Founded by Barrington House International's Barrington Adams, a direct descendant of one of the most heralded tobacco estates in Jamaica, Barrington Hall, Barrington Cigars continues to do well on the overseas market.

Barrington Cigars currently operates from its factory in Kingston, with a corporate office in New York, and plans to open a sales office in Montego Bay to further export Jamaican cigars which are in high demand worldwide.

Employing an approximate 22 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 Margaret 'MJ' Adams, Jamaican cigars have exploded on the overseas market.

expanding markets

"We export large-scale to the United States, Germany, Canada and, more recently, we have successfully 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 Adams, selling Barrington cigars to the local market has been getting better but has had its challenges. Having participated in Jamaica Promotions Corporation's (JAMPRO) Business Linkages Programme at the 2011 Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) tourism trade fair held in Montego Bay, has come a long way in realising the company's dream of selling its products to the local market.

The 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 Grand Bahia Principe, Chukka Caribbean, Iberostar and Superclubs.

"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," said Adams.

Another avenue that opened for the cigar manufacturer following last year is the expansion into weddings.

"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.