Interesting Insights on the China cigar market.

[El Presidente]

Some very interesting numbers 

https://www.ejinsight.com/eji/article/id/4160473/250808-China’s-Top-Cigar-Maker-Wants-to-Be-Global-Brand

China’s Top Cigar Maker Wants to Be Global Brand

Mark O'NeillAugust 08, 2025 16:32

China’s top cigar maker, with more than half of the domestic market for handmade cigars, wants to become a leading global brand.

Founded in Sichuan in 1918, Great Wall Cigars made goods for Mao Zedong and other national leaders. On July 23 this year, it signed an agreement with China Tobacco Hong Kong (CTHK) to sell its cigars to the world market.

“The two companies aim to explore new models for Chinese cigar exports, accelerate the establishment of a unified global platform for the industry’s cigar business and enhance the internationalisation and global influence of Chinese cigars,” the two companies said in a statement.

Since last December, CTHK has been selling Great Wall cigars in Hong Kong, Macau and Cambodia.

Mordor Intelligence said that, in 2024, global sales of cigars reached US$53.64 billion and will rise 10.48 per cent a year to reach US$88.28 billion in 2029. China is the second biggest consumer in the world, after the United States.

Statista put cigar sales in China in 2025 at US$986,6 million and said the market will grow by 5.05 per cent a year over the next five years, mainly to the middle class and buyers of luxury goods.

Great Wall is based in Shifang, 50 kilometres from the Sichuan provincial capital of Sichuan. Tobacco has been grown there for 400 years.

Its weather, rainfall and land conditions are similar to those of Cuba, which produces the world’s best cigars. In 1918, a local entrepreneur established Yichuan Industrial Company, the first large-scale producer of cigars in China.

After 1949, the new government nationalised the tobacco industry. Great Wall became the preferred cigar for national leaders, including Mao, and the present given to visiting national guests.

In 2019, it became to produce premium cigars by hand. Output of these hand-made cigars reached two million in 2019, then five million in 2020 and 14.35 million in 2022, capturing 65.2 per cent of the Chinese market.

In Hong Kong and Macau, a box of its Spectacular Number Three, made with tobacco from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic as well as China, costs HK$1,880 for a box of ten sticks.

The firm has signed agreement with Altadis and Agio to share technology and with Alibaba on a blockchain traceability system for its cigars.

The tobacco leaf is grown in covered nurseries to shield it from sudden drops in temperatures. Plastic surrounds the seedlings to protect their roots until they take hold.

Inside the plant, three master rollers supervise 100 female cigar rollers. Under the agreement with Altadis, Lucrezia Valdez, a master roller from the Dominican Republic, visits the plant regularly to oversee product quality. A photo of Chairman Mao looks down from the wall to encourage the ladies.

Its stocks hold more than 400,000 cigars, kept in wooden drawers, with 30 different blend, some dating back to 2009.

Its biggest competitor in China is Cuba. China is the biggest market for Cuban cigars, accounting for 27 per cent of export revenue in 2024, according to Habanos, the Cuban cigar monopoly.

Habanos reported global revenue of US$827 million in 2024, a record, up from US$721 million in 2023. It said that supply could not meet demand. After China, the top overseas markets were Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Germany

[Zonum]

Interesting 🧐 

[anacostiakat]

Commie cigars?  Heh

[BrightonCorgi]

1 hour ago, anacostiakat said:

Commie cigars?  Heh

China or Cuba?

[Ford2112]

10 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

China or Cuba?

Hahaha

[anacostiakat]

On 8/9/2025 at 10:58 PM, BrightonCorgi said:

China or Cuba?

Heh. Should have said more commie cigars!  

[BrightonCorgi]

53 minutes ago, anacostiakat said:

Heh. Should have said more commie cigars!  

Seems like the Communists know how to make cigars. Near slave labor helps keep costs down.

[zacca]

I hope they’re a tremendous success…because that would mean picking off some of the domestic market share from Cuba. Chinese demand slowing for Cubans is the only way I see as an end to the continual price increases because we all know Cuba isn’t making at any infrastructure investments to improve the supply side at time soon.