The man in the cigar

The man behind the cigar is Heinrich Villiger. Such great expertise and so much love for the product „Cuban cigar“ is very impressive. Zigarren.Zone produced a short film in 2019 to mark the 30th anniversary of 5TH Avenue. 5TH Avenue is the official importer of Cuban cigars for Germany, Austria and Poland. There used to be many importers of Cuban cigars in these countries. The former distribution company „Cubatabaco“ dramatically reorganised distribution. That was in 1989.

The short film ~ A crisp 12 minutes of history

The short film „The Man in the Cigar“ spans the years: 1970s, 1989, 2001 and 2019. Three actors tell an impressive and exciting story about why 5TH Avenue sold luxury products by mail order before 1989, why the company decided to focus on Cuban cigars in 1989, how a new course was set in 2001 and how the company is doing in 2019. The three actors are Heinrich Villiger, Barbara Leyva de la Torre and Christoph A. Puszkar.

The first joint venture between a state-owned tobacco company from Cuba and an importer

Before the Castro revolution, the Cuban cigar brands all had their own sales organisations. After the revolution, all cigar producers were nationalised. They were incorporated into the state-owned company Cubatabaco. Cubatabaco now had the logistical problem that the brands all had different import taxes per country. The president of Cubatabaco at the time, Francisco Padron, wanted to change this. He wanted to simplify things. He invited all importers from Europe to Zurich. That was around 1987.

The deal looked like this: There would only be one importer per country and Cubatabaco wanted to have a 50% stake in the company. The importers were all independent companies and rejected this idea. Heinrich Villiger ran 5TH Avenue Products at the time. This was a trading company. It sold products in the luxury segment by mail order. It was a direct marketing company. They also had cigars on offer. The aim of 5TH Avenue was to improve the image of cigars. At that time, the luxury product was no longer so popular in Germany.

Heinrich Villiger recognised the potential in Mr Padron's idea. As Villiger had been doing good business with Cuba for decades, he seized the opportunity. Almost the entire previous 5TH Avenue range was liquidated. From one day to the next, so to speak, „only“ Cuban cigars could be bought at 5TH Avenue; however, it was not the end consumer who could buy them, but the cigar retailers.

5TH Avenue was the first joint venture company to enter into this partnership with the Cuban state-owned company Cubatabaco. After Heinrich Villiger took this bold step and proved how well it worked, other importing countries gradually followed suit.

The man in the cigar - the short film and its actors

In the short film Heinrich Villiger impressively how all this came about. The following also have their say Barbara Leyva de la Torre and Christoph A. Puszkar.

Barbara Leyva de la Torre. Since then, the Cubans have sent their employees to work for the importers from time to time. They stayed for several years. Barbara Leyva de la Torre worked in the finance department of Cubataco at the time (later at the new distribution company Habanos S.A.). She has already worked briefly at 5TH Avenue and has now been here for four years since autumn 2018. She is now Commercial Manager at 5TH Avenue and is responsible for purchasing. She has also previously worked at Intertabak AG, the Swiss importer of Cuban cigars.

Christoph A. Puszkar. He joined 5TH Avenue Products in 2001. He already loved Cuban cigars back then. And so it was almost a hobby for him to be able to do the marketing for Cuban cigars. Today he is head of marketing at 5TH Avenue.

The concept of the short film

In the intro you are transported back to the 1960s. You are sitting in front of an old TV set, so to speak. It is produced in black and white and the film contains picture disturbances; Heinrich Villiger explains in a few short sentences how the Habanos connoisseur „ticks“. The sound also sounds „old“.

The transition to the 1970s Years shows technology focal points; the flowing technology photos are intentionally a little jerky. This scene was produced with a 35mm filter. The image is a little grainy, just as the films were produced back then.

The transition to the 1989 The second year again shows technology focal points. The image of this scene is now significantly „sharper“ and the colours are somewhat „darker and more saturated“.

The transition to the year 2001 also shows technology centres of gravity. The image of this scene is somewhat „softer“ in colour.

The transition into 2019 shows technology highlights one last time. The image of this scene has not been reworked, but shows pure Full HD exactly as it was recorded.

More about Heinrich Villiger >

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