar in 2003, moving it from its family-run roots into a larger tobacco-industry structure, similar to the broader consolidation seen across mail-order cigar retail.
Which major online cigar retailers are still independent?
Famous Smoke Shop is generally cited as one of the larger still-independent, family-operated online cigar retailers, in contrast to the more consolidated ownership behind Thompson Cigar, Cigars International, and JR Cigar.
Conclusion
Thompson Cigar and Cigars International are both owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group, part of a broader consolidation trend that's reshaped online cigar retail over the past decade. That's useful context for comparison shopping, but it shouldn't be the deciding factor — the cigars, pricing, and service on any given order still matter more than which parent company sits behind the storefront.