Sunday, March 29 2009
The all-luxury-lifestyle site
Luxist.com reported that
Rocky Patel Premium Cigars has become the sponsor of a branded cigar lounge at 21 Degrees Cigars & Accessories in Scottsdale, Arizona, a Phoenix suburb.
As the story correctly points out, "Smoking bans have made lounges more important than ever to the success of the cigar trade, as customers are running out of places to smoke."
Patel is the latest to join the rapidly-growing number of manufacturers who are branding stores with themed lounges. General Cigar was a trendsetter with its owned-and-operated Club Macanudo in New York that opened in the mid-1990s, but has been joined by many others since. In-store lounges are today branded for Davidoff of Geneva's Avo brand, J.C. Newman's Diamond Crown brand (the "Diamond Crown Lounge"), Camacho Cigars sponsors the cigar bar in Detroit's Comerica Park inside the Tiger Club and General Cigar just opened its first Club La Gloria Cubana in New Mexico.
These won't be the last, for sure. How long will it be before the larger companies follow the lead of Davidoff of Geneva and begin opening their own stores?
>> The number of premium cigars imported into the United States dove in January thanks to a strange crash in Honduran imports, but machine-made cigars continued to rise. Figures provided by the Cigar Association of America, based on U.S. Customs Service data, showed that just 7.83 million premium cigars came into the U.S. in January, down 31.9% over the 2008 total of 11.49 million.
Nicaraguan imports were strong, however, continuing that country's rise as one of the most important premium cigar suppliers. Its total of 4.51 million cigars exported to the U.S. was up a solid 17.9% over the 2008 figure for January, which the Dominican Republic and Honduras were both down.
Dominican imports were down by 39.3% against January for 2008 to 3.16 million, compared to 5.20 million. But that's not as bad as the 93.4% drop for Honduran imports in January: just 154,000, compared to 2.32 million in January 2008! This figure is clearly wrong and is being investigated.
The totals for February and March will likely be much higher due to the pressure placed on manufacturers to advance their production in order to get cigars to retailers before the imposition of the new SCHIP taxes on all cigars sold on April 1 or later.
Machine-made cigars, however, are still on a roll. Last year was a record-setter for imports of machine-made and little cigars and 2009 is starting off much better! Imports of machine-made large cigars totaled 70.57 million in January, more than double the 2008 January total of 31.99 million and little-cigar imports zoomed to 36.47 million compared to 27.69 million in 2008. All together, all cigar imports in January rose by 61.4% to 114.87 million as against 71.17 million in the same month in 2008.
The popularity of low-priced, machine-made cigars would appear to confirm the concerns of manufacturers of premium cigars that the rough economy, coupled with smoking bans and tax increases at every level of government has been driving smokers to less expensive brands, and even from hand-made to machine-made cigars.
>> Being in business for 20 years calls for a celebration, and Miami Cigar & Co. has commissioned a special cigar for the occasion. A limited-edition 20th Anniversary blend is being added to the two-shape Nestor Miranda Special Selection, and will begin shipping to 100 selected tobacconists in the U.S. on April 1. Made by the Tabacalera Cubana in Esteli, Nicaragua, the blend was concocted by Miranda himself in cooperation with Pepin Garcia.
The major difference between the standard Special Selection blend, introduced in 2007, and the 20th Anniversary cigars will be the wrapper, which will be available in two shapes: Rosado and Oscuro. The Habano Rosado creates a medium-bodied smoke with a distinct mellow nature, while the Habano Oscuro wrapper yields a more aromatic and full-bodied cigar with elements of pepper and spice.
All of the tobaccos selected for these cigars are between 3-4 years of age and were selected more than nine months ago for this specific project.
The shape will be a fat double corona at seven inches and 56 ring gauge, packed in boxes of 20. Only 1,000 boxes of each wrapper style will be made for a total of 40,000 cigars, to be made available only in brick-and-mortar retail stores.
An eight-city tour will take place to promote the cigar and Miami Cigar's 20th anniversary in business, beginning in April and continuing once a month after that through November. National Sales Manager Rene Castaneda noted that the events will be "both a celebration of the company's 20th anniversary and an opportunity for us to, personally, thank the cigar-smoking community for the reception they have given the Nestor Miranda Special Selection brand."
Each event will not only feature the 20th Anniversary cigar, but the standard-production Nestor Miranda Special Selection, Dominican-made Presidente Beer and Rum Barcelo Imperial, plus Cognac Louis Royer.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
Want more? Join us for daily coverage of cigars, accessories, people and issues at CigarCyclopedia.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Reprinted by permission. "Heard in the Humidor" is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2009; All rights reserved.
