Los Angeles – The peak year of the Cigar Boom
came in 1997, when imports of premium cigars jumped as
astounding 71.6 percent to a still-frightening total of
417.8 million. The following year, the figures were
reduced, but a still sensational 334.6 million cigars
were imported in what is generally considered the last
year of the fad.
But that 1998 figure has been surpassed. The final,
full-year import figures for 2007 from the Cigar
Association of America showed that, despite the
smoking bans and higher taxes in many locations, imports
of premium cigars increased 7.8 percent to the
second-highest total on record: 335,167,000.
The record total came as imports for December of 2007
rose by 16.5 percent over 2006 and brought the year to a
noteworthy close, surpassing a Boom-time total that many
industry executives thought would not be challenged for
a long time. Now only the white-hot 1997 total is
larger.
As usual, the parade of cigar-making nations was led by
the Dominican Republic. Exports of premium cigars to the
U.S. rose 3.8 percent over 2006 to a total of 177.7
million, fifth-best in the country’s history. Combined
with exports of 408.7 million machine-made cigars and
the Dominican continued its reign as the world’s largest
maker of cigars at 586.3 million units. And that total
doesn’t count an additional 264,000 little cigars!
Honduras retained, at least for one more year, the
runner-up spot with 84.6 million cigars exported to the
U.S., up 4.7 percent from 2006. A total of 21.3 million
machine-made cigars was also produced in Honduras and
exported to the U.S. for a countrywide total of 105.9
million, the country other than the Dominican with more
than 100 million cigars exported to the U.S.
The hard-charger on the American market is Nicaragua,
which saw its fourth straight year of increased cigar
exports to the U.S. The 2007 total reached 69.2 million,
up by a substantial 22.7 percent over 2006 and more than
double the 2003 figure of just 33.0 million.
Taken together, the output from just these three
countries total 331.1 million cigars or 98.8 percent of
all U.S. premium imports. Other countries which
registered significant import totals include the Bahamas
(1.5 million), Mexico (1.4 million) and the Phillippines
(676,000).
American imports also include machine-made cigars, of
course and some 554.2 million machine-made cigars came
in during 2007, although there are questions about 63
million of these cigars which might have been
mis-classified. Still, the American cigar market – by
far the world’s largest – comprised 889.4 million large
cigars and another 311.2 million small cigars for a
total of just more than 1.2 billion cigars of all kinds.
That’s a lot of cigars and is up 11.9 percent over the
2006 totals.
>> Starting with the Avo 75 in 2001, a
special Avo cigar has been released each spring and 2008
is no different. Welcome the Avo "Tesoro" to the family!
"Tesoro" means treasure and Avo Uvezian,
working with Hendrik Kelner at
Tabadom Holding in Santiago in the Dominican
Republic has come up with a unique new cigar that’s
unlike anything in the current Avo lines. For one thing,
it’s presented upright in a two-row box of 10 cigars per
row, or 20 per box. The cigars do have a traditional
band just below the head, but rather a single band
around the foot! Finally, the cigars are packed head in,
so only the foot – with its band – is visible when
opening the box.
The cigars themselves have an Ecuadorian sun-grown
wrapper, Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves of
Dominican-grown Piloto, Olor and San Vicente tobaccos.
That gives the blend a spicy flavor in a medium-bodied
cigar that measures 5 3/4 inches long by 50 ring gauge.
>> General Cigar announced that it is
ending production of the Kahlua Cigars Delicioso
brand on March 31. The license agreement by which the
Kahlua name was used was not renewed by the new brand
owner, spirits marketer Pernod Ricard.
The original agreement, from 2002, was with the brand’s
previous owner, Allied Domecq, which
sold the brand in 2005.
All of the existing Kahlua inventory will be able to be
sold. And General is hardly out of the flavored premium
cigar business. When the Drew Estates
deal to make Kahlua was made, General did not make
flavored cigar sin its General Cigar Dominicana factory.
It does now, with two styles of the Helix Remix
line: the Amaretto-flavored blend introduced in 2005 and
the new Café Mocha style, introduced last year.
>> Short fillers: The highly-successful
inaugural ProCigar Festival in the
Dominican Republic ended with a bang on March 7 with a
final evening gala that included a sumptuous dinner,
entertainment and an auction of rare cigar items to
raise money for a home for senior citizens, the
Hospicio San Vicente de Paul. The biggest
earner at auction was no surprise: a specially-created
Davidoff humidor with just 72 cigars in
it, but they included the Davidoff limited-edition
blends from 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, plus two 100
Aniversario specials, 16 of the 2006 Robusto and two of
the magnificent Davidoff Diademas Finas 100 Aniversario
perfectos of 9 1/2 inches and 55 ring. After some
spirited bidding, it was sold for $5,500. A total of
$50,000 was raised, including $1,100 from the sale of
two of Avo Uvezian’s straw hats! . . . find our latest
tasting review, of some new blends in the
Oliveros lines, in our News & Views archives
for March 14.
Heard in the Humidor is a publication of
Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2008; All rights
reserved.
