Write to James Leavey

When you look at the close relationship between Jemma Freeman and her late father, Nicholas, you start thinking that maybe there's some truth in that old belief, “sons take after their mothers; daughters take after their dads.” 

Jemma's great great great grandfather, James Reykers Freeman, was born in England and his mother came from a cigar family in Holland.  J.R., as he was known, went to Holland in the 1830s, where he learned how to make cigars.  When he returned to London he became probably the first person to manufacture cigars in Britain, in 1839, under the business name of  J.R. Freeman and Son. 

J.R.'s business has since prospered through six generations, initially from J.R. to George Freeman, to 'D.G.' Freeman who, with his three sons, built J.R. Freeman into the second largest cigar manufacturer in the UK, with a thriving export business.

In the late 1920s,  J.R. Freeman bought J. Frankau & Co., which owned the H. Upmann factory in Havana and the world rights to the brand. In 1935, D.G. sold the Upmann factory to Alonso Menendez who, with his partner, Pepe Garcia, went on to create the Montecristo cigar.

Due to World War II, no Havana cigars came into England from 1939 until 1953.

“Cuba had a dollar currency, and during this time the British weren't allowed to spend any dollars except on war materials,” said Jemma. “When the war hit, J. Frankau had no cigars to import, and no business. We did a joint venture with Menendez Garcia and set up a factory in Jamaica, which became one of the biggest factories on that island and produced cigars right through the war. When Cuban cigars came back on to the market in 1953, we sold the Jamaican factory to the management”.

In 1947, Gallaher's bought J.R. Freeman from one of D.G.'s sons, Robert Freeman; J. Frankau was included in the deal. Robert then joined the main board of Gallaher’s, left in 1953 and bought back J. Frankau. 

 In 1954, Freeman acquired the business of John Hunter, Morris & Elkin,  the oldest Havana importer in the UK, and ran them as two totally separate companies; controlling about 20 per cent of the imports of Havanas into the UK. They then went into partnership with Roy Siemssen, and went public in 1957 as the Siemssen Hunter Group.

In 1962, after qualifying as a chartered accountant, Nicholas Freeman joined the Group on the cigar side. In 1963,  he masterminded the amalgamation of John Hunter, Morris & Elkan and J. Frankau & Co and created Hunters & Frankau. 

“At that time, the whole tobacco industry was in the doldrums, and people were talking about the end of the tobacco industry,” said Jemma. “My father diversified into educational publishing within this public company, which was then split into 60 per cent  publishing and 40 per cent tobacco.

“In 1979, the group was sold. My father engineered a management buyout of the cigar division, restoring Hunters & Frankau to the status of a private company with the majority shareholding in the hands of the Freeman family, where it remains today.”

In 1990, Hunters & Frankau acquired Knight Brothers, which had the Romeo y Julieta agency, and had been taken over by the Cubans.

“We gave the Cubans stock in Hunters & Frankau in return for their share in Knight Brothers and that's how we inherited Cuban shareholders in Hunters & Frankau Ltd, our trading division,” said Jemma. “In 1993, we acquired Joseph Samuel & Sons, who had always been one of the biggest Cuban cigar importers in the U.K. And that gave us all the Cuban business”

Today, Hunters & Frankau Ltd is the exclusive agent for all Cuban cigars in the UK and has the exclusive rights in the UK. for Agio Dutch and Villiger cigars. The company also imports Dominican and Honduran cigars, including Santa Damiana and Macanudo.

Jemma Freeman was born in 1974, and educated at Marlborough College and Manchester University. During her school holidays she worked in Fox’s cigar outlet in Harrods under the expert tutelage of Jean Clark, and in Fox’s cigar shop at 19 St James' Street. She also worked for Tom Assheton while he was setting up TomTom cigars, after which she went into brand consultancy and became a strategic planner for an advertising agency.

When Nicholas Freeman, who was then chairman of Hunters and Frankau, died at the age of 62, in 2000, Jemma decided to join the family business.  It helped that she had long enjoyed sampling the family's well-known, if politically incorrect, products; her favourite cigar is a Trinidad Reyes.

“I was about eight when I tried my first cigar,” she said.  “It was whatever my father was smoking at the time, probably a Montecristo No.1. He had a friend at home who was smoking a pipe so I tried both. I preferred the cigar.”

She certainly couldn't have asked for a better teacher.

“My father taught me to be honest, to never do a deal that didn’t benefit all parties and to plan ahead,” said Jemma. “He also taught me to treat cigars with respect and the same goes for everyone involved at all levels. The cigar world is an exceptionally close community and most of all he showed by example that he loved the industry and enjoyed every minute he spent working in it.”

Jemma Freeman is now director of business development and export markets, in her family's company. Her mother sits on the board and her brother, Charlie, has just joined the business.

“I  believe that exactly the same challenges face me as face any other young person entering our industry, as well as the same opportunities,” said Jemma. “So far I have received great support from the trade and those associated with the industry.  I owe my father a great debt for the affection and respect that is still there for his name in the industry, which has helped me enormously.

“But I have also been lucky to work closely with a number of women in the last few years, all of whom are extremely good at their jobs and have taught me a great deal. These include Ana Lopez, former marketing director at  Habanos S.A., and now a corporate director at Hunters & Frankau; Marie-Louise Bots at Altadis USA; Simone Hees at Villiger, and, not least, the skilled women who work on the retail side of the trade like Jean Clark and Magali de la Cruz of Fox’s Harrods and Bavna Patel of Broadweighs.

“Smoking cigars is a great British tradition and very much part of our culture. It is not only a refined hobby but a complete passion for many and not one that I believe will ever disappear. Quite the opposite, sales in America are reportedly booming and there is certainly a great deal of interest here in the UK in all things cigar-related and Cuban.

“The average British Havana lover smokes 3-4 cigars a week and he or she will always find somewhere to light up; there are a number of prestige bars, restaurants and hotels around the country developing cigars divans for this very reason. I do not believe there will be a blanket ban in the UK, but I do believe the number of places we will be able to smoke in will be reduced.  Almost certainly those places that choose to remain smoker-friendly will be enormously successful, as has been witnessed in New York.

“There is no reason to believe we will not be selling cigars in the UK in ten year's time.  The demand is there, production levels are up, and the quality is fantastic. We have been selling cigars for two centuries, despite countless hurdles and challenges, and I see no reason for that to end in the foreseeable future.”

The UK's tobacco business, especially cigarettes and pipes, may be facing an uncertain future, but when it comes to cigars one thing is certain: Nicholas Freeman would be proud of his daughter.