Culbro, LLC has a rich history that dates back to 1848, when Ferdinand Kullman, a wine merchant from Germany, immigrated to the United States. His son, Joseph, went to work for a tobacco merchant and, in 1904, his son, Joseph Jr. entered the tobacco business.

Joseph Jr. began growing tobacco in Connecticut and his company, Cullman Brothers, ultimately became one of the largest growers of tobacco wrapper leaf in the state. Joseph Jr.’s son, Edgar (now one of the three partners of Culbro, LLC), also went into the cigar business and ultimately bought General Cigar in 1961.

Under Edgar’s leadership, General Cigar became the largest premium cigar manufacturer and marketer in the US with prestigious brands like Macanudo and Partagas and sales in excess of $170 million in 2005.

Over the years, the cigar business was always the core of General Cigar, but in the 1970s and 1980s, the company diversified its holdings and changed its name to Culbro Corporation.

During those years, it acquired, managed and sold a large number of businesses including Ex-Lax, Bachman, a snack food company, The Eli Witt Company, a wholesale distributor of tobacco products, candy, food, health and beauty aids and general merchandise, Centaur Communications, a publishing company, and CMS Gilbreth Packaging Systems, a manufacturer and marketer of packaging and labeling systems. Culbro Corporation also formed the Culbro Realty and Development Corporation which ultimately became Griffin Land & Nurseries, Inc. and invested in HF, which ultimately became Doral Financial Corporation. Both of these companies are public spin-offs.

Edgar Cullman’s son, Edgar, joined Culbro Corporation in 1974 and his grandson, David Danziger, joined the company in 1994. In 1997, Culbro Corporation was split up into General Cigar and Griffin Land & Nurseries, Inc. and General Cigar went public. In 1999, General Cigar sold off its mass market cigar business to Swedish Match and then in 2000 went private with Swedish Match as its partner. Swedish Match subsequently purchased the Cullman family ownership of General Cigar in 2005.

Culbro, LLC was formed in 2005 to reinvest the proceeds from the sale of General Cigar.