Expect shortages and high prices?....

[Montaigut]

Chinese come to their Cuban comrades' rescue by lighting up cigarsRising wealth and socialist solidarity sees China become major market for Cuban export hit by smoking bans and recession

Winston Churchill and Fidel Castro might have fed the mystique, but it is Chinese smokers who could ultimately save the Cuban cigar.

Demand from China's expanding economic elite has sparked optimism in an industry that risked being extinguished by recession and anti-smoking laws around the world.

Cuban cigar sales rose 2% last year, according to the latest figures, reversing a downward trend. This is thanks to a jump in Asian sales that saw China overtake Germany as the third largest market for Habanos SA, the worldwide distributor of Cuban cigars.

The distributor generated $368m (£228m) in worldwide sales, a slight increase on the previous year rather than the drop anticipated by many, given bans in Europe and elsewhere on smoking in bars, restaurants and public spaces.

Spain and France remain the biggest markets, but following the opening of Cuban cigar shops in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Shanghai, China is catching up. Brands such as Montecristo, Cohiba and Patargás offer an image of luxury and sophistication, qualities sought by China's burgeoning middle class.

These days, venues such as Havana Nirvana in Shanghai and Cohiba Atmosphere in Beijing allow the moneyed elite to relax with an expensive import and store prized purchases in rented humidors, ensuring their cigars remain in top condition.

But some Chinese aficionados have been enjoying Cuban tobacco since before the current boom. When William Wang sampled his very first cigar, eight years ago, the domestic sector barely existed. He can still recall the aroma of the Davidoff he savoured in a Shanghai wine bar.

"My friends were all smoking cigars so I tried one too. It smelt really good and I felt very relaxed afterwards. So I kept on smoking them," he said.

Now marketing manager for Casa de Tobaco, which arranges cigar-related events, Wang added: "In China, the people who smoke cigars are the upper class, the elite, or people who have come back from overseas.

"After people [who smoke] get rich, they want something nicer, something more upscale, something different. A cigar becomes their best choice. And in China, the number of people who become very rich is getting bigger and bigger."

China is already the world's largest market for tobacco, with growing health concerns having little impact on the enormous demand. But the roughly one in two Chinese men who smoke overwhelmingly choose cigarettes.

"Foreigners were the first [cigar] smokers in China, then gift-senders began buying Cuban cigars for people they wanted to please, and later people started to smoke themselves," said KC Chan, manager of Hong Kong-based Infifon, Habanos SA's distributor to the mainland.

"Initially it was a form of showing off or conspicuous consumption. Now real consumption is kicking in, but there's a long way to go."

He added: "Cuban cigars are almost exclusively the prestige cigar that everyone is after.

"Firstly, people know the cigars are the best. Secondly, it's a symbol of luxury. And thirdly, because Cuba is a socialist country, Chinese people have more of a sense of closeness. It's easier for Chinese people to accept that it is from another socialist country. It raises their curiosity."

That is welcome news for an industry enveloped in gloom last year when Habanos SA, a joint venture between Cuba and Imperial Tobacco Group, blamed an 8% fall in overseas sales on recession and bans.

The figures were released by its marketing director, Ana Lopez, at a news conference opening its annual cigar festival.

The company hopes smaller cigars, which are quicker to smoke, will appeal to smokers banished to the cold outdoors. "We're trying to offer a combination of new products, but smaller cigars are more important than in the past because there are fewer places to smoke and less time," said Lopez.

Part of the strategy is the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, to lure female smokers.

Connoisseurs say Nicaraguan and Honduran cigars that emulate Cuban hand-rolling techniques can be equally smooth, but lack the romanticism of those from the Caribbean island.

Churchill, a fan of Romeo y Julieta, had a long, fat variety named after him in 1947. John F Kennedy was so partial to Petit H Upmanns that he dispatched his press secretary to get 1,200 of them before slapping a US embargo on Cuba. Castro, who famously survived a CIA assassination plot involving an exploding cigar, liked to be photographed with a Cohiba Corona Especial clamped between his teeth, but he quit in 1985 for health reasons.

However, life is increasingly difficult for those wishing to indulge in smoking - luxury brands or otherwise. A tough new Honduran law that went into effect on Monday says family members can summon the police to stop people smoking at home. Smoking in most closed public or private spaces is prohibited and smokers must stand at least six feet from nonsmokers in any open space.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/2...cigar-sale-rise

[mazolaman]

Interesting reading Montaigut,not too surprising with thw connections and the rising Chinese star.

Interesting reading the top markets for Cubans.

Didn't know Kennedy liked his upmanns..

[El Presidente]

Interesting reading Montaigut,not too surprising with thw connections and the rising Chinese star.

Interesting reading the top markets for Cubans.

Didn't know Kennedy liked his upmanns..

Our private Chinese mainland members/buyers are certainly the fastest growing part of Czar over the past 18 months.

Cuban cigars are awash in China. Between official PCC distribution/illegal parallel importing and Fakes you can find them anywhere in the country. The last two are by far the largest part of the operation with Fakes predominantly being manufactured internally.

[laficion]

Interesting article Dan ,

but what I find interesting also is that Spain & France are considered

the two biggest market, which I'm sure they are, however, France is second but not as consumer,

as distributor since they distribute in North African and other mediterranean countries , whereas

if China is third , It may mean a real consuming third ?

[CBL]

Great read! It's the same in Taiwan and you can still find some nice rare ones as most people go straight for what they have been told and what's appealing to the eye (big bad ass cigars) So the LCDH are filled with some delicious long and skinnies for a reasonable price, compared to the bigger cigars as all cigars in Taiwan are extremely overpriced.

Most shops are filled with untouched Diplomaticos, La Gloria Cubanas, Partagas SdC and A LOT of discontinued Punch Royal Selection! They also seem to stock up on a lot of regional releases like Bolivar Simones and Punch Platinas.

So Asia is really becoming a cigar heaven as long as your pockets are deep enough.

I have another job interview today right across from a LCDH, think I'm gonna try another Diplomaticos

[kyee]

I know William Wang! He's a great guy, hangs out at George's Roosevelt Prime Steakhouse a lot. I'll probably see him next week when I'm in Shanghai.