The New Old Guys: Ventura Cigar Company

(Cigar Aficionado) Ventura Cigar Co., the new California company behind the launch of the new Pura Sangre and Estilo Cubano premium cigar brands, may not be a familiar name to many cigar smokers, but the startup is the brainchild of storied companies with long histories of selling cigars and tobacco products.
Ventura is a subsidiary of Kretek International Group Inc., a Moorpark, California company that has been selling tobacco products for three decades, mostly to convenience store chains. Kretek has a very big business selling little clove cigars under the brand name Djarum. Kretek is an Indonesian word for a clove cigarette—the word is meant to describe the crackling sound made by burning cloves contained in the cigarette. Continued