Are you puzzled by the sky-rocketing prices of Cuban cigars, especially Cohibas? If you’d like to better understand understand the factors driving the soaring prices recently imposed by Habanos on their flagship brand, listen to the Cigar Sense Podcast episode:
Supply and demand law
The recent health crisis, climate disasters, and production disruptions have led to supply shortages worldwide, affecting the tobacco industry as a whole. Additionally, the surge in demand during the pandemic, coupled with new smokers entering the market, has further strained the supply chain. As a result, premium cigar prices have generally increased by 10 to 15%.
New pricing strategy
In 2020, Hong Kong-based Allied Cigar Corp. took over 50% of Habanos. Also, China became the leading importer of Cuban cigars in 2020.
As a consequence, Cuban cigars distributors, Habanos, implemented a new pricing strategy in 2022, aiming to align prices globally, using Hong Kong as a benchmark.
Price increases have varied among different brands. Many brands were in line with other world producers’ announcements. However, Cohiba, the flagship brand, and a few most prestigious brands like Trinidad, with their triple digits price increases, have secured a “truly rare” position in the most important markets for Habanos.
A critical emerging market
China is an emerging luxury market. In spite of strict tobacco regulations and high taxes hitting street prices, a growing middle class, with international business people and younger generations, are attracted by premium cigars.
Filling the void with new gems
The scarcity of Cuban cigars is inducing consumers, who find themselves in front of empty shelves left by Cuban cigars, to seek different options. This behavior can be found all over the world, in fact limited editions and discontinued products are a well known phenomenon outside of Cuba as well.
With the right guidance, they may find great alternatives, even at more affordable prices. And the enjoyment can be even greater than what we were used to with the cigars we can no longer find. Hunting for new gems makes the experience even more exciting.
This means to new world cigar companies that they have great opportunities to cater to the needs and preferences of these consumers, for whom sensory experience and quality go hand in hand. Some companies are taking this approach seriously and may position themselves excellently. In fact, reliable sensory information can put both consumers and manufacturers in a winning position.
A secret tool
What inspires us with top ideas for new gems is the “similar cigars search”. You can use it for Cohiba Behikes, just like for any other Cuban or non Cuban cigar. It allows you to see, ranked by similarity, the cigars that you will want to consider to fill the void left by hard to find cigars. Obviously, in order to avoid double frustration, it’s always good to check how much the newly found gem matches your personal preference, which is also very easy to do.
Memorable experiences are what your senses make of a cigar.
How to find “similar cigars”: https://www.cigarsense.com/:
> complete your [free] membership
> from your personalized recommendations list or from any search results, click on the little microscope icon to view the cigar’s analytical profile
> at the end of the cigar analytical profile, click on the button “Find Similar Cigars”.
The fact that similarity is principally based on organoleptic characteristics, and not necessarily on tobacco, country, brand, format, price,… allows for a very wide spectrum of cigars to be discovered.
To further reduce the risk of buying the “wrong” cigars, click on the little microscope icon next to the similar cigar you are interested in and see how much it matches your personal preferences.
On Cigar Sense podcast
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Cigar Sense Podcast is sponsored by Cigar Sense premium members. We have no cigars sale, nor ads sale revenue because we strive to provide independent and reliable information.