About Us
ORIGINAL TOBACCO COMPANY INC.
Canada's First Organic Tobacco Company
Original Tobacco Company Inc. (OTC) was formed in 2003 by five 3rd generation tobacco farm families from Southwestern Ontario, Canada and is located in one of Ontario's most agriculturally diverse areas known as the Norfolk Sand Plain.
The first certified flue-cured organic tobacco crop for sale in Canada was produced by one of the Original Tobacco Company's founding members with the cooperation of all the partners. The crop was planted on a 2.5 acre plot of land with just over 4,500 pounds of certified organic tobacco being produced.
Original Tobacco Company was able to purchase the first crop through the Ontario regulated marketing system in the spring of 2005. OTC was the first Canadian company to "direct contract" with tobacco growers beginning in 2005. Once the crop was purchased, Original Tobacco proceeded with the market research and development phase of the project.
We continue with research and development in the agricultural production of certified organic tobacco under Canadian climatic conditions. OTC is now able to conclude that certified organic tobacco production can be a viable alternative for the purpose of growing and selling high quality organic tobacco to the global market.
The Principles
The OTC partners are: Steve Gubesch, Ron Meulemeester, Frank Schonberger, George Schonberger and Marcel Vanhooren.
This group saw an increasing demand by consumers for all types of organic products. They held a strong belief that the need for organic tobacco would also be in high demand by the manufacturers of consumer tobacco products.
The founders also believed that the way to develop the market and build value in their company was to deliver the highest quality product combined with uncompromising integrity. They provided their customers with documented proof that the product complied with all organic standards through certification. Customers soon realized that the quality was also highly ranked world-wide. The result has been year over year growth with the focus on quality and integrity thanks to the continuous involvement of these five original families.
The Product
Canadian organic tobacco from OTC provides its international customers with several unique advantages:
- A clear alternative to traditionally grown tobacco products.
- It is clean and higher yielding than other origins.
- Its properties make it easy to blend with other origins.
- Organic integrity is protected through audited processes and third party certification from seed to final packed product.
