Arnold André is one of Germany’s leading cigar manufacturers. 

The company can boast two major success factors: in 1958, Arnold André managed to combine his financial skills and a strong entrepreneurial vision, which meant he benefited when the machinery ban was lifted in the cigar industry. The ban had been introduced in 1933, and Arnold André quickly moved his entire production to machinery. This shift was accompanied by the further development of HANDELSGOLD, the first cigar brand distributed in Germany. HANDELSGOLD has been hugely successful, joining the VW Beetle and the kidney-shaped table as an icon of the "economic miracle" in post-war Germany. More than half of the German company's cigars and cigarillos are now exported to foreign countries, and this figure keeps on growing. The positive development led to the establishment of distribution companies in France and Portugal and the company opened its factory in the Dominican Republic in 2011. Despite the globalisation of the company and its presence on the world market, it has remained true to its roots. "Bünde is my home and also that of the German tobacco industry. There is a reason why Bünde is still known as the cigar town," explains Axel-Georg André, a 7th generation shareholder.