Thursday, September 27 2007
Despite the cloud hanging over the industry because of the pending SCHIP taxes, cigar imports remained strong in July and are perking along at a very strong pace for 2007 as a whole.
The Cigar Association of America’s figures for July show 30.8 million premium cigars entered the country, a tiny 0.9 percent improvement over the 2006 total of 30.5 million.
For the year, however, imports continue to run ahead of last year’s totals by almost seven percent, at 171.5 million. That would project to year-end totals of about 332.5 million, third-best on record and just short of the 334.6 million in 1998, the last year of the Cigar Boom.
As usual, the Dominican Republic is the leader with 15.8 million cigars imported in July, actually down a sizable 16.5 percent from 2006. Honduras continued its steady position in second at 7.9 million, up just slightly from 7.1 million a year ago. But Nicaraguan imports went wild, totaling 6.9 million in July, a 176 percent rise from the 2006 figure of 3.9 million.
For the seven months ended July 30, Dominican imports represent 53.7 percent of all imports, with Honduras second at 23.6 percent and Nicaragua at 21.5 percent. That’s 98.8 percent of the U.S. premium market.
Imports of all large cigars – including machine-mades – decreased slightly in July, by 4.7 percent in July, but the year-to-date figures show continued expansion. Through July 30, imports of all large cigars has increased 12 percent to 470.6 million cigars!
Little cigars, which could be taxed almost out of existence by the proposed SCHIP funding bill, are still going wild, with imports up 134.9 percent over last year for July. Year-to-date, little cigar imports are currently up 106.9 percent to 198.8 million cigars. The biggest exporters of little cigars to the U.S. in July were India (13.9 million or 42 percent) and Paraguay (7.3 million or 22.2 percent). For the full year so far, India and Brazil are the biggest exporters of little cigars to the U.S.
The U.S. is also a big producer of little cigars and the craze for these cigarette-sized smokes is not confined to this country. U.S. little cigar exports are up 53.1 percent so far this year to 128.2 million units, with the biggest markets in Canada (45.8 percent), Russia (23.4 percent) and Japan (6.4 percent).
A Scottsdale, Arizona-based company called Crown 7 has introduced an "electric" smoking device that it claims can be used in smoke-free areas. According to the company:
"Crown7 is an Art Deco styled tube which contains a cartridge and rechargeable battery. The cartridge contains water, propylene glycol, nicotine, and a tobacco flavor. One Crown7 cartridge is the equivalent to about two packs of cigarettes. It is a wonderful invention that allows a person to virtually smoke anywhere! It contains nicotine, but does not pollute the environment, nor offend people in the surrounding area, bar, home, workplace, car, any situation which would be a public place."
The device comes in three different styles: cigarette, cigar and pipe. It is supposed to provide a nicotine supply to the smoker without projecting any smoke; according to a review on Switched.com, "A filter cartridge is inserted in the device and a rechargeable lithium-ion battery (just like in your cell phone or laptop) activates a smoke-like water vapor that fills your lungs with nicotine and an earthy (read: tastes vaguely like dirt) tobacco flavor."
The cigar device is about the size of a corona-sized cigar; the cigarette unit looks like a long cigarette holder and the pipe unit looks like a standard bent pipe. They’re not cheap: the cigar unit costs $64.95 each, the cigarette unit is $99.95 and the pipe device is $149.95. The replacement cartridges are $10 for a pack of five.
The Switched.com folks were not impressed: "While the idea sounds pretty good on paper, in practice the whole thing sort of falls apart. First, we doubt you’ll actually get away with smoking this thing in restaurants, on trains, or any other place where smoking is banned. Second, the price is astronomical, even for us smokers who are plenty used to being taken advantage of. . . . Third, we’re not sure how comfortable we are sucking on anything that needs to be charged like a cell phone." You have to give the Crown 7 folks credit for trying, though.
Short fillers: It’s not unusual for a cigar maker to be present at an awards show. But C.A.O.’s presence at the HBO Emmy Awards Luxury Lounge in Beverly Hills in mid-September was unusual because it produces an HBO-licensed cigar line, C.A.O. "The Sopranos" Edition. The C.A.O. Sopranos Gift Pack was distributed to interested celebs that included a significant number of "The Sopranos" cast members including series stars James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli and Lorraine Bracco. Others who received the gift included "Entourage" stars Kevin Dillon, Perrey Reeves and Jerry Ferrara plus "Boston Legal" star William Shatner, whose character (Denny Crane) always seems to find time for a cigar in almost every show . . . find our latest tasting review, of four blends of the famed Zino lines: Classic, Platinum Crown, Platinum Scepter and Connoisseur, in our News & Views archives for September 28.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
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Reprinted by permission. "Heard in the Humidor" is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2007; All rights reserved.
