Your 2025 Half Time Report Card?

[El Presidente]

This year is FLYING!!!!    

What would your 2025 Half Time Report Card be like?

Praise and Peeves

 

Shoot from the hip! Give us your 2 cents! 

Touch on one or more of the following.....or not. 

• Overall state of the cigar world so far in 2025 healthier, stagnant, or under pressure? 
• The trajectory of Cuban cigars & non-Cubans in the first half of 2025.... who/what's thriving, who/what's faltering, and why?
• What have been your best and worst cigar experiences so far in 2025
• What industry shifts, brands, releases, or trends have caught your attention so far this year....for better or worse?
• What’s your forecast for the second half of 2025 in the cigar world? Any bold predictions?

[JohnS]

• Overall state of the cigar world so far in 2025 healthier, stagnant, or under pressure? 

When you have Non-Cuban manufacturers going backwards in sales during the first quarter of 2025, and this is even before the tariff announcements in the first week of April, it confirms that cigar manufacturers are under a great deal of pressure to maintain business currently.

• The trajectory of Cuban cigars & non-Cubans in the first half of 2025.... who/what's thriving, who/what's faltering, and why?

Most would be challenged to maintain their volume of sales, I would think, but Habanos S.A. is 'raking in the cash' despite less supply.

• What have been your best and worst cigar experiences so far in 2025

Personally, I still meet up with friends for a cigar or two, when I can, and these times have been great. It's about the people, as we say in our hobby.

• What industry shifts, brands, releases, or trends have caught your attention so far this year....for better or worse?

I've noticed a number of Non-Cuban cigar manufacturers have had to raise prices since the tariff announcements and some even have had to merge to stay viable.

• What’s your forecast for the second half of 2025 in the cigar world? Any bold predictions?

It will get worse before it gets better.

[ByronB]

I sent a message to Joe Rogan who is a big cigar lover and has connections to the current administration to see if he could possibly influence the powers that be to allow small quantities of Cuban cigars to be made legal again for US citizens to buy and bring back home when traveling. Doubt it will do anything, but one can hope!