Santa Fe Little Cigars from for highly qualified tobacco experts
Based on the idealistic idea of producing Santa Fe Little Cigars with genuine tobacco based on the Indian models without any additives, the company Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company was founded in 1982 by three ambitious pioneers. Initially, the small company had only one location at the old Santa Fe loading station and sold tobacco products from sustainable tobacco growing there. In order to do justice to the company philosophy, brown natural paper was printed on the packaging with the portrait of an Indian chief sitting by the campfire smoking a pipe. Due to another investor, the company grew slowly but steadily and was able to gain additional shareholders over the years.
However, the company’s success only really took hold when the supervisory board elected Robin Sommers as chairman of the board in 1989. The Texas sales and marketing expert campaigned for highly qualified tobacco experts to develop a proprietary tobacco blend of Santa Fe Little Cigars that could be brought into production under the registered Natural American Spirit brand. The creative department transformed the former packaging with the significant Indian portrait into an independent cigarette brand logo. Sales were made exclusively through direct company channels, excluding trade. No advertising and sponsorship measures were taken to promote the Santa Fe Little Cigars. Within a few years, a loyal fan base of Natural American Spirit tobaccos was created.
When Michael Wittrock from Hamburg came to Santa Fe in 1996 and discovered the blue cigarette packet with the Indian portrait, he was so enthusiastic that he wanted to learn more about the producer. At this point, he had been marketing cigarettes for ten years. His interest in the Natural American Spirit brand was so great that he bought some shares and was able to convince the unconventional tobacco manufacturer to export Natural American Spirit cigarettes to Europe. In 1997 Michael Wittrock and his partners from Santa Fe founded the European headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. From 1998, the Santa Fe Little Cigars brand was also sold in Germany by a dedicated 3-man team from an office in Hamburg. PR campaigns and many convinced Natural American Spirit smokers ensured that the tobacco brand made of pure tobacco without additives was increasingly in demand.