Illusione distributes Carolina Blue. The Reno, Nevada-based cigar brand will now fulfill the orders for Carolina Elie Cigars via the warehouse in Reno. Carolina Blue Cigars isn’t the first brand that is distributed by Illusione’s parent company, Fumare Internationale. The other brands that Fumare Internationale distributes in the United States are Illusione, Cavalier Geneve, Lampert, Casdagli Cigars, and cigars from the Amendola Family Cigar Company.

The fulfillment agreement gives Carolina Blue Cigars access to the nationwide distribution network of Illusione. And that’s a big deal for the young cigar company from Charlotte, North Carolina. The brand is founded in 2016 and has cigars from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The Dominican cigars are part of the Signature series. The cigars from Nicaragua are the Highway 101 series.

reply all

The story of how this fulfillment agreement came about is unique. Amass e-mail about pending FDA regulations was send to cigar manufacturers, brand owners, retailers, cigar sales reps, and other industry people. Instead of replying to the correct address for more information, people would press “reply all” creating an avalanche of mails. When Christopher Moore, owner of Carolina Blue Cigars, asked everyone to stop and just reply to the original sender, an Illusione representative struck up a conversation. And that led to this fulfillment agreement.

After a 30 year career in the armed forces, Moore started Carolina Blue Cigars in 2016. At first just with the Signature series made at Tabacalera La Puente in the Dominican Republic. Later he added the Nicaraguan cigars. The company’s foundation is deeply rooted in his families’ legacy within the tobacco farming community of Harlowe, NC.