Will Cuban tobacco soon be rolled in the US?

[El Presidente]

 

 

 

Will Cuban tobacco soon be rolled in the US?

 

No cigars have been made from Cuban tobacco in the United States for nearly 60 years. One American entrepreneur hopes to change all that.

CONTINUED

 

 

[bishop532]

That’s a big lift for Newman, but it would be cool as hell to see Clear Havanas make a return. Especially right now.

[Fuzz]

“We know that Cuba has been secretly exporting premium tobacco to several countries, including Nicaragua and Costa Rica, for several years....."

What? What?! Whaaat?!?!

An NC producer is saying Cuba is exporting Cuban leaf to NC countries, not the other way around?!?! Shock horror!!

[NSXCIGAR]

Some very odd things in this article...

Newman says he has already been in contact with several independent growers in Cuba, who he believes would be willing to sell him good quality leaves.

First, what does he mean by independent growers? Second, this deal would have nothing to do with the farmers. Even if Tabacuba approved the deal they would never let the farmers sell directly to him. As if he would get access to the cream of the crop...please. Of course a farmer be willing to sell him "good quality" leaf? They want money! This whole sentence makes no sense.

The island is officially content with exporting second-rate tobacco, intended to be chopped up for the production of machine-made cigars.

What cigars are machine-made elsewhere using Cuban tobacco?

We know that Cuba has been secretly exporting premium tobacco to several countries, including Nicaragua and Costa Rica, for several years. 

This one again...sheesh. So he "knows" it. First, I don't believe it. Second, never any evidence to back it up. Always a secret. If Cuba was doing this secretly then what bearing does it have to this guy's proposed plan? Why bring it up? So Cuba's doing this secretly so they'll be more likely to do it officially? Calling them out publicly is probably not going to help you get a deal with them. 

I have never believed this "secret" exporting of leaf from Cuba to be rolled elsewhere. First, it would have leaked by now. NC competition is high. Not only would this be illegal as NCs are sold in the US but a huge player(s) could get taken down. When all the leaf is controlled Cuba makes the most money with the finished product. Selling raw leaf is probably the least profitable venture for Cuba. 

This whole thing is nonsense from start to finish. US ain't gonna approve it, Cuba ain't gonna approve it and he's spouting a bunch of BS anyway. Par for the course for the NC world...

[SCgarman]

This article is old news, and as we know total BravoSierra. Another dreamer who wants his 15 minutes of fame.

[NSXCIGAR]

19 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

“We know that Cuba has been secretly exporting premium tobacco to several countries, including Nicaragua and Costa Rica, for several years....."

What? What?! Whaaat?!?!

An NC producer is saying Cuba is exporting Cuban leaf to NC countries, not the other way around?!?! Shock horror!!

I always say look at what they do, not what they say.

All NCs do is badmouth CCs yet copy every aspect of their format, presentation and packaging and would trip over themselves to actually be able to use Cuban leaf. 

And the statement above exposes them completely whether it's true or not (spoiler: it's not). If NC tobacco is so superior to Cuban they should be avoiding it like the plague. We all know if Cuba allowed it and the Embargo lifted they would be stumbling all over each other to get Cuban leaf.

[El Presidente]

2 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

“We know that Cuba has been secretly exporting premium tobacco to several countries, including Nicaragua and Costa Rica, for several years....."

 

They (Govt) certainly export Cuban tobacco to Europe, but it is far from premium. 

Cut an independent  deal with a farmer? No.  Very risky for all involved (except Newman). 

Govt would want to control the process.Low grade filler / no wrapper.  It is conceivable and little different from what they are doing now. 

Under the current US administration? No   The Cubans Govt would love it. The end of the embargo and a business program that legitimises the Govt. 

 

[SCgarman]

2 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

I always say look at what they do, not what they say.

All NCs do is badmouth CCs but copy every aspect of their format, presentation and packaging but would trip over themselves to actually be able to use CC. 

And the statement above exposes them completely whether it's true or not (spoiler: it's not). If NC tobacco is so superior to Cuban they should be avoiding it like the plague. We all know Cuba allowed it and the Embargo lifted they would be stumbling all over each other tom get Cuban leaf.

JC Newman is hanging on by a thread and the last cigar maker in Tampa. This guy is just young and dumb and having "delusions of grandeur".

[NSXCIGAR]

4 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

They (Govt) certainly export Cuban tobacco to Europe, but it is far from premium. 

What are they doing with it?

[El Presidente]

1 minute ago, NSXCIGAR said:

What are they doing with it?

here is an example 

Villiger Export Pressed Cigars – Pack of 5

 

£18.25

A Great Havana blend with a Sumatra wrapper enriched with Cuban tobacco. A Swiss machine made cigar using Cuban tobacco that has a truly mass appeal with 500 million units sold annually in over 70 countries. Popular and a great smoke!

[NSXCIGAR]

1 minute ago, El Presidente said:

here is an example 

Villiger Export Pressed Cigars – Pack of 5

 

£18.25

A Great Havana blend with a Sumatra wrapper enriched with Cuban tobacco. A Swiss machine made cigar using Cuban tobacco that has a truly mass appeal with 500 million units sold annually in over 70 countries. Popular and a great smoke!

So that is true. Huh.

You think better or worse than Guantanamera? 

[Zaxeiler]

33 minutes ago, NSXCIGAR said:

So that is true. Huh.

You think better or worse than Guantanamera? 

I was once told by a fine group of folks that I’d be better off picking my nose!

[Capt. Corona]

6 hours ago, Fuzz said:

“We know that Cuba has been secretly exporting premium tobacco to several countries, including Nicaragua and Costa Rica, for several years....."

What? What?! Whaaat?!?!

An NC producer is saying Cuba is exporting Cuban leaf to NC countries, not the other way around?!?! Shock horror!!

Makes perfect sense.....fast, easy money in the pocket.  Don't need to pay workers to roll or clog up the pipe line trying to get finished product on the shelf.

 

5 hours ago, Zaxeiler said:

I was once told by a fine group of folks that I’d be better off picking my nose!

And doing what with it?

[Chas.Alpha]

Cuban cigars being rolled in the US: And you are complaining about a $7 dollar PC? Hell, workers at Burger King are making $15/hr. What will these skilled cigar workers want?...

[NSXCIGAR]

24 minutes ago, Capt. Corona said:

Makes perfect sense.....fast, easy money in the pocket.  Don't need to pay workers to roll or clog up the pipe line trying to get finished product on the shelf.

Cuba isn't that desperate. The finished product is where the money is. They can store leaf indefinitely, and over the medium term there's always a raw materials shortage. The input shortage they'll figure out in the near term. 

They pay the farmers and the factory workers a pittance. Packaging is HSA's biggest expense and they've brought a lot of that in-house. All they have to do it wait up to a year or two and get 2500% more return on the leaf, and usually far less time than that. 

Cuba also wants the monopoly and to have it they must control the leaf from seed to smoke. Why not? One of the "benefits" of authoritarianism. 

[El Presidente]

lots of tobacco regions.  Villiger and others are not receiving leaf from Vuelta Abajo 

From CCW

 

[Edicion]

I've tried some of this brand, they taste like a rough NC or Philippine cigar with a strong cigarette flavor. And they come pre-cut. What's there not to like? 

[El Presidente]

8 minutes ago, Edicion said:

I've tried some of this brand, they taste like a rough NC or Philippine cigar with a strong cigarette flavor. And they come pre-cut. What's there not to like? 

Cheers for that. 

Ken's house warming present is now sorted 

[Edicion]

32 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Cheers for that. 

Ken's house warming present is now sorted 

Glad to be of service. Honestly, the pictures don't do them justice. They really managed to lock in that chlorophyll giving them that highly sought after Candela wrapper look. He will love the green hue. Who doesn't look forward to a green cigar every now and then?

[Huckleberry]

I don't know if this is the correct thread to bring this up or not but I have had a troubling thought rolling around in my thick skull for awhile now.  This question is just from the persepctive of the hobby, not people, not politices, not livelihood or embargoes.  What happens to the cuban cigar industry if it suffers through another dead quality period similar to what happened during the period of approximately 99-01?  If boxes of tent pegs become the norm because of the measureable loss of qualified rollers and cigar minds, will they be able to survive a prolonged 1-2-3 year period of that happening again?  I don't think the PerfectDraw can save them

Thoughts?

[NSXCIGAR]

2 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

What happens to the cuban cigar industry if it suffers through another dead quality period similar to what happened during the period of approximately 99-01? 

If we're speaking specifically about this problem I don't think we'll ever see that again for a few reasons.

The main cause of the issue was massive production by unskilled rollers and uncoordinated QC. Those issues are gone, not to mention the implementation of draw-checking machines around 2002-2003. 

CC production was more than doubled between 1992 and the peak in 1999. By 2000 the situation was a mess. If HSA hadn't needed to bring in Altadis for $500 million believe me, they wouldn't have. It's no coincidence that things changed rapidly in 2001. 

Since around 2005 CC production in export units has remained remarkably stable at around 125 million, down from over 200 million in 1999-2000, and revenue has increased around 5-10% per year every year. 

And I think perhaps the most impressive aspect of CC production in the last 20 years has been the level of consistency among all factories. Factory chasing has become largely a relic of the past. 

In terms of another issue like poor overall quality, we haven't really seen a period of poor cigars since maybe 2005-2006 and it was very limited. It's always possible but it would take an extended period of very poor harvests and since the last 5/6 have been fantastic and the one outlier still good, assuming just average or below harvests for the next 5 years there's enough leaf for at least 10 years with high quality. 5/6 excellent harvests in a row is truly remarkable and I doubt there were many runs like that even in the 20th century, not to mention it seems that they have succeeded in strain development and now have several reliable strains that have proven viable over the last 15 years. This wasn't the case in 1999 or 2005. 

[JohnnyO]

The article quickly develops a lot of BS into straight lies in a matter of seconds. Villiger has not used Cuban filler since the 80's. Exporting leaf on a large scale is not impossible but it would certainly be out the back door. John

[Puros Y Vino]

14 hours ago, NSXCIGAR said:

So that is true. Huh.

You think better or worse than Guantanamera? 

I'd bet they're using Guantanamera. 

[BrightonCorgi]

16 hours ago, El Presidente said:

here is an example 

Villiger Export Pressed Cigars – Pack of 5

 

£18.25

A Great Havana blend with a Sumatra wrapper enriched with Cuban tobacco. A Swiss machine made cigar using Cuban tobacco that has a truly mass appeal with 500 million units sold annually in over 70 countries. Popular and a great smoke!

There are a few Euro brands that use Havana tobacco, but have been for many decades.  Hajenus is another that first comes to mind.

[BrightonCorgi]

11 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

If boxes of tent pegs become the norm because of the measureable loss of qualified rollers and cigar minds, will they be able to survive a prolonged 1-2-3 year period of that happening again?  I don't think the PerfectDraw can save them

Thoughts?

They'll have to ship in contract rollers from other countries in the short term if they are that low on qualified rollers.  Rolling crappy cigars is not the path forward.  Better to have less cigars available, but have them reliable.  NC's are too much of threat compared to 20 years ago.