It's possible that Sam finally got exposed to a corona sized cigar and had an epiphany. Hey these are great, what was I thinking? Hard to continue the evangelical promotion when your heart lies elsewhere.
Or - the owners of the old line cigar company possibly wanted to take back control of the dialog from their self promoting front man.
Or - There's only room in town for one sheriff kind of thing is the most likely scenario. He'll pop up elsewhere. Maybe K Hansottia will bring him on as his "Master blender".
Pretty difficult to start a vertically integrated cigar manufacturing company from scratch - so assume mucho hype, but in the end a known company will be making the "Leecias" or By "Sam Leecias".