It all began in Svendborg, a delightful little town with a picturesque port in the cold waters of the Baltic Sea, in Denmark. Here, a small tobacco manufacturer opened in 1826. After being purchased by the Halberg family, over time it evolved to become the biggest family-run tobacco business in Northern Europe.
In 1887 Mr. Harald Halberg grasped the potential of tobacco trading and decided to purchase the small factory in the city centre of Svendborg whose sign bore the name “S. Bønnelyckes Tobaksfabrik”.
Harald Halberg immediately decided to rename the company, and from that moment on it was known as the Harald Halberg Cigar and Tobacco Factories, and then changed again to the Harald Halberg Tobacco Factories.
Mr. Halberg had two sons, Otto and Einar, to whom he handed down all his passion for tobacco, thereby laying the bases for the running of the future family business. Otto and Einar both contributed, like their father Harald, to the company’s growth. Nevertheless, it was Jørgen Halberg, Einar Halberg’s son, who created and launched onto the market one of the most successful products in the company’s entire history, the famous Mac Baren blends, which still prove popular among pipe smokers all over the globe.
The Mac Baren blends were so succesful that in 1995 the company’s name changed again to Mac Baren Tobacco Company, in honour of Jørgen’s vision and genius. Jørgen’s son, Henrik Halberg ran the company until his untimely death in 2021. Today, at the helm of the company is Simon Sophus Nielsen.
The Story of our company is filled with tradition, sacrifice and a desire to innovate and grow, with an unwavering focus on quality products.
To this day, Mac Baren Tobacco Company belongs 100% to the Halberg family, which has for a generous five generations guided it to become one of the leaders on the pipe tobacco market, ranking Mac Baren as the second largest producer in the world.
The acquisition in 2013 of the Sutliff Tobacco Company, which previously belonged to Altadis USA and the acquisition of some brands of the Imperial Tobacco Group portfolio in 2015 was significant in achieving this goal and notably extending the company’s product portfolio.
Ministry of Snus was established under Mac Baren Tobacco Company in 2018, built upon Mac Baren’s core values and generations of know-how. Built around a unique democratic model, MoS focuses on authentic and flavourful solutions in the emerging chew bag market.
Additionally, 2019 also marked the acquisition and continuation of renowned German tobacco manufacturer Planta and its distribution company Unitas, potentially extending the Mac Baren portfolio of Roll Your Own and Pipe tobaccos with more than a handful of new and exciting brands.
In 2022, we relocated the sales and marketing office, a field force, the warehouse, and logistics to Hamburg under a new company name Mac Baren Germany.
Further, in autumn 2022 Ministry of Snus expanded with a new sales company, Ministry of Snus, Sweden, located in Stockholm, supplemented by a field force.
Over the years, Mac Baren Tobacco Company has managed to use to its best advantage the tradition and experience ensuing from a long history as makers of pipe tobacco blends to create rolling tobacco and smokeless products of the highest quality, which are sold in over 80 different countries today.
These days, Mac Baren brand is recognised as a synonym for quality by smokers across the globe and we could not be prouder of our history and extremely grateful to everyone who, with their hard work, commitment and devotion, has contributed to writing this history.