Thursday, May 25 2006
What happened? The seemingly unstoppable annual increases in U.S. cigar imports which topped a six-year run with a stunning total of 321.6 million cigars in 2005 has turned into the "cigar plunge" with imports for the first quarter of 2005 down 26.5%!
The decline is clearly due to the collapse of imports from the Dominican Republic. After finishing 2005 with a sensational total of 179.5 million cigars shipped to the U.S. and 20.5 million cigars exported in December alone, Dominican exports in the first quarter reached a paltry total of only 11.6 million, down 60.9% from 2005.
No one is saying why.
In the meantime, U.S. imports of cigars from Honduras and Nicaragua continue to grow. For the first quarter, Honduran imports rose by 6.6% to 17.1 million cigars while Nicaraguan import totals grew fastest, up 27% to 13.2 million.
Christie's semi-annual auction of fine wines and vintage cigars in London had 185 lots of some pretty rare cigars and Havana-made Davidoffs and Dunhills once again stole the show. The biggest prize of the day was a complete cabinet of 25 Davidoff Dom Perignon (7 inches by 47 ring), made in the early 1980s. It went for £4,500 (about $8,505)!
Of the 11 cigar lots which earned final prices of more than £1,000 (about $1,890), seven were Havana-made Davidoffs. Just as popular, but harder to find, were Havana-made Dunhills from the 1980s. A box of five giant Dunhill Havana Club cigars (9 1/4 x 47) went for £1,500 (or $2,835) while a single Havana Club sold for £180 (about $340)!
The second-highest sale of the day was for a complete office jar of La Corona Invencibles (5 1/2 x 40), reported to be from the 1960s. The jar of 50 was won for £3,800, or about $7,182 U.S.
A smoking ban in the Canadian province of Quebec will be imposed this week, but cigar bars in business as of May 10, 2005 are exempt. That's good news for a small number of sites in Montreal such as Stogies.
The news is not as good in San Francisco, where the popular Sherlock's Haven store will close at 275 Battery Street, sending legendary proprietor Marty Pulvers into a "semi-retirement" in the wholesale pipe business. "In short," he wrote, "our lease expires June 30th and if we re-signed, which we were encouraged by the landlord to do, we would no longer have been allowed by the same perfidious landlord to smoke in the premises. Intolerable." There may be a new cigar store in the same location, but it won't include Marty and that's a loss for the trade.
Short fillers: With cigars getting fatter and fatter, cigar cases need to make room for new 60-plus ring-gauge cigars. Noro Fine Leather, part of the Las Vegas, Nevada-based Epicure Group, has introduced the 64P Series of hand-stitched cases made in Spain, to accommodate cigars up to 64 ring (one inch in diameter!) in two-finger or three-finger models in brown or black . . . The Cuban physician responsible for Fidel Castro's health says he will live to be 140 (to 2066). Dont hold your breath on that one . . . Appreciation for General Cigar, which created a special program for its Helix Maduro brand - in the purple box - to raise funds for the Military Order of the Purple Heart. General's donation program ran from May 8 through Memorial Day with 25 cents donated for each Helix Maduro sold of three different sizes from participating retailers. A nice way to recognize those who have made important sacrifices in the defense of our country.
- 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.
