4 tobaccoasia Issue 3, 2026 May / June
38 38
56 56
Undiscovered Treasures of
Nicaragua
KT International: Bulgaria's
Independent Tobacco Champion
CONTENTS
Publisher/Founding Editor
Glenn Anthony John
gaj@octobermultimedia.com
Managing Editor
Nattira Medvedeva
nam@octobermultimedia.com
Contributing Editor
Thomas Schmid
ths@octobermultimedia.com
Special Correspondents
Timothy Donahue
Dr. Allen Liao
Stefanie Rossel
Art Director
Somjet Thitasomboon
Translations
TobaccoChina Online
Administrative Assistant
Aek Jekaram
Subscriptions/Office Assistant
Malisa Kongkatitum
malisa@tobaccoasia.com
Sales Director
Emerson Leonard
edl@octobermultimedia.com
Director, October Inter Co Ltd
Boonthin Tubsongkroh
Editorial/Circulation
Offices Tobacco Asia
October Inter Co. Ltd.
Thamatee Building,
159/19 Soi Ramkhamhaeng 110,
Ramkhamhaeng Road, Sapansung,
Bangkok 10240
Tel +66 2 373 2658.
info@octobermultimedia.com
www.tobaccoasia.com
12 Q&A: De-Demonizing
Nicotine
FRONT Features
20 Australia's Illicit Tobacco
and Vape Crisis
26 Europe's Tobacco Reality
Clash
30 China's Five-Year Plan
Signals a Quiet Health
Pivot
PRODUCT Features
38 Undiscovered Treasures
of Nicaragua
44 Cuba's Cigars: Running
on Sunlight and Hope
48 China's Dual-Driven
Tobacco Retail Model
MANUFACTURING Features
54 Smoke and Transition
56 KT International: Bulgaria's
Tobacco Champion
LEAF TOBACCO Features
62 Bridging Continents:
Global Leaf Suppliers
CLOSING Features
68 China's Fight Against
Illicit Tobacco
70 NYTS 2025: What the
Data Shows
Features
Departments
8 From the Editor
16 Front Page News
34 Product News
50 Manufacturing News
58 Leaf News
66 Closing News
74 Events
74 Advertisers Index
On the Cover…
Tobacco Asia Issue 3, 2026 (May / June)
Primary processing at KTI.
Credit: KTI
