blessednxs65
Is it Nicaraguan
Los Angeles The peak year of the Cigar Boom came in 1997, when imports of premium cigars jumped as astounding 71.6 percent to a still-frightening total of 417.8 million. The following year, the figures were reduced, but a still sensational 334.6 million cigars were imported in what is generally considered the last year of the fad.
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But that 1998 figure has been surpassed. The final, full-year import figures for 2007 from the Cigar Association of America showed that, despite the smoking bans and higher taxes in many locations, imports of premium cigars increased 7.8 percent to the second-highest total on record: 335,167,000.
The record total came as imports for December of 2007 rose by 16.5 percent over 2006 and brought the year to a noteworthy close, surpassing a Boom-time total that many industry executives thought would not be challenged for a long time. Now only the white-hot 1997 total is larger.
As usual, the parade of cigar-making nations was led by the Dominican Republic. Exports of premium cigars to the U.S. rose 3.8 percent over 2006 to a total of 177.7 million, fifth-best in the countrys history. Combined with exports of 408.7 million machine-made cigars and the Dominican continued its reign as the worlds largest maker of cigars at 586.3 million units. And that total doesnt count an additional 264,000 little cigars!
Honduras retained, at least for one more year, the runner-up spot with 84.6 million cigars exported to the U.S., up 4.7 percent from 2006. A total of 21.3 million machine-made cigars was also produced in Honduras and exported to the U.S. for a countrywide total of 105.9 million, the country other than the Dominican with more than 100 million cigars exported to the U.S.
The hard-charger on the American market is Nicaragua, which saw its fourth straight year of increased cigar exports to the U.S. The 2007 total reached 69.2 million, up by a substantial 22.7 percent over 2006 and more than double the 2003 figure of just 33.0 million.
Taken together, the output from just these three countries total 331.1 million cigars or 98.8 percent of all U.S. premium imports. Other countries which registered significant import totals include the Bahamas (1.5 million), Mexico (1.4 million) and the Phillippines (676,000).
American imports also include machine-made cigars, of course and some 554.2million machine-made cigars came in during 2007, although there are questions about 63 million of these cigars which might have been mis-classified. Still, the American cigar market by far the worlds largest comprised 889.4 million large cigars and another 311.2 million small cigars for a total of just more than 1.2 billion cigars of all kinds. Thats a lot of cigars and is up 11.9 percent over the 2006 totals.
Starting with the Avo 75 in 2001, a special Avo cigar has been released each spring and 2008 is no different. Welcome the Avo "Tesoro" to the family!
"Tesoro" means treasure and Avo Uvezian, working with Hendrik Kelner at Tabadom Holding in Santiago in the Dominican Republic has come up with a unique new cigar thats unlike anything in the current Avo lines. For one thing, its presented upright in a two-row box of 10 cigars per row, or 20 per box. The cigars do have a traditional band just below the head, but rather a single band around the foot! Finally, the cigars are packed head in, so only the foot with its band is visible when opening the box.
The cigars themselves have an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper, Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves of Dominican-grown Piloto, Olor and San Vicente tobaccos. That gives the blend a spicy flavor in a medium-bodied cigar that measures 5 3/4 inches long by 50 ring gauge.
General Cigar announced that it is ending production of the Kahlua Cigars Delicioso brand on March 31. The license agreement by which the Kahlua name was used was not renewed by the new brand owner, spirits marketer Pernod Ricard. The original agreement, from 2002, was with the brands previous owner, Allied Domecq, which sold the brand in 2005.
All of the existing Kahlua inventory will be able to be sold. And General is hardly out of the flavored premium cigar business. When the Drew Estates deal to make Kahlua was made, General did not make flavored cigar sin its General Cigar Dominicana factory. It does now, with two styles of the Helix Remix line: the Amaretto-flavored blend introduced in 2005 and the new Café Mocha style, introduced last year.
Short fillers: The highly-successful inaugural ProCigar Festival in the Dominican Republic ended with a bang on March 7 with a final evening gala that included a sumptuous dinner, entertainment and an auction of rare cigar items to raise money for a home for senior citizens, the Hospicio San Vicente de Paul. The biggest earner at auction was no surprise: a specially-created Davidoff humidor with just 72 cigars in it, but they included the Davidoff limited-edition blends from 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, plus two 100 Aniversario specials, 16 of the 2006 Robusto and two of the magnificent Davidoff Diademas Finas 100 Aniversario perfectos of 9 1/2 inches and 55 ring. After some spirited bidding, it was sold for $5,500. A total of $50,000 was raised, including $1,100 from the sale of two of Avo Uvezians straw hats! .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
But that 1998 figure has been surpassed. The final, full-year import figures for 2007 from the Cigar Association of America showed that, despite the smoking bans and higher taxes in many locations, imports of premium cigars increased 7.8 percent to the second-highest total on record: 335,167,000.
The record total came as imports for December of 2007 rose by 16.5 percent over 2006 and brought the year to a noteworthy close, surpassing a Boom-time total that many industry executives thought would not be challenged for a long time. Now only the white-hot 1997 total is larger.
As usual, the parade of cigar-making nations was led by the Dominican Republic. Exports of premium cigars to the U.S. rose 3.8 percent over 2006 to a total of 177.7 million, fifth-best in the countrys history. Combined with exports of 408.7 million machine-made cigars and the Dominican continued its reign as the worlds largest maker of cigars at 586.3 million units. And that total doesnt count an additional 264,000 little cigars!
Honduras retained, at least for one more year, the runner-up spot with 84.6 million cigars exported to the U.S., up 4.7 percent from 2006. A total of 21.3 million machine-made cigars was also produced in Honduras and exported to the U.S. for a countrywide total of 105.9 million, the country other than the Dominican with more than 100 million cigars exported to the U.S.
The hard-charger on the American market is Nicaragua, which saw its fourth straight year of increased cigar exports to the U.S. The 2007 total reached 69.2 million, up by a substantial 22.7 percent over 2006 and more than double the 2003 figure of just 33.0 million.
Taken together, the output from just these three countries total 331.1 million cigars or 98.8 percent of all U.S. premium imports. Other countries which registered significant import totals include the Bahamas (1.5 million), Mexico (1.4 million) and the Phillippines (676,000).
American imports also include machine-made cigars, of course and some 554.2million machine-made cigars came in during 2007, although there are questions about 63 million of these cigars which might have been mis-classified. Still, the American cigar market by far the worlds largest comprised 889.4 million large cigars and another 311.2 million small cigars for a total of just more than 1.2 billion cigars of all kinds. Thats a lot of cigars and is up 11.9 percent over the 2006 totals.
Starting with the Avo 75 in 2001, a special Avo cigar has been released each spring and 2008 is no different. Welcome the Avo "Tesoro" to the family!
"Tesoro" means treasure and Avo Uvezian, working with Hendrik Kelner at Tabadom Holding in Santiago in the Dominican Republic has come up with a unique new cigar thats unlike anything in the current Avo lines. For one thing, its presented upright in a two-row box of 10 cigars per row, or 20 per box. The cigars do have a traditional band just below the head, but rather a single band around the foot! Finally, the cigars are packed head in, so only the foot with its band is visible when opening the box.
The cigars themselves have an Ecuadorian sun-grown wrapper, Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves of Dominican-grown Piloto, Olor and San Vicente tobaccos. That gives the blend a spicy flavor in a medium-bodied cigar that measures 5 3/4 inches long by 50 ring gauge.
General Cigar announced that it is ending production of the Kahlua Cigars Delicioso brand on March 31. The license agreement by which the Kahlua name was used was not renewed by the new brand owner, spirits marketer Pernod Ricard. The original agreement, from 2002, was with the brands previous owner, Allied Domecq, which sold the brand in 2005.
All of the existing Kahlua inventory will be able to be sold. And General is hardly out of the flavored premium cigar business. When the Drew Estates deal to make Kahlua was made, General did not make flavored cigar sin its General Cigar Dominicana factory. It does now, with two styles of the Helix Remix line: the Amaretto-flavored blend introduced in 2005 and the new Café Mocha style, introduced last year.
Short fillers: The highly-successful inaugural ProCigar Festival in the Dominican Republic ended with a bang on March 7 with a final evening gala that included a sumptuous dinner, entertainment and an auction of rare cigar items to raise money for a home for senior citizens, the Hospicio San Vicente de Paul. The biggest earner at auction was no surprise: a specially-created Davidoff humidor with just 72 cigars in it, but they included the Davidoff limited-edition blends from 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, plus two 100 Aniversario specials, 16 of the 2006 Robusto and two of the magnificent Davidoff Diademas Finas 100 Aniversario perfectos of 9 1/2 inches and 55 ring. After some spirited bidding, it was sold for $5,500. A total of $50,000 was raised, including $1,100 from the sale of two of Avo Uvezians straw hats! .
