Even random smokers cigars, that is, those who smoke one or two cigars a year, must have realized that the market is in great turmoil: a large shortage of mainly Cuban cigars and a price increase that approaches 200% within two years.

It has become difficult to find the most distinctive of Cuban cigars, Cohiba Robustos, one of the most popular and sought after vitolas on the market. And where it’s available, it currently costs about 70 euros a piece out of 25 euros in the 2019-2020 period. Famous Cuban brands such as Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo, owned by Cuban tobacco company Habanos SA, 50% of which was sold to Chinese interests in February for $1.2 billion, have seen the prices of their cigars double or even triple. . Some of the biggest cigars, such as the Churchill, now cost over 120 euros apiece. But even at these prices, there are serious drawbacks. So, a classic box of 25 Cohiba Robustos cigars costs 1,768.75 euros on the market today, i.e. more expensive than most Apple iPhone models.

Looking at the most reputable Greek websites selling cigars online, one immediately comes across the “out of stock” label. In fact, the vast majority of Cuban cigars are currently a hidden gem of the market. As Nikos Miamis explains in a conversation with “Kathimerini”., specialist in Cuban Habanos cigars, which has a physical store in the center of Athens, as well as one of the largest online stores, price increases and shortages have led to higher prices and cigars from other countries of origin, such as Saint Dominic and Nicaragua, at the time how they first introduced cigars to the Greek market from third countries such as Honduras. Some of them are really very good, but they are not Cuban. And Cuba has been and remains the undisputed king of these fine tobacco products.

However, in the last few weeks, he sees an attempt to normalize the uninterrupted supply in the market. Meanwhile, vigilantes here and there on the Greek border are transporting to the Greek market, as in other countries, monkey cigars, of poor quality, i.e. tobacco, which, according to experts, sometimes even includes banana leaves, wrapped and packaged. with fake labels.

Countertrade and monkey cigars on the market despite efforts to normalize supply.

Although the consumption of tobacco products and especially cigarettes is declining worldwide and therefore also in Greece, it is declining significantly, while alternative products such as heated tobacco and vaping take an increasing share, the demand for cigars, and also cigarillos is at its highest level in the last decade. According to sources from the management of Phenicia Fereos Hellas SA, the official importer of Habanos cigars in Greece, and the only authorized wholesaler, sales of classic cigars reached 2 million units in 2021, which is also the highest level since the beginning of Greek debt. crisis 15 years ago. Among them are cigars that the Cuban company produced specifically for the Greek market under the name “Omiros”.

“My estimate is that the current demand for Cuban cigars is two and a half million pieces, however, this number will take some time before we can make them available to the Greek public, given the large shortages seen around the world,” explains the top – Manager of Phenicia Fereos Hellas. However, as he says, the worst is over. In 2021, Phenicia Fereos set a historical record not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of sales and profitability. And in 2022, demand was even stronger. In Greece, but also abroad.

Havana-based Corporacion Habanos SA, which markets 27 of Cuba’s top PDO brands, all handmade, announced at the end of February that its 2022 revenue was $545 million compared to 2021, despite production difficulties stemming from crop cuts due to typhoons, the inability to find packaging materials in a timely manner, label and delay in the international supply chain.

China, hurricanes and Havana politics push up prices

The large scarcity and rising prices of Cuban cigars are caused by a perfect storm hitting this market: international demand is rising as emerging economies like China, with hundreds of millions of people, see their incomes improve and thus socially develop in the middle class . they are looking for expensive treats like real Cuban cigars. But demand is also strong in mature markets like Europe, despite the decline of traditional cigarettes, as more and more people choose to selectively smoke a few good cigars a week rather than anything else. At the same time, supply collapsed along with the pandemic.

Chinese interests Allied Cigar Corp acquired 50% of Habanos SA, paying a price in excess of $1.2 billion.

Cuba used its own vaccine, which was not as effective as it turned out, leaving about 50% of the workers in the manual production of cigar wrappers out of work for almost two years. But that wasn’t enough. Particularly bad weather, with hurricanes destroying much of the tobacco industry, has prevailed over the past three years.

However, even when the tobacco was picked and the workers were ready to wrap it, the wooden crates they were packed in, as well as the paper labels that wrapped each stick, were not available due to the known problems caused in the international supply chain by the pandemic. It is worth noting that most of the boxes and labels are produced outside of Cuba, experts explain. However, in addition to the imbalance between supply and demand, the state-owned Cuban company Corporacion Habanos, SA itself has adopted and has been implementing for several years two policies that lead to growth: in principle, within a few years, the price of cigars increases by 3-5% in year horizontally.

Secondly, she decided to try to equalize the prices of her best cigars all over the world, that is, those that she included in the so-called Luxury Line, that is, the best lines of the brands Cohiba, Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo. This policy is attributed to an increase that reached before production problems in some countries, more than 100% depending on how onerous the tax regime for cigars in each region.

But traders and smokers’ fears, especially in Europe and the United States, that the situation could worsen further increased earlier this year when it was revealed that Chinese-owned Hong Kong-based Allied Cigar Corp had acquired 50% of Habanos SA. paying the price. which exceeded $1.2 billion. The event was taken as proof that China would henceforth gobble up a much larger share of Cuban production, perpetuating a shortage of its coveted brands in the West.

The markets with the highest Habanos sales in 2022 were Spain, France, Germany, China and Switzerland. By region, Europe remains the top market for Habanos with 53.7% of sales value, followed by Asia Pacific (19.3%), Americas (15.3%), Africa and the Middle East (11.7%).

And as if all that wasn’t enough, in early April, Cuba’s state newspaper Granma reported that Pinar del Río, the region in western Cuba where most of the high-quality tobacco is grown, was experiencing perhaps the worst harvest ever. tobacco in history. Much of the lingering aftermath of Hurricane Yan, which wiped out much of Pinar del Río’s tobacco plantations in late September, is to blame.