Are Non-Cuban cigars widely available in your country?

[SCgarman]

Interesting responses, thanks. As far as my take on the Cigars International article about Cuban cigars being inferior to the non cubans, this company is protecting their interests because when the embargo is lifted, only authorized LCDH stores will be able to sell Habanos and of course this will put a dent in the sales of Cigars International. They are a very large online cigar retailer kinda like Wal mart and they WANT you to believe Cubans are junk and are over hyped.

[orousso]

I live in Cape Breton, Canada and here the cigar industry is completely dead. I find most people that consider themselves "cigar smokers" only smoke those little machine made flavored cigarillos. If I wanted to buy cigars locally, I would have to go to the only grocery store in town that mainly sells lottery tickets and cigarettes but has a small stash of dried out cigars hidden in a cabinet (Canadian law preventing them from putting the tobacco products on display). I would say they carry as many non-cubans as they have cubans but the prices of them is completely ridiculous. They will ask close to 10$CAD for a NC stick I can get for 3.50$USD off the internet. Cubans are also overpriced, the asking price for a Montecristo No.2 being close to 30$CAD per cigar.

But to answer the question, I find that non-cubans are pretty rare where I live. I visited my hometown in Quebec last Christmas and went to the local cigar shop (which is a magazine/radio guided cars/lottery tickets business that has a few cigars for sale) and I cannot remember exactly what was available but they had a pretty good selection of non-cubans but again, asking 25$CAD for a CAO Brazilia where I could get the same stick for 4.75$USD online. I would say that the reason why non-cubans are not widely available is because of the taxes and prices. The only person that will buy a box of those is the guy that just got his first baby or getting married and wants to buy cigars to impress his buddies but has no knowledge at all with regards to cigars. He must feel proud of himself until one of those buddies that knows cigars burst his bubble!!!

[LowKey]

An interesting corollary perhaps to the original question. If CC's were deemed legal in the U.S. tomorrow, would they drive the NC's mostly out of business within 5 years? 10 years? I think they would dominate very quickly.

Can Cuba even produce the supply for US demand?

[SCgarman]

As Rob said in a previous post there are supposedly 30 million cubans sitting in a special warehouse waiting for export to the US when the embargo gets ready to be lifted. And factories are currently running at less than 50 percent, so I believe that Cuba could keep up with US demand.

[danclough]

I'm sure that when the embargo ends, there will

be a large demand for Cubans but , I'm also pretty sure that it won't last. It's cultural, some drink coke

and others drink wine, some eat hambergers and others eat snails, it's cultural, Habanos have never been

the NEC PLUS ULTRA on the list of the majority of American cigar smokers.

An interesting take, I would readily admit I know nothing of cigar history. I do know that three average coke-drinking, hamburger-eating Americans who had all only every smoked NC's lit up their first Habanos at the same time and it took about 3 puffs for all of us to come to the same conclusion: we had never really had a cigar until that moment.

So if the embargo were to end tomorrow, what share of the high-end cigar market do you think Habanos would have in the U.S. in 2021? I've read that around they world, their share is currently about 70%. Another interesting and unanswerable question is, what is their market share right now? I know in my humidors it's about 80% and would be very near 100% had I found the Czar sooner!

I completely agree that there would be huge demand for Habanos once the embargo is lifted. As a result, the smartest thing that Cuba could do would be to have a very large stock-pile, of very high quality cigars. As I can attest, all it takes is one great cigar for them to have a customer for life. Conversely, it only takes one crappy cigar to convince someone that Habanos are all hype. That first Cuban cigar that every post-embargo American smoker lights up will determine how quickly they grab market-share.

[dB69]

There are both NCs and CCs available in Helsinki, but don't come here after cigars because they are very expensive. Some department stores also sell the most popular models in other towns, but their humidors are mostly in quite bad condition. The availability between NCs and CCs is about 50% - 50% in Finland. NCs are usually a little cheaper.

Some price examples:

Arturo Fuente Opus X Robusto 33€ = $46

Padron 2000 9€ = $12

Cohiba Siglo II 19€ = $27

Montecristo #2 20€ = $28

[laficion]

I completely agree that there would be huge demand for Habanos once the embargo is lifted. As a result, the smartest thing that Cuba could do would be to have a very large stock-pile, of very high quality cigars. As I can attest, all it takes is one great cigar for them to have a customer for life. Conversely, it only takes one crappy cigar to convince someone that Habanos are all hype. That first Cuban cigar that every post-embargo American smoker lights up will determine how quickly they grab market-share.

You've hit it right on the nail.

[Li Bai]

Ho my...

Really interesting thread to read today, who could have seen it coming back then 😅😅😅

[Hammer Smokin']

Yeah, they're around. But in Canada tobacco costs more than gold, and simply put, isn't worth it (with all the other options available to Canadians at worldwide low prices). 

[Li Bai]

At the time, just like @laficion said, there were very few NCs available in France but now...

[SCgarman]

Interesting read! I started the thread 13 years ago. The good old "cheap Cuban cigar" days😂