Foundation Cigar Co. Settles Into New Space In The Connecticut River Valley

Jun 9, 2023 | By Gregory Mottola

Nick Melillo, owner of Foundation Cigar Co. lights up in the conference room of his new office in Ellington Connecticut. Modern-day folk art and cigar memorabilia bring some color to the space.

When shade and other tobacco is grown—was non-negotiable. Now, his company has a new home in Ellington, right across the street from a tobacco field, and Melillo couldn’t be happier.

“It would have made more economic sense to operate out of Florida,” Melillo explains as he’s about to light up a not-yet-released cigar. The Connecticut native sits in his office at a rustic, roughly-hewn desk made with planks that look fresh off a sawmill. “But it didn’t make sense in my mind seeing how you have one of the few places in the U.S. growing tobacco here in the Connecticut River Valley.”

The facade of the modest building is painted red to match the color and character of the barns that dot the Connecticut River Valley.

It’s an overcast June day in the Valley, and the planting season for tobacco is just starting. Seedlings are being transplanted from greenhouses to freshly-tilled fields, and this will go on for the next few weeks. Ellington is not far from the Massachusetts border, and the bucolic Valley is home to a patchwork of tobacco farms, most of which are punctuated by distressed red barns that have been standing for decades.

You can’t see Melillo’s office from the country road, but a short drive down a gravely driveway brings you around to the single-story red building that reads “Foundation Cigar Co.” on a makeshift tarp.

The tobacco seedlings here have just been planted, as this is the beginning of Connecticut's growing season. This crop won't reach maturity until August.

“It’s a dream come true to be here. I always wanted an office on a tobacco field,” he says.

That dream was made possible partly by Dunn & Foster, the tobacco growing and brokerage company that not only owns the land where Foundation is based, but sells tobacco to Foundation as well.

Melillo moved his headquarters to the new location last year, but wasn’t fully operating out of the space until January. Previously, Melillo was running the company out of an office in Windsor, another town in the Valley, this one not far from Hartford. That building was also on a tobacco field—a broadleaf farm owned by O.J. Thrall.

In the greenhouse, these seedling trays sit in a pool of water. Grown hydroponically, this tobacco will soon be transplanted to a field.

“They were selling that farm and ended up demolishing the old house where my office was,” Melillo says.

Now that he’s situated in Ellington on the other side of the river, Melillo believes he’s strategically placed. Not only is he close to the tobacco he loves, but he’s close to the tobacco he buys. Melillo uses a Cuban-seed Connecticut Habano wrapper for his Tabernacle Havana Seed CT No. 142 brand. Dunn & Foster grows 300 acres of tobacco, 60 to 70 of which are dedicated to cultivating Connecticut Habano. Being so close to the tobacco allows Melillo to monitor and take an active part in the production process.

The office itself is still a bit on the spartan side, but it’s not without character. Original works of colorful, modern-day folk art hang on the walls, and old cigar memorabilia bring added touches of whimsy to Melillo’s new place of business. It’s not uncommon to see tractors rolling by outside the window, and that’s all part of the charm.

An old tobacco barn, which has weathered decades of wind, rain, hot summers and cold winters, shows its age.

Melillo hopes that he can bring some awareness to the area by holding sales meetings and consumer gatherings in the future. For now, he’s just starting to really settle in.

While all of Foundation’s cigars are made in Nicaragua (with mostly Nicaraguan tobacco), Melillo incorporates Connecticut tobacco in many brands such as the Tabernacle core line, Charter Oak CT Shade.

“The connection between Connecticut and Nicaragua is really the heart and soul of the Foundation Cigar Co.,” he says.

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