cuban cigars

Cuban Cigar Sales Down, Bad Decisions Averted

Filed under: Cigars

Why are sales of Cuban cigars down? The minute the subprime mortgage crisis turned global, of course, demand had no place to go but down. And, there's always the quality issue that has plagued manufacturers in recent years. So far, the damage hasn't been bad.

Habanos S.A., which makes the storied Montecristo, Cohiba and Partagas brands, moved $390 million in 2008. That's a drop of 3 percent from 2007. The company, a joint venture involving the Cuban government and Altadis, says that this hasn't affected profits significantly.

Unsurprisingly, Habanos blames smoking bans in France, Germany and the United Emirates (among others) in addition to the financial crisis. If you can't find a place to smoke, you aren't likely to do it as much (a trial I endured in Scotland last year).

But, economic conditions are still the main event, particularly when you consider the secondary effects.

International travel took a dive last year ... to the tune of 11 percent. What's that mean? American cigar dilettantes weren't able to piss away as much on Cuban sticks as they may have in the past. Duty free shops thus moved fewer cigars than usual, with total sales in these venues down 24 percent from 2007 to 2008.

Despite the slip in sales and claims that profitability isn't seriously impaired, Habanos isn't optimistic about the future. On the subject of the U.S. embargo on Cuba, typically a favorite topic of speculation, the company would only say that it has "much worse problems to deal with in the world."

[Via Latin American Herald Tribune, photo by Steve Zak]

Tags: cigar, cigars, cohiba, cuba, cuban, cuban cigars, CubanCigars, economic crisis, economic downturn, EconomicCrisis, EconomicDownturn, economy, financial, financial crisis, financialcrisis, habanos, montecristo, mortgage crisis, MortgageCrisis, smoke, smoker, smokers, smoking, smoking ban, SmokingBan, tobacco, tobacco industry, TobaccoIndustry

$16,000 Box of Pre-Embargo Cuban Cigars at Auction

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars, Spirits, Wine, Auctions

A rare box of pre-embargo Romeo y Julieta Cuban cigars stars in Christie's Fine and Rare Wines and Vintage Cigars sale in London this Thursday. Expected to fetch up to $16,000, the box of 100 cigars from Winston Churchill's favored brand, labeled "Selección de Luxe", was originally purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York prior to the enactment of the U.S. embargo against Cuba in 1962. The mint condition cigars in a wooden presentation case consist of 25 Petit Coronas, 25 Coronas, and 25 each of two sizes of Perfectos. Also featured in the luxurious sale are several cases of vintage Krug champagne, headed by a couple cases of Vintage 1985 estimated at about $3,000 each.

Tags: Champagne, Christies, Cuba, Cuban cigars, CubanCigars, Krug, Romeo y Julieta, RomeoYJulieta

Hunters & Frankau Cigar Sets

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Two new cigar gift packs have been put together exclusively for the British market by a partnership between Hunters & Frankau and Habanos S.A.. Both of the companies are distributors of Cuban cigars, Hunters & Frankau in Britain and Habanos S.A. internationally. The Cohiba set (£79) comes with four individually packed Siglo IV cigars and the Trinidad set (£69) includes three individually packed Robusto Extra cigars. Each of the two limited edition sets comes in a varnished wooden box, and only 1,000 of each will be made available.

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Tags: britain, cigar, cigars, cohiba, cuban cigars, cubans, england, uk

Cigar Sales Going Strong in Cuba

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cigars

Cuban cigars are still going strong. The country sold about 160 million cigars last year in a $350 million business exporting cigars to Asia and Europe. The total was in line with recent years’ sales. The world market for premium cigars is about 400 million, half of which are sold in the United States although Cuban cigars can not be legally sold here. I wonder how many counterfeit Cubans were sold in the U.S. last year and what the numbers would be if Cuban cigars could be sold here.

[vintage poster via Havana Mike]

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Tags: cigars, cuban cigars, CubanCigars, exports from cuba, habanos, havana

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