Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - CIGAR IMPORTS STILL SMOKIN’ AT NEAR-RECORD PACE

CIGAR IMPORTS STILL SMOKIN’ AT NEAR-RECORD PACE

CIGAR IMPORTS STILL SMOKIN’ AT NEAR-RECORD PACE

Plus: our Register & Win winner of the week!

Los Angeles, November 28 – How about a cigar?

That’s a question which seems to be getting asked a lot these days, as evidenced by the remarkable, continued growth of premium cigar imports into the United States.

The Cigar Association of America’s newest report, covering the first nine months of the year, is based on U.S. Customs data and showed strong imports in September totaling 31.35 million cigars. That’s up a very healthy 13.6 percent over the 2005 figures.

For the year, premium cigar imports are rolling along at about 7.5 percent ahead of 2005, already reaching 235.7 million in the first nine months of 2007. At this pace, imports will grow to 334.35 million, third-best ever and just a stone’s throw from the second-place mark of 334.58 million set in 1998, the final year of the Cigar Boom of the 1990s.

That’s almost too good to be true, but at 7-8 percent a year, the cigar industry’s big three – the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua – can handle it.

Imports from the Dominican were up modestly in September (+3.3 percent) and are up nicely for the year, by 3.1 percent, to 126.7 million so far in 2007. Honduran imports are likewise a little, by 3.3 percent for the year to 57.4 million.

The big growth has come from Nicaragua, which will shatter all records for cigar production this year. In the month of September alone, U.S. imports from Nicaragua were up 57.3 percent over 2006 and the year-to-date figures show 48.9 million cigars imported in 2007 against 38.4 million last year for an increase of 27.3 percent.

Even the import totals from the small producers, such as Mexico and the Philippines, are up. Mexican cigar imports are now over the 1.1 million mark for 2007 and are running 20 percent ahead of 2006.

And the thirst for cigars does not stop with premium brands:

• Imports of large cigars of all types, including machine-mades, has exploded this year to 643.3 million through nine months, compared to 577.2 million during the same period last year, an increase of 11.4 percent.

The overwhelming leader in production of these cigars is the Dominican Republic, which sent some 438.6 million large cigars of all types – 126.7 million handmades and 311.9 million machine-mades – to the U.S. in the first six months of 2007. That’s 68.2 percent of the total.

• The forward march of little cigars continues to be strong as well. Imports of these small cigars have gone wild in 2007, totaling 885.5 million through the first nine months of the year. That’s a 24.3 percent increase in a year over the 712.4 million imports during the same period last year.

Even with the mighty increase in import totals, prices have not risen sharply. In the classification for almost all handmade cigars and the largest of the machine-made brands (class H), the declared value of cigars imported into the U.S. through September totaled $220.6 million, up only 2.3 percent from 2006. And the average declared price per cigar in that class – about 82 percent of which are handmade – remained steady at about 77 cents each (yep, that’s all). That’s actually down about two cents each from 2006. U.S. cigar exports remained down for the year in the large-cigar category, even though September was a good month. So far in 2007, large-cigar exports total 95.1 million with Canada responsible for almost a third of the total (31.5 million). Little cigars did much better and are up for the year by 44.9 percent to 162.5 million units.

Are you a geek?
Let there be no doubt that cigars are still important. Even if you think a pocket protector is a fashion statement and prefer using a slide rule to balance your checkbook instead of a calculator or computer, there’s a unique cigar holiday gift just for you!

A company called Fractalspin.com is selling a “geekcessory” called the Circuitboard Cigar Case. It has room for two cigars and the exterior is a computer circuitboard!

There’s no humidification device or hygrometer, but it is high on geekiness. It comes in a choice of exterior colors: green, of course, but blue and red are also offered. The case costs $25.00.

It’s part of a line of circuitboard accesories, which also include coasters, a money clip, a business card case and cigarette case.

And the winner is:
Congratulations to Jeff Cowan of Ukiah, California, winner of our “Register & Win” drawing for a free box of La Gloria Cubana Glorias Extra from our Perelman, Pioneer & Company humidors, courtesy of Mike’s Cigars.

Up for your pleasure this week is a fabulous holiday gift: an Altadis U.S.A. Robusto Seleccion Internacional. This is a case with 10 different robusto-sized cigars (roughly five inches by 50 ring gauge), one each of three different blends from Montecristo, four from H. Upmann and three from Romeo y Julieta. All are made in the Dominican Republic and it’s a great way to try them all without having to buy even a five-pack. This one will be free, however, and it’s provided courtesy of our friends at Mike’s. The box will be awarded in our drawing to be held on Sunday, December 2.

To enter, just click on the “Register & Win” tab above and fill out the required information. If you have entered in the past, there is no need to re-enter; all past entries are carried forward to future drawings. You must be 21 or older to win; good luck!
~ Rich Perelman

Bookmark

Email This

Comments (0) add comment