Plain Packaging in Canada Update - Also, delisted cigars

[NSXCIGAR]

11 hours ago, La_Tigre said:

Don’t repackage. Package in 3 ct plain packaging at the factory. Just like Tubos. 5x3 from the source.

You're suggesting plain packaging at the Cuban factory? 

[ElLoboLoco]

Atleast they will still have poutine and Mr Coffee bars.

[Bijan]

34 minutes ago, ElLoboLoco said:

Atleast they will still have poutine and Mr Coffee bars.

Coffee crisp:

 

[Doctorossi]

16 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Let's start by "something".

sensory retail displays featuring the major brands and their history. A wall of Montecristo one of Upmann, one Cohiba. 

unbanded bundles cascading down the front of each display (think loose pipe tobacco displays).

Hmm... I'm not convinced that fancy new point-of-sale displays will make much difference for the retailer, but I guess they'll have space for them with all the newly-limited stock and facings.   

[Fuzz]

17 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Let's start by "something".

 

Joint venture with the porn industry.

[benfica_77]

8 hours ago, Fuzz said:

Joint venture with the porn industry.

Leverage your past ventures? ? ?  Debbie does Montecristo?  2 Girls 1 Ramon Allones?

[El Presidente]

11 hours ago, Doctorossi said:

Hmm... I'm not convinced that fancy new point-of-sale displays will make much difference for the retailer, but I guess they'll have space for them with all the newly-limited stock and facings.   

less fancy and more interactive. Special bandless releases for affected stores.  PL Magnum etal. 

[vhampl03]

@Elpresidente  - can HSA afford to lose a market like this? Not sure on Canadian sales but seems like a moderate size hit...and worrisome for the future..

[Doctorossi]

14 hours ago, El Presidente said:

less fancy and more interactive. Special bandless releases for affected stores.  PL Magnum etal. 

I like your thinking, though I have a hard time imagining they can afford the effort to make new products if they can't afford it to revise existing ones.

[benfica_77]

15 hours ago, vhampl03 said:

@Elpresidente  - can HSA afford to lose a market like this? Not sure on Canadian sales but seems like a moderate size hit...and worrisome for the future..

I would estimate that 75% of the Canadian Market is purchased via the grey market i.e. online like FOH or by travelling to Cuba and hauling it back either for consumption or resale. 

[PigFish]

You know it is coming right???

Cigar smoking, taking some risk with your life for the sake of your livelihood, own enjoyment is... or should be, your own right! Your own business.

Freedom is not easily replaced by long told lies of safety and security. Yet they keep trying.

Freedom is on the ballot. Vote for freedom!!!

-the Pig

[NSXCIGAR]

21 hours ago, vhampl03 said:

@Elpresidente  - can HSA afford to lose a market like this? Not sure on Canadian sales but seems like a moderate size hit...and worrisome for the future..

Eh, 30 million people, not a big cigar culture. Low single digit percentage market for HSA I speculate. And as @benfica_77 notes a great deal of Canadians are purchasing online. 

HSA sells everything they make. Prices regularly increase. Emerging markets continue to grow. Canada is an afterthought.

[Schumi5]

Went into a B&M today here in the Vancouver area to buy a stick and show some support. Owner said Cuban stock is hard to find as no one seems ready for plain packaging on the Cuban side. He did direct me to the NC side of the shop where about 50% of the stock was already communist compliant. Found it difficult to figure out what was what as the only identifier is small text on the band and I am not that familiar with the NC market. Sad state of affairs and appalling to see freedoms so easily forfeited but seems par for the course these days. As long as the message jives with your social justice warriorship, all censorship and tyranny is deemed acceptable.

[riderpride]

The son of Fidel is a curious one indeed.

[CaptainQuintero]

They took the RyJ club kings 

What, 5 years to arrive? Binned in 6 months? I bet you could carry in a bag the boxes that ever arrived.

[vhampl03]

Thinking more about this....won’t the Canadian government lose a lot of tax revenue as part of PP?  Wonder what the logic there is..

[Fuzz]

2 hours ago, vhampl03 said:

Thinking more about this....won’t the Canadian government lose a lot of tax revenue as part of PP?  Wonder what the logic there is..

We have had plain packaging here in Australia for 8 years now, and back then, the tax revenue on tobacco was about AUD$7.7 billion. This year it is around AUD$17 billion, due to the huge increases on the excise since 2008-9.

So, I'd say, be prepared for the Canadian Govt to increase your tobacco tax. And we all know why....

[ATGroom]

For what it's worth (which isn't much), I remember when plain packaging was coming in in Aus there was a similar list that went around. The news at the time was to the effect of "it's only worth repacking the highest selling cigars so only these will be available in Australia from now on." It was perhaps 40 of the most mainstream things.

It never came to pass. Rob would know more of the specifics of how it's handled by retailers, but the full line is available still at the few remaining B&Ms in Aus. My understanding is that although only the most high volume stuff is plain packaged in HK, specialist retailers can still bring in whatever they want but they have to apply the green bands themselves.

So hopefully this Canadian list is a bit of an exaggeration and retailers may yet find a work around.

Also, I've smoked with people all over the country in Australia since the plain packaging came in, and I don't think I've ever once seen anybody smoking a stick with the green band.

[Cigar Surgeon]

On 11/2/2020 at 1:11 AM, ATGroom said:

It never came to pass. Rob would know more of the specifics of how it's handled by retailers, but the full line is available still at the few remaining B&Ms in Aus. My understanding is that although only the most high volume stuff is plain packaged in HK, specialist retailers can still bring in whatever they want but they have to apply the green bands themselves.

So hopefully this Canadian list is a bit of an exaggeration and retailers may yet find a work around.

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that in Canada. You can't import yourself unless you have an import license, which requires a significant amount of time, effort, and cash to obtain. That importation / distribution level adds a significant amount of markup to the whole process. Cuban cigars are imported through a single distributor, and that is not likely to change any time soon.

99% of the product that comes into Canada comes in through Eastern Canada / Ontario. 

The TL;DR version is - we will be losing the majority of NC and CC facings and that change will be permanent. 

[vhampl03]

Is there any country that has implemented PP besides Aus? Would be interesting to see what the outcome was in terms of sales, availability 

[El Presidente]

Just now, vhampl03 said:

Is there any country that has implemented PP besides Aus? Would be interesting to see what the outcome was in terms of sales, availability 

for cigars, Ireland and Singapore. 

I understand there are 12 other countries at different levels of the process. 

[hedgeybaby]

On 10/30/2020 at 5:09 PM, PigFish said:

You know it is coming right???

Cigar smoking, taking some risk with your life for the sake of your livelihood, own enjoyment is... or should be, your own right! Your own business.

Freedom is not easily replaced by long told lies of safety and security. Yet they keep trying.

Freedom is on the ballot. Vote for freedom!!!

-the Pig

Amen.

 

 

And A-Women!

[Shrimpchips]

Not sure I saw this come up, but the pp laws for Canada likely mean the Norteños are the last RE ever for Canada right?

[Bijan]

1 minute ago, Shrimpchips said:

Not sure I saw this come up, but the pp laws for Canada likely mean the Norteños are the last RE ever for Canada right?

Time will tell. It'll be weird if they ever make a plain packaged RE. But if they sell...

[LLC]

1 hour ago, Shrimpchips said:

Not sure I saw this come up, but the pp laws for Canada likely mean the Norteños are the last RE ever for Canada right?

It will certainly be the last proper package and quite possibly the last ever.


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