 Plus: Cuba’s Alejandro Robaina on the record in Malaysia
Los Angeles, June 3 – Statistics are much more an art than a science. If you’re a sports fan, you know what I mean. You can use statistics to prove just about anything, but you rarely find someone who will inform you when the numbers change afterward.
But that’s what the Cigar Association of America did this week as they completed a revision on the number of imported, premium cigars into the U.S. from 2001 through last year. The results showed a decrease in the number of premiums actually imported into the U.S., thus:
• 2001: now estimated at 249,297,000
• 2002: now estimated at 250,364,000
• 2003: now estimated at 257,665,000
• 2004: now estimated at 282,135,000
The 2004 figure is down from an original estimate of more than 304 million, which would have been the first time since 1998 that imports surpassed 300 million and only the third time ever.
Nevertheless, if we throw out the “fad” years of 1997 (417.8 million) and 1998 (334.6 million), imports have increased each and every year since 1994. Moreover, the 282.1 million figure for 2004 is the third-highest ever.
The changes came from new figures supplied by the three companies which import machine-made cigars from the Dominican Republic, primarily Altadis U.S.A. and General Cigar. Even so, the continuous rise in cigar imports is impressive, as is the restated increase of almost 8% in first-quarter 2005 imports compared to 2004. At that rate, we’ll hit 304 million, just a year later than we first reported!
Coverage is critical, but reporter can’t look away:
It’s amazing how much media coverage cigars get in today’s strident anti-tobacco environment. The latest example comes from the Richmond Times-Dispatch cover the latest exploits of the Macanudo American Passion bus tour.
Reporter John Reid Blackwell reported dutifully on the exploits of cigar lover Paul DeTrana, who drove to meet the Macanudo bus in Virginia Beach, Virginia and then again in Richmond a week later.
Naturally, the story has DeTrana apologizing for his once-a-week cigar habit . . . now in its 10th year! And it notes that the Macanudo bus carries the Surgeon General’s warning about cigars on both side panels.
But the story also quotes one of the Macanudo “ambassadors” who accompany the bus on tour, Jay Lewis, who advised readers “[l]ook for a flawless wrapper and a nice ‘luster’ or sheen of oils on the surface; avoid a cigar that crumbles or flakes, and squeeze it to make sure it’s filled with enough tobacco.”
Blackwell also noted that the Richmond stop was also in the U.S. headquarters city of Swedish Match, which now owns the Macanudo brand through the completion of its purchase of General Cigar earlier this year. According to the story, Swedish Match “plans to move General Cigar’s headquarters from New York to Richmond next year, along with a small number of employees.”
Robaina on the record:
The New Straits Times of Malaysia recently covered a charity dinner and auction featuring Havana cigars and reporter Anthea de Lima took the opportunity to interview the guest of honor, famed Cuban tobacco farmer Alejandro Robaina.
At 85, Robaina continues to travel the globe to promote Cuban cigars in general and his Vegas Robaina brand in particular. He told the reporter, through an interpreter:
• “I come from a family of tobacco growers and I remember that I had my first cigar at age 10.”
• Robaina still smokes four cigars a day when at home in Cuba and two per day when traveling. “I used to smoke 14 cigars a day, but I have had to cut down because of my age.” His smoking pattern starts with smaller, lighter cigars and then expand in size and strength during the day.
• Robaina’s father, Maruto Robaina, was widely known as a top tobacco grower in Cuba until the time of his death in 1950. Alejandro Robaina is still involved is the oversight of the family’s farms, but his grandson Hirochi is also involved as the fifth generation of Robaina growers.
Finally, the reporter – at best a cigar novice – asked Robaina “if could explain, in simple terms, the difference between a good and bad cigar. As may have been expected from someone who has devoted his life to the craft, Robaina said: ‘There is no such thing as a bad cigar although it is important to choose the right one for you. Start with a cigar meant for beginners and proceed from there and you can be sure that if you do it right, you will be a cigar man for life.’”
~ Rich Perelman
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