Heard in the Humidor: January 7th-11th, 2008

For the year, imports reached 268.9 million handmade cigars through the first 10 months of the 2007--an increase of 7.71 percent for the year. If the pattern holds through the December report, the total for the year will reach 335.0 million, the second-highest total on record.

Imports of all kinds of cigars continued to flow into the United States into the fourth quarter of 2007 at a pace that may be the second-best on record. The report on imports through October of 2007 provided by the Cigar Association of America showed that year-over-year, imports increased by 9.52 percent to 33.2 million premium cigars.

For the year, imports reached 268.9 million handmade cigars through the first 10 months of the 2007. That’s an increase of 7.71 percent for the year and if the pattern holds through the December report, the total for the year will reach 335.0 million, the second-highest total on record. That would be more than the 334.6 million in 1998, the final year of the Cigar Boom and a total that many cigar industry executives thought it would be many more years before such a figure was even approached. The all-time record of 417.8 million from 1997 is not in danger, of course.

Of course, premium cigars are only one part of the much larger cigar trade. And U.S. cigar imports of all kinds have gone wild in 2007. In addition to the 268.9 million handmade cigars imported, 468.6 million machine-made cigars have come into the U.S. for a total "large-cigar" count of 737.5 million through ten months. That’s up an astonishing 34.4 percent.

Then there are little cigars. After ten months, little cigar imports are 277.8 million, ahead by 60.4 percent over 2007! A little more than 38 percent of these come from India, with another 20.6 percent from Brazil.

Put all the figures together and the total number of cigars imported through October of 2007 is 1.015 billion cigars. That’s a lot of cigars and a stunning 23.3 percent ahead of the comparable figures for 2006. Quite a testament to the U.S. cigar market, easily the world’s largest.

In a delicious twist, the head of the Portuguese governmental agency assigned to enforce the new public smoking ban was seen lighting up a cigar at a New Year’s party!

Antonio Nunes is the head of Portugal’s food standards agency, which has the responsibility to enforce the new laws banning smoking in public places. He was photographed by the Diario de Noticias newspaper smoking a cigar in a casino outside of Lisbon. Nunes said he was not aware that the new law covers casinos, but the Ministry of Health confirmed it. That makes Nunes one of the first to break the new law that his agency is supposed to enforce!

Smokers have been on a long legislative losing streak not just in the United States, but all around the world. But now Zvi Hendel is fighting back.

Hendel is a member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and in addition to being a long-time smoker, is doing something about it. In opposition to an anti-smoking bill passed in 2007 through the efforts of virulently anti-smoking Knesset member Gilad Erdan, Hendel introduced a bill to require local authorities to approve smoking permits for 20 percent of bars, cafes and restaurants in each jurisidiction!

About 24 percent of Israeli adults smoke at present and Hendel told the Jerusalem Post: "Why should the entire population of smokers in Israel be discriminated against? Non-smokers should have their places, and smokers can have theirs."

Short fillers: The new Winston Churchill cigar brand, created and made in four sizes in the Davidoff factory in the Dominican Republic, was actually authorized by a descendant of the famed British Prime Minister of the World War II era. It turns out that Winston S. Churchill, grandson of Sir Winston Spencer Leonard Churchill (1874-1965), was the one behind the new blend. The Winston Churchill line had been slated exclusively for the Davidoff shops across North America, but a small number of other stores have received shipments. The official launch of the brand will come in February.

Rich Perelman

1/7/08

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