Cuban cigar production in 2021

[BubbaLew]

There seems to be a shortage of certain Habanos cigar sizes on the international market. Anyone know if that is being addressed soon?  The larger cigars are scarce and many of the well-known Cuban brands are hard to find, such as Cohiba Robusto, Siglo IV, Monte #2, Edmundo, H.Upmann in SLBs, Bolivar Belicoso Finos, almost no Double Coronas. I was in Havana a little over a year ago and there were tons of cigars at the Casa Del Habanos stores.  Hope things recover soon.

[Ginseng]

Hello and welcome. It's customary to introduce oneself before launching into questions.

See the Newbie Forum

[Cairo]

Everything on the OP list has been available here in the past year.

[El Presidente]

I was told this week that global Cuban cigar supply will get back to some semblance of normality in 8-12 months. 

[Corylax18]

1 minute ago, El Presidente said:

I was told this week that global Cuban cigar supply will get back to some semblance of normality in 8-12 months. 

We've been hearing that since what? 1999? 2000? Haha

[El Presidente]

Just now, Corylax18 said:

We've been hearing that since what? 1999? 2000? Haha

True 

However it is currently the worst that I have seen in since 1996. 

At any given time, HSA are out of BRC/D4/BBF/Double Coronas/Half of the Cohiba line. 

But it's OK because they again made 100 million cigars this year 

[Corylax18]

5 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

True 

However it is currently the worst that I have seen in since 1996. 

At any given time, HSA are out of BRC/D4/BBF/Double Coronas/Half of the Cohiba line. 

But it's OK because they again made 100 million cigars this year 

We always talk about how great they are at making "Small Cigars" Maybe its because they aren't so good at making the bigger ones? 100 Million PCs is a lot less tobacco than 100 million DCs. Just like the Embargo, its all the Americans fault that the HSA lineup is getting shorter and fatter. Right? 

At this rate they could keep it at 100 million a year indefinitely. We'll be smoking Babybel's in a couple years. 🤣

 

[Monterey]

1 hour ago, El Presidente said:

I was told this week that global Cuban cigar supply will get back to some semblance of normality in 8-12 months. 

Did they say if it was production or shipment (or both)?.  By that I mean are they making roughly the same amount and eventually we will be hit with the normal level, plus all the stuff that never made if off the island due to shipment delays?   I get for awhile things slowed down, but you would think they would be near full production now.

[NSXCIGAR]

3 hours ago, BubbaLew said:

The larger cigars are scarce and many of the well-known Cuban brands are hard to find, such as Cohiba Robusto, Siglo IV, Monte #2, Edmundo, H.Upmann in SLBs, Bolivar Belicoso Finos, almost no Double Coronas.

I'm not sure I agree with this at all. The only cigars that have been what I would call difficult to find through 2021 have been LGC MdO4, Party 898, Lanceros, Esplendidos, Siglo V 25s, SP Beli and HUSW. All the DCs have been pretty available: Punch DC, Hoyo DC, RAG, Lusi. 

I see you have 1 post. I'd check the FOH International Store as most everything you mentioned is in stock.

[El Presidente]

6 minutes ago, Monterey said:

Did they say if it was production or shipment (or both)?.  By that I mean are they making roughly the same amount and eventually we will be hit with the normal level, plus all the stuff that never made if off the island due to shipment delays?   I get for awhile things slowed down, but you would think they would be near full production now.

The  Distributors are not confident and they are the best ones to gauge the situation. 

There is no magical back log of stock ready to hit the world. 

[El Presidente]

9 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I'm not sure I agree with this at all. The only cigars that have been what I would call difficult to find through 2021 have been LGC MdO4, Party 898, Lanceros, Esplendidos, Siglo V 25s, SP Beli and HUSW. All the DCs have been pretty available: Punch DC, Hoyo DC, RAG, Lusi. 

I see you have 1 post. I'd check the FOH International Store as most everything you mentioned is in stock.

The issue is that quantities are thin when they are available. 

I am in regular contact with say half a dozen major online retailers around the world and obviously PCC. 

Out of Havana :  D4's in 25's ran out for the first time in 2020/21 (4 weeks). Bolivar Royal Corona same (4-5 weeks). CORO (3 weeks), Monte 2 (25's) 2 weeks  etc etc. It was far worse for RAG/Punch DC etc etc.  

Never before have such core cigars run out.  By "run out"  I mean unavailable for export from Havana. 

Everyone has been scratching their heads. 

[NSXCIGAR]

1 hour ago, El Presidente said:

D4's in 25's ran out for the first time in 2020/21 (4 weeks). Bolivar Royal Corona same (4-5 weeks). CORO (3 weeks), Monte 2 (25's) 2 weeks  etc etc. It was far worse for RAG/Punch DC etc etc.  

I guess my perspective is a bit different than yours. Having any break in supply--even a day--would certainly be unusual on your end. If something disappears for a week I wouldn't even know it, certainly for typically inexhaustible cigars like PSD4 and Monte 2. But every time I, a meager consumer, check various vendors' stock once a week they're always there. A single vendor perspective differs from typical consumer perspective. 

[El Presidente]

3 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I guess my perspective is a bit different than yours. Having any break in supply--even a day--would certainly be unusual on your end. If something disappears for a week I wouldn't even know it, certainly for typically inexhaustible cigars like PSD4 and Monte 2. But every time I, a meager consumer, check various vendors' stock once a week they're always there. A single vendor perspective differs from typical consumer perspective. 

Completey understood. 

Most retailers (if not all) have a little bit of duck play going on. Looks smooth on the surface but it is frantic behind the scenes. 

150  boxes of D4 will be a lifetimes requirement for some retailers and days requirement for others. 

[El Presidente]

48 minutes ago, Lrabold89 said:

Hard to find the ones you mentioned?? Are you serious ?


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At different times over the last 12 months, absolutely. They were not available for purchase. 

I/we haven't seen a situation before when D4/M2/CORO were simply unavailable from HSA.  There has always been "out of stock" items however never in the bread and butter lines. 

It all may have been down to unforseen logistics their end. There is nothing transparent about HSA. 

[Enduin]

Question: I'm not seeing in the cigars mentioned in this thread the HdM Epi 1, yet it's not been very easy to find lately (online vendors, I don't shop in B&M) and the only boxes I've seen were 2019. Did they make it in 2020? 

[BubbaLew]

Then, I was told by cigar shops that the normal supply chain has been somewhat disrupted because the Cubans use commercial airline cargo to ship much of their stock. Due to Covid, there have been fewer flights between Cuba and Europe, UK, other countries. Then, I heard the Chinese are now a major consumer of Cuban cigars and thus a lot of stock is going to Beijing. I heard up to 50% of the Habanos are going to China.  UK distributor Hunters & Frankau seem to have a good supply, but it’s not easy getting cigars from the UK shipped out. Try to buy a SLB of Cohiba Robustos. Yes, there are 3 packs. 

[El Presidente]

5 hours ago, Enduin said:

Question: I'm not seeing in the cigars mentioned in this thread the HdM Epi 1, yet it's not been very easy to find lately (online vendors, I don't shop in B&M) and the only boxes I've seen were 2019. Did they make it in 2020? 

I have seen UEB FEB 20

Few to none on buy sheets in the past couple of months. 

[El Presidente]

1 hour ago, BubbaLew said:

Then, I was told by cigar shops that the normal supply chain has been somewhat disrupted because the Cubans use commercial airline cargo to ship much of their stock. Due to Covid, there have been fewer flights between Cuba and Europe, UK, other countries. Then, I heard the Chinese are now a major consumer of Cuban cigars and thus a lot of stock is going to Beijing. I heard up to 50% of the Habanos are going to China.  UK distributor Hunters & Frankau seem to have a good supply, but it’s not easy getting cigars from the UK shipped out. Try to buy a SLB of Cohiba Robustos. Yes, there are 3 packs. 

Lack of commercial aircraft seriously affected HSA shipments out of the country. That problem has eased but it is still challenging as available routes are limited. 

China (chinese consumers) have little to do with it. They have their own distributor (Infifon) and the numbers are known (like all distributors). 

You would think that in a year of international closures and lack of flights that mother hubbards cupboard at HSA would be overflowing.  They continue to tout that production has not been affected. The opposite appears to be the case however. 

 

 

 

 

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[mprach024]

Interesting read.  Good posts

[NSXCIGAR]

7 hours ago, BubbaLew said:

I heard the Chinese are now a major consumer of Cuban cigars and thus a lot of stock is going to Beijing. I heard up to 50% of the Habanos are going to China.

As Prez notes, this isn't the case at all. China's growth has been slow and steady. It wouldn't be a reason for a current shortage. 

As far as market share, Europe has 53-60% and then there's the rest of the world. All Asia Pacific sales were 15% so China alone is less than that, especially considering much of Asia Pacific comes to N. America.