Where are the Cuban Cigars?
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- čas přidán 10. 07. 2023
- China is now the biggest market for Habanos which is 50% owned by a Chinese company since 2020. Since COVID and the rise of prices most shops around the world and Cuban cigar Aficionados are blaming the Chinese for the lack of cigars on the shelves. But nobody talks about the American market. Despite the US embargo on Cuban goods and therefore on Cuban cigars in place since 1962, the US market has been one of the biggest market for Cuban cigars and maybe the biggest market according to an article written in 2009 by James Suckling in Cigar Aficionado. Here is a link towards the article : www.cigaraficionado.com/artic.... Now, Bond Roberts, a British based auction house is displaying thousands of boxes every year located in the US confirming the appetite of the US consumers for Cuban cigars.
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As an American traveler/expat I can totally believe that the US market is larger than anyone officially acknowledges. The explosion of cigar smokers during the pandemic era has also increased demand.
I have met the most amazing collectors of Cuban cigars in the US
I have seen it personally. I live in tampa, which at one point was the cigar capital of the world. They had more cubans rolling cuban tobacco cigars than in cuba. But after the embargo all the factories closed, except for the jc newman factory 'el reloj'. Ten years ago, in the entire tampa bay area, there were a handful of lounges, and the one factory, and outside of ybor and west tampa, was there any kind of cigar culture. Now there has been a crazy resurgence. There are lounges popping up all over the place, some being super extravagant like 'grand cathedral cigars',(If you have never heard of it, look it up, its insane) there are super stores like CI, where their humidor is bigger than the inside of a 7/11. There are new companies popping up, and companies moving to the area with rollers and blenders with generations of experience. Its been really cool to see.
As an American, I try purchase cubans every time i go abroad. I know many wealthy Americans who buy many boxes and travel to Europe, Mexico, and the middle east every month or so. I believe your analysis is correct. The best distillation of this phenomena is the fact that John F. Kennedy, while he was president, ordered his secretary to buy as many boxes of cubans from around Washington D.C. as she could, the day before he issued the American Embargo on Cuba! America is still the largest cigar market in the world, and the fact the Cubans are illegal to purchase makes them more prestigious, and many Americans horde them.
Story I heard was that he sent Secret Service Agents to Cuba to purchase 1000 boxes and had them call him the minute they had them because he was waiting pen in hand.
American here, and I concur on your assessment. I myself have over 500 cuban cigars at the moment. And plenty of new worlds as well.
Lol i abandoned Cubans. 60$ for a Trinidad Reyes? (Canadian) hillarious . Stick with my drew estates, and Arturo Fuente, LFD,
You make a valid point and something I have not given much thought. I have lived in the USA all my life and have been a premium cigar smoker since the late 1980's. I frequent cigar lounges and talk with people all the time and most American cigar smokers would usually start the conversation by saying "I smoked a Cuban once, etc." I know that some cigar lounges sell Cubans but it is Hush Hush and only some trustworthy regulars are allowed to buy them at a very high price, but most are selling fakes. I have not conducted any research or surveys on this subject, this is just from my experience in the small state in the Northeast that I reside. I have been to Cuba twice and can say that cigar production is down 50% for 2023, due to covid, economy from covid and severe storms. Thanks for generating thought on the subject. Prost!
You're on the money, BUT Americans are starting to figure out which cigars are fake; those sold on the beach in Mexico won't cut it anymore. Also, I've heard U.S. customs doesn't seem to care about cuban cigars brought in from switzerland/europe (mail and airport), they focus on Chinese origin counterfeit luxury goods.
The US probably was the biggest consumer of Cuban Cigars before the big price increases. Most people can't afford the current prices. What I purchased for $200 a box 5 years ago is now $600. Forget it. I'll smoke a Padron for half the price and enjoy it just as much.
I know that the US market for Cuban cigars is still booming.
@@habanonews ALL Cuban online retailers stack up more New World cigars after the ridiclous price increase from Habanos.
The point is USA unofficial market was ALWAYS THERE. Now China with their teeming billions in population in a global world acquiring many Western costumes, is gonna make this very scarce, like it happened with chocolate and who knows how many more commodities, what i hope is Habanos SA keep the usual quota to the usual markets. Which being now 50% owned by China its gonna be very difficult. In my country the lack of stock is really notorious, now offering Dominican or Nicaraguan sticks.
Very interesting indeed! But I still think the Chinese hoarders theory still has merit. As a regular at the La Casa del Habano in Vietnam, it's a common occurrence to see Chinese purchasing huge quantities of Cubans. Last week, one of the employee kindly informed me of the newly arrived Bolivar New Gold Medal. Naturally, I hastily made my way to the store only to find out that a group of Chinese tourists had gobbled up some £400k worth of Cuban cigars, including the all the Bolivars New Gold Medal. I also have been told that the Chinese purchase at least £50k worth of cigars almost every week from that store alone.
Great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us! I appreciate all the effort & research you put into the presentation
in italy it's a known fact that before prices increase cigar stores across the state had been emptied by chinese buyer.
Same in Holland.
I’m from Villa Clara Cuba… one of the regions which tabaco is grown..if a tractor breaks they cant work on the land they have to wait months for parts… that’s a big delay in production… the demand is high and production is low…
Didn't you guys have some problems with the crops too? I mean the harvest was bad.
Good Video! It's been a known fact for about the last 40 years, the U.S. has been the biggest consumer of Cuban cigars in the world!
Americans can order gray-market but at least judging by the various cigar forums I frequent it still isn't a frequent thing, it's a fringe community still.
This was a very interesting video on the subject . thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting post. As an American, I can 100% tell you that my access to Cuban cigars has become almost non-existent. I have obtained and smoked authentic Cubans from reliable European sources for 20 years and since Covid, my past sources have not been able to obtain and sell me very many cigars. I have greatly reduced my consumption because I cannot buy Cubans. I am not accepting or agreeing that Americans are the problem. What is Mr. Suckling saying now? It is virtually impossible to buy authentic Cuban cigars in the US. Almost all counterfeits
love the channel keep it up
Thanks, will do!
The loads of counterfeits that I found in Europe on my most recent trip was absolutely shocking.
You are spot on my friend
This is a great topic and covered very well - thanks 👏 🏆 😚💨. Even when Habanos has high production years, I still feel demand has become much greater than supply and this creates a very ripe market for counterfeiters. Very concerning to say the least.
Well said!
Before the plandemy I always said we can be lukcy that the USA have not lifted the cuban embargo, else we would struggle to get any cigars.
Let’s imagine what would happen if the US lifted the embargo!
I've got them... I live in Brisbane, same place Bond Roberts comes from....
I was in Shanghai airport, dazzled by all Cuban cigars… mini, robusta, corono
If china has a counterfeit food problem, i can only imagine the percentage of fake cuban cigars, or fake cigars period as they probably dont even use tobacco.
Indeed. I am preparing a video on a fake cigars manufactory.
1:10 lol i love how he says "brands i have never heard of" and passes a box of CORRIDA (Ok, I get it he is a "cuban only" guy ,that is fine, its a matter of choice and preference, but corrida is made by Villiger, so its hard to believe a swiss never heard of them...still it was a funny thing to say)
I think as the prices go higher Americans are unloading their cigars. I also believe that at one time, probably 14 years ago, your information was correct. However, now that prices have spiked, the average person in the US cant afford them anymore. My evidence for this is 2 fold. 1 Everyone in the US is complaining about prices and 2) Lots of websites have forums where people would always show off their most recent purchases. Those recent purchases have dropped off a cliff. Used to be multiple people daily showing off 1-5 or more boxes they had received. There would be daily posts of these. Now maybe you see next to nothing being posted. One site I just looked at has over 500 pages of people posting their purchases but in all of June and July only 2 people have posted about a purchase they made. 3 boxes total of some less expensive Cubans. So my conclusion is there is next to nothing coming into the US now and definitely not any of the higher end and LE stuff.
The word on the forums is mostly, those that have been smoking for many years have enough supply to last a lifetime. Those that used to be casual smokers have moved on to non Cubans at a much better price point. Others like myself, can stretch their stash for years if we just slow down on smoking a bit.
So yes, it is China buying up everything at the moment. You should be able to get the figures on China and HK imposts. I'm sure there are some very wealthy Americans still buying Cubans but the average guy in the US has switched over to non Cubans and many of them that have have been selling off their stash of Cubans for a nice profit.
This. 100%
With the new pricing most Americans have stopped or greatly curtailed their purchases of Cubans. Many of my friends are selling their collections for a hefty profit. Their customers are Chinese.
I've read somewhere that 95% of Cuban cigars in the USA are not original. It may happen that those sold on this site are fake… who knows…
I need to refill my Behike collection
Something like 10% of LCDH stores are in Mexico and they have a lot of cigars. Most of their cigars are going to China.
this is pure conjucture,you're point of view is very biased,I thought you're looking to bring something concrete here,but I think you're trying to be more diplomatic in discussing this very serious issue,I know you have very close ties to Habanos SA and you don't want to annoy them,but let me tell you something you already know,just ask yourself one question: who is paying Millions of euro to get those Cuban humidors in every Habanos festivals?second just ask yourself another question who is paying exhorbitant amount of money to bulk buy cubans? analyse the behaviour of buyers and you will conclude who is making the situation worse? and answer me one question: how come the shops in Asia have decent stocks while the vast majority of European don't have even low end cigars like vegueros,etc?since the chinese consortium bought those 50% they shifted their focus to Asian markets and that's why they equalise the prices on Hong kong level because they know that the demand would be steady because people there they already pay exhorbitant amount to get Cubans,not like Europeans where they have limitations to their cigar budget;in regard to the US market I can assure the vast majority of customers there don't give a flying jack about Cubans,especially since the last hike,and the proof od this loke at PCA numbers of how many new-world cigars are sold there,you can read this in cigar aficionado magazine or halfwheel,so I don't think your theory is correct at all,because it's obvious what the problem is (we shouldn't mention the problems related to fertilizers and hurricanes).sorry for the long reply
Hi, thank you very much for your well detailed message. I agree in some points and disagree on some others. First I have no links whatsoever to Habanos. None. I took my fake humidor of Majestuosos to Habanos because Intertabak offered to take me there. I have no link to Habanos and all communication I had concerning my Fake box was made through Intertabak. I wish I had insider information but it is not the case. I don’t believe that the shops in Asia are well stocked. One fact that is obvious is that demand in Asia and particularly in China is high and Chinese people are going around the world and particularly Europe to buy large quantities of cigars. Many shops send their allocation directly to China and could probably sell everything to China if they wanted too because of the large demand. The purpose of this video was to highlight a fact that is disregarded which is the size of the US market. World demand for Cuban cigars has surged everywhere particularly since Covid snd one point on which I agree with you is that for many reasons production of cigars has probably deopped in Cuba. It is impossible to find out exactly what the production numbers have been in the past 3 years but most people agree with the fact that it has dropped by 20 to 50%, once again I have no proof of it but it is what I read on various magazine articles. The price increase was necessary in my humble opinion because a box sold by Habanos for $300 was sold to the final consumer for $1,000 facilitsting the parallel market. Price leveling makes sense to prevent arbitrage. We all know that Habanos and Cuba need money ar present and it does not shock me that they take the biggest share of the proceeds from the sale of the cigars. One point we should think about is what happens next? Will the prices go down? Will they go up again? Thank you for your comment. That is exactly the aim of this channel, to discuss, debate and comment on the Cuban cigar situation whilst respecting everybody’s opinion.
@@habanonews Well I respect your point of view,but with the new pricing system the final consumers will suffer more than ever,look just what is happening in the UK market,people are buying sticks from regular production of 120 to 150$/stick,and since Cuba sold 50% then the only party that is making huge profits are the chinese consortium who by the way were the ones behind this price hike (because as I remebmer Cuba is a communist country and this decision is pure uncle Sam neoliberalism),moreover hard working men and women in factories don't benefit from those prices they are still working for slavery wages,and sure the harvest of 2022 is down by 50% so I think shortages will remain at least for two years maybe 3,what I hope is a miracle would happen and the US would left its embargo on Cuba so peasants there would find solutions to fertilizers and machines so they can upgrade their agriculture (and that is not for tobacco but aslo for other crops because the situation there is frightning)anyway I wanted just to assure you that demand in the US for Cubans is not that high,just in 2022 464M cigars were imported to the US none of them is Cuban,addd the domestic production you would get the whole production of Cuba for the last 15 years,have a great day and thank you very much for taking the time to read and to answer my question and sorry for the angry connotation it's just I'm frustrated by Habanos SA strategy and I really don't like for aficionados to defend their conduct because they are ruining the experience for everybody !
All my Montecristo, all my Hoyo de Monterrey...all gone 😭😭
The US imported over 460 million cigars in 2022. It wouldn’t be too controversial to say that 10-20 million Cubans come into the US per year. Statistically speaking, 14 million Cubans would only equal 3% of the total US market.
You forget that some “friends” of you like Reza, buy as an unoffical distributor from Habanos SA for the Belgian Market. The only problem is that the doesn’t sell them to belgium customers but Crosssells them to the Chinese market. That is illegal and he got kicked out of Cuba for that matter.
I’m about to go Dubai duty free shop to buy some cuban next month, so are you saying there’s none of the Cubans at all? Not even one box?
Zero Cuban cigars the last two times I passed by. You might be lucky.
Totally true.
We’re those cigar in USA? Total mystery
Any clue?
the biggest collectors are in the US.
Just one thing. The article is from 2009. But you can find cuban cigars at that time. So something else is to blame. Maybe the main problem is a big shortage in the production, due to all the issues a poor country like Cuba is facing. And it seems they do not have a solution. This is the main reason for the unavailability of cuban cigars.
You are not wrong. Big demand and low production are the reason for the shortage. There are big volumes arriving on the shelves in Switzerland now so I guess volumes are back.
I just picked up 100 sticks from cabo san lucas. Havana cigar house
Enjoy
With all respect sir its ben always 50 percent to china 13 percent to middle east and 37 to the rest of the world , and all the cigar is available but removed from the shelves and hidden away to be sold to regular costumers in higher prices , every smoker need the connections now to refill his humidor with Cuban cigars , most of us order online or while travelling and locally , and by the way Cuba is half an hour flying from Miami and the Americans buying there cigars from years now and allowed to bring back , don't blame the Americans just blame the greedy habbanos which ben increasing the prices with the same bad production and the retailers taking advantage of this increases . I wish u talk more about the silly increases of the price and how bad is the new products .
Why the subtle my friend?
Can you imagine what would happen to the market if the U.S. would end the embargo against Cuba.
a big price increase again I believe.
Very democratic of them...
Yes. That’s true and Chinese buy Cuban from Americanlol.
It's really easy to buy real Cubans on the Internet in America, though you will pay a higher price.
So if America is the biggest market why are we allowing the Chinese market to set the price????
Of course it's the Chinese. Everyone knows that. Habanos makes way more money 🤑 over there. A Montecristo Edmundo costs there almost 60€.. here in Germany it's 21,50€ right now.
I am not sure. the biggest earner in the cigar business is the government.
It seems like there trying two clone them… lol there trying to get the recipe right… haha
China. Hong Kong
Also remember that the production is only running at 50%. Harvest has been horrible since 2020..half of the roller's has been fired due to lack of tobacco.. Since 2022 EU has only gotten 10% of that they used to. One of the big districts with very big farms has been destroyed due to bad weather. And the price hike has completely shut of the demand in EU. If habanos doesn't fix the production issue within a few years. I think cuban cigars is in the past.
Thank you very much for your comment. EU is definitely in the middle of this current situation and the availability of cigars is definitely at risk.
@@habanonews sadly yes... I hope that habanos sa fix there problems and get production back up again. And maybe think about the average consumer and not onky the big boys. Im one of the lucky ones with access to a big collection. But I know many that aren't so lucky. It really is a bad time for the consumer of those fine Cubans.
ZERO rollers have been fired. Where do you get this?! The drop in rollers is the result of rollers leaving the island! Habanos is desperate for rollers. They are firing nobody.
China probably already know how to replicate Cuban cigars. Might be more bootleg cigars out in circulation 👎🏽
Are you taking into account that you can buy every Cuban cigar and brand in the US legally but they are not real Cuban cigars, they look identical and if it were cigars from any other country in the world the US manufacture’s would be in court being prosecuted for copyright, their is no way that real Cuban cigars will ever be allowed legally in the US when their is a huge market for fake Cubans already, I don’t know if most Americans even know that the cigars they are smoking aren’t real habanos, and most Americans I’ve spoken about their fake Cubans while in the US don’t care.
As an American buyer. I would say we are a close second to China. For every 1 box coming to America, I bet 3 boxes go to China. I have a large network of Cuban smokers on discord. The consensus is, that most of us are being out bid by Chinese buyers.
Haha. Hong kong then europe. US is like the last on the list. Why give the US exclusives when their illegal to import freely? Haha😂
The Chinese market will collaps together with the economy and than Cuba will be in big trouble.