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“OF COURSE YOU CAN SMOKE. IT’S A CIGAR FESTIVAL.” |
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 Plus: Good results for Grand Havana Rooms
Los Angeles, February 14 – Remember Cuba’s ban on indoor smoking that went into effect a week ago today?
Will it impact the nearly 1,000 delegates ready to descend on Havana for the seventh Festival del Habano that starts next Monday?
No way, said Habanos Vice President Manuel Garcia last Thursday. “Of course you can smoke. It’s a cigar festival.”
Cuban President Fidel Castro introduced the indoor smoking ban by calling his country’s most famous product poison:
“I give people cigars and tell them it is poison. I say: smoke them if you like.”
Now the strictures of the ban are lifted, at least for the delegates to the Festival, which will take place from next Monday, February 21 through Friday, February 25.
Garcia told the Reuters news service, “In the current restrictive environment for our product around the world, it was predictable that Cuba would enforce this kind of law.”
However, speaking much louder is the flood of dollars which cigars – and the Festival – bring to a desperate Cuban economy. Although official export figures have not been provided for a couple of years, Cuba exports about 120 million cigars a year and earned between $250-300 million in hard currency in 2004, up from $225-250 million in 2003, depending on which report you read.
The Festival itself is no slouch in the fund-raising department, either. Reuters reported about 950 registrants from 52 countries with a week to go, each paying registration fees of up to $1,400 for seminars, tours and special events like the famed final awards dinner. That alone will bring in about $1 million plus about another million from hotel, transportation and cigar buying while those delegates are in Havana. That doesn’t count the more than $500,000 which will be donated to the Cuban Health Service from the auction, which is one of the highlights of the final dinner.
The Festival program itself will showcase the 160th anniversary of the Partagas brand with the introduction of the Serie P No. 2, a 6 1/8-inch by 52-ring torpedo in the same size as the Montecristo No. 2 and the new Seleccion Reserva featuring Serie D No. 4 robustos (4 7/8 x 50) made with three-year-old tobaccos and offered in special boxes of 20.
Although Americans will certainly be among the registrants at the Festival, all but a very few will be doing so in violation of the U.S. government’s trade embargo. Such restrictions are even more pathetic in light of recent announcements from politicians like Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, who will visit on an official trade mission from March 8-11. She’s looking to sell Louisiana-grown agricultural, wood and medical products to the Cubans, who are rocketing up the ladder of U.S. farm-products buyers and now one of our top ten export buyers. Too bad the farmers who grow the food can’t go to Cuba to see if any of it actually gets to the Cuban people.
Grand Havana Looking Grander:
Grand Havana Enterprises, operators of tony cigar clubs in Beverly Hills and New York, filed SEC-required reports for its 2003 and 2004 fiscal years and showed welcome positive financial results through September of 2004.
The first Grand Havana Room opened in Beverly Hills in 1995 and additional clubs opened in Washington, D.C. and New York in 1997. The Washington club closed in 1999. But the California and New York clubs have full membership rosters and waiting lists. The Grand Havana rooms are especially noteworthy for private lockers for each member, full food and bar service and often, availability of hard-to-find cigars for sale to members.
The enterprise had never made money until the 2004 fiscal year which ended in September. Final figures showed a profit of $837,150 on total revenues of $8.021 million. In fact, the newest SEC filing states that the New York club enjoyed an operations profit of $1.2 million and Beverly Hills showed net revenue of $523,592 in 2004.
That’s good news for the Grand Havana membership and for CEO Stan Shuster, finally able to claim a profit. It’s another signal of better stability for smokers and for cigar-specific locations which can cater to them in style with food, drink and an elegant smoking environment.
Our February Combo Offer:
Naturally we have a special offer if you’d like to enjoy the new, 2005 Perelman’s Pocket Cyclopedia of Havana Cigars, along with our value-packed CigarWire service: just $32. It includes:
• A one-year subscription to the CigarWire and
• A copy of the new 2005 Perelman’s Pocket Cyclopedia of Havana Cigars!
That’s normally a $41.95 value, but we’re offering this special, discounted price through the end of this month only.
Your subscription will also include our “Week in Review” newsletter sent each Thursday with a summary of our top stories of the week!
~ Rich Perelman
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