Zechbauer History

Munich cigar tradition since 1830

It all began in Munich over seven generations ago. With an idea. Max Zechbauer, who founded the company ‘Max Zechbauer Tabakwaren’ in 1830, was the first tobacco merchant to import cigars from Havana to Germany. As a result, the small family business, which began as early as 1795 with Franz and Anna Zechbauer's grocer's shop and initially traded in chewing tobacco and snuff, developed into Germany's first speciality shop for cigars.

The picture on the left shows the Zechbauer house around 1930 with the shop on the ground floor.

The family business grows

The flourishing family business opened a colonial goods shop in the arcades of Munich's Hofgarten. And Max Zechbauer Tabakwaren was finally appointed purveyor to the Bavarian royal court in 1886, even supplying the Vatican, the Russian tsar's court and Europe's royal houses. In the 19th century, a further 14 European court purveyor titles followed.

In 1911, Zechbauer acquired the house on Residenzstraße, which has been known as Zechbauer-Haus ever since and where the original shop is still located today. To round off the exquisite range of tobacco products, Zechbauer finally started producing its own brand of cigars. For this house brand, cigars and cigarillos are specially made by hand in Germany from high-quality imported tobaccos. In 1973, the friendship with Zino Davidoff began and Zechbauer became the world's first supplier of Davidoff cigars outside Switzerland.

The picture on the right shows the certificate of appointment as Purveyor to the Royal Bavarian Court (1905).

A world for connoisseurs in the digital age

Today, Max Zechbauer Tabakwaren can look back on almost 200 years of history and still resides in its historic shop in the heart of the city. As the oldest specialist cigar shop in Munich, Zechbauer is now one of the best tobacconists in Europe. In 2013, Zechbauer was honoured with the ‘First Davidoff Golden Band Award Europe’ - the unofficial cigar Oscar - as one of the top five cigar retailers in Europe for its many years of service and current successes. The company is still owned by the Zechbauer family, who carry on the legacy of the founder with a keen sense of flavour and tradition.

The handmade cigars and cigarillos from the company's own production continue to enjoy great popularity. Zechbauer also sells a large selection of tobacco products from all well-known manufacturers worldwide. As an official partner of Davidoff, Zechbauer is still the only retailer in Munich authorised to exclusively offer the premium brand's tobacco products. In 1998, Zechbauer Tabakwaren was one of the first tobacco retailers to open a branch on the Internet. Since then, a wide range of over 500 tobacco products can be purchased via the online shop.

The picture on the left shows the Zechbauer store today.