Thursday, August 03 2006
As smoking bans extend around the world, so do cigar bars.
The latest example comes from the European Cigar-Cult Journal, which reported in its summer issue that three major stadiums in Germany opened smoking lounges in advance of this summer's World Cup.
Giant spaces in Dortmund's Signal-Iduna Park, Hamburg's AOL Arena and the famed Olympiastadion in Berlin were converted to accommodate smokers and are sponsored by the cigar giant Dannemann, well-known not just for their machine-made cigars, but also an excellent handmade line from Brazil.
The Dortmund and Berlin stadium spaces can accommodate more than 300 and the Hamburg lounge has space for over 500! Perhaps the most startling feature is the bar in the Berlin Olympiastadion, which is more than 100 meters (about 330 feet) long!
Dannemann's lounges are the first of their type reported in major European sports venues. In the U.S., three Major League Baseball parks have cigar bars (the first was the Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar in Tampa in 1998) and the first cigar lounge in an NFL stadium (a Club Macanudo) opened last season at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, home of the Washington Redskins. They won't be the last.
Altadis U.S.A. has quietly introduced a new full-bodied brand whose packaging is reminiscent of the boldly-successful "The Edge" introduced by Rocky Patel in 2004. The Omar Ortez Originals are made in Nicaragua and named for a roller at the Nicaragua America Tobacco S.A. (NATSA) factory. Offered in three shapes, Robusto (5 inches by 54 ring), Toro (6 inches by 54 ring) and Torpedo (6 1/8 x 52), they all carry a suggested retail price of $4.95 and come unbanded in wooden trays of 60 cigars each.
Patel's "The Edge" has been a sensation, originally offered in two shapes with either Corojo or Maduro wrappers, unbanded, in trays of 100. He's even knocked off his own line, introducing "The Edge Lite" in 2005. It's a slightly milder blend, offered unbanded in trays of 50!
Lost in the shouting about the new Cohiba Behike introduced at the Festival del Habano in February was the introduction of two new Cuban sizes to be offered in a special Romeo y Julieta humidor. Issued to mark the 131st anniversary of the brand and the addition of the Short Churchill (4 7/8 x 50) to the line, 500 humidors were made. Each included 100 cigars: 50 perfectos of 5 5/8 inches by 50 ring and 50 straight-sided cigars of 7 1/4 inches and 50 ring. Neither size has been part of the Cuban size catalog until now.
Short fillers: A review of convenience store sales of cigars in the trade magazine Convenience Store Decisions noted that sales increased 5.2% in 2005 and that cigars now make up some 30.5% of all non-cigarette tobacco-product sales. OTP items represent about 4% or $5.8 billion of the industry's $145 billion in in-store sales. The leaders in this increase are flavored cigars, notably machine-made brands such as Phillies and White Owl, along with category leader Swisher Sweets. Premium cigar smokers shouldn't laugh off machine-mades as they represent about 95.3% of all large cigars sold in the U.S. Handmade, premium cigars account for just 4.7% . . . as taxes on cigarettes have risen in Germany, so has the marketing of fake cigarettes and smuggling of legitimate cigarettes from lower-tax countries. A report from the German government-funded Deutsche Welle broadcast service reported that one-sixth (about 17%) of all cigarettes sold in Germany are counterfeit and that three-quarters of the price of a carton of real cigarettes a carton of Marlboros costs about $51.27 in Germany today is for government-imposed taxes. Street markets near the German border offer counterfeits for about a quarter of the in-Germany price . . . find our latest tasting review, of six brands of cigars made by Juan Sosa, in our News & Views archives for August 4.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
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Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company.
Copyright 2006; All rights reserved.
