It's unfortunate that David Tran didn't learn from the Italians who sell their 900-year-old Parmigiano-Reggiano recipe to this day.
It's a shame, it seemed like the brand was only getting started and becoming recognized globally as a household name. A small battle with their favored supplier costed them much.
Greed will get you in the end!
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/19/how-did-the-huy-fong-foods-s...
Well, years later the cigar roller is now a cigar magnate, and he wanted his business to be owned by himself and his children, not his business partner. So he started another company on the side and started pushing all of his new brands through that company. The farm owner found out, sued him, and they settled out of court for millions with the caveat that the roller would no longer be able to use any of his farm's tobacco.
Cigar roller shrugged his shoulders and kept going. Bought some farmland in Nicaragua and other places, built a fermentation barn, and started growing his own tobacco too, at least what he couldn't source from elsewhere. He also largely stopped making third party cigars aside from his son in law's by way of jacking up the prices on almost all long-run projects by over 100% (to get out of making them). In 20 years he went from being near penniless to being one of the most successful people in the business.
Are the cigars as good as they used to be? Hell no. He used to create cigars for third party vendors that would put most of the best Cuban marcas to shame even when you found a quality box of them. But they're good enough for people who don't remember what they used to be, and that's what counts.
[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/hotsauce/comments/pcw7i0/huy_fong_s...