Category: Cigars

Cigar Association Meets CTP Officials

Photo: Rawf8
The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) briefed Brian King, the new director of the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), on the industry’s issue set and the association’s priorities.
The briefing, which was one of King’s first engagements with stakeholders, covered material facts about the uniqueness of the products, legislative history, current health data, economics and impact of regulatory efforts.
King was joined by several other members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, including Michele Mital, deputy director of the CTP. The PCA was represented by Greg Zimmerman (The Tobacco Co.), Scott Regina (Emerson’s Cigars), Mike Condor (Crowned Heads), Scott Pearce (PCA), Joshua Habursky (PCA) and Patrick Anderson (PCA consultant).
“Director King is a researcher, and we urged him to lean into that part of his background and shed the current mantel that CTP wears—‘tobacco-free’ ideology is not what the Tobacco Control Act authorized,” said Zimmerman, president of the PCA, in a statement.
“A lot of time and money has been spent by the government to try and justify FDA’s efforts to regulate premium cigars. While PCA is proud of our wins in defense of the industry, what we really need them to understand is that they are not achieving their own goals when they take broad sweeping approaches to regulation,” said Pearce, executive director of the PCA.
“As long as the FDA remains our regulator, there needs to be productive dialogue. The necessity for the FDA to be aggressive toward premium cigars is not prudent, and we are hopeful that this personnel change will represent a departure from the past actions that were based on a one-size-fits-all approach,” noted Habursky, deputy executive director and head of government affairs for the PCA.
September 12, 2022
Cuba Marks Cohiba Anniversary

Leopoldo Cintra Gonzalez (Right) -Photo: Timothy Donahue
Although a year late, Habanos is celebrating its most iconic brand’s 55th birthday.
By Timothy S. Donahue
Cuba is trying to get back to a sense of normalcy. Covid served a crushing blow to the reclusive island’s tourism industry. It also caused chaos in its cigar production chain from the farms to the factory floor. However, after a year’s delay, Habanos, the government-owned distributor of Cuban cigars, is welcoming cigar connoisseurs to celebrate the 55th anniversary of its most iconic brand, Cohiba.
While officially the event began on Wednesday with a cocktail reception at the El Laguito event center nearby where Cohibas are produced, media were given an opportunity Tuesday to mingle with representatives of Habanos. During the media event, Leopoldo Cintra Gonzalez, commercial vice president for Habanos, told Tobacco Reporter that the Cohiba brand has shown strength throughout its history and remains one of the most exclusive cigars on the global market.
He mentioned Cuba’s “always present” former leader Fidel Castro who first launched the Cohiba brand in 1966 and passed away in 2016. “It has not been an easy 55 years. We have had to be very innovative, which is normal for Habanos,” Cintra Gonzalez said through a translator. “But for this [exquisite] brand, because of the love everyone puts into the brand … especially the hands of the torcedors in El Laguito who put in so much effort … remains a favorite of consumers around the world.”
Typically, brand anniversaries for Habanos happen during the company’s annual cigar festival held in February. However, that event has been cancelled the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Next year, the festival will return, and the 2023 Festival del Habano XXIII will take place from Feb. 27 to March 3.
Thursday, attendees will attend a tour of the El Laguito factory during operating hours and have an opportunity to see how the Cohiba cigars are produced followed by a gala dinner Friday evening that will include an auction of two exclusive humidors, the proceeds from which will help support the Cuban healthcare system.
The Cohiba 55 Aniversario, which measures 5 9/10 inches (150 mm) long with a 57 ring gauge, is a new vitola called Victoria. The cigar also wears a foot band, the first time an Edicion Limitada release from Habanos has done so. All of the tobacco blend comes from the Pinar del Rio province of Cuba and includes seco and ligero filler leaves, undergoing an additional fermentation in barrels to give the brand a distinctive aroma and flavor.
According to media reports, Phoenicia Trading Co. stated in May that the retail price of the Cohiba 55 Aniversario at its duty-free location in the Beirut airport would be $300 per cigar.
Timothy Donahue is the assistant editor of Tobacco Reporter. Since joining our team in January 2013, he has become not only an expert on the traditional tobacco business but also a well-respected voice in the rapidly developing vapor industry. Tim spends much of his time on the road, attending conferences and interviewing industry representatives. His networking skills, work ethic and quick mind are valuable assets to our diverse audience.

September 7, 2022
STG’s Quarterly Sales Down in ‘Difficult’ Year

Photo: STG
Scandinavian Tobacco Group’s (STG) net sales and EBITDA declined 2 percent and 15 percent, respectively, for the second quarter of 2022 against a strong second quarter last year. The company cited lower-than-expected productivity in its supply chain, resulting in lower production volumes and higher costs. While anticipating improvements in the second half of the year, STG expects the delay to impact its full-year net sales and costs negatively.
According to STG, the level of the production backlog was almost DKK150 million ($20.12 million) by the end of July. “However, as the improvements kick in combined with pricing initiatives across the product categories and easier year-on-year comparisons, we expect to return to EBITDA growth in the second half of the year,” the company wrote in a statement.
Niels Frederiksen
“2022 has turned out to be a difficult year for Scandinavian Tobacco Group, and we have had to adjust our full-year expectation for organic EBITDA growth,” said STG CEO Niels Frederiksen. “This development is disappointing and is primarily driven by temporary challenges in our supply chain and to a lesser extent by more cautious consumer behavior especially in the important U.S. handmade cigar market.
“Still, we maintain our financial expectations of delivering strong cash flows and positive EPS growth for 2022, and we continue to implement our Rolling Toward 2025 strategy. The acquisition of Room101 as well as the continued expansion of our retail footprint in the U.S. are good examples of this. Overall, we remain confident in the strength of our underlying business and our cash flow.”
August 25, 2022
FDA Starts Reviewing Menthol and Flavored Cigar Feedback

Photo: Bits and Splits
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received nearly 175,000 comments on its proposed Tobacco Product Standard for Menthol in Cigarettes and approximately 71,000 comments on its proposed Tobacco Product Standard for Characterizing Flavors in Cigars.
On May 4, 2022, the FDA published the proposed tobacco product standards in the Federal Register. Initially, the FDA provided a 60-day comment period for the rules, but the FDA later extended the comment period to a total of 90 days. On Aug. 2, the comment period closed.
In addition to accepting written public comments, the agency convened public listening sessions on June 13 and June 15.
The agency stressed that it would take a while to review the submitted comments, scientific data, expert opinions and facts. “FDA is committed to completing the rulemaking process as quickly as possible; however, the agency will need ample time to comprehensively review and analyze all of the comments,” wrote FDA Public Health Analyst Beaza Yeheyes in an email.
August 11, 2022
Avanti Cigar Moves to the Dominican Republic

Photo: sezerozger
The Avanti Cigar Co. is moving its production from the United States to the Dominican Republic, citing high labor cost and difficulty in finding employees as reasons for the decision, according to a report in the Standard-Speaker.
After manufacturing premium cigars for more than 90 years in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, Avanti will shut down its U.S. factory on Aug. 31.
“The last two years have been difficult due to the Covid-19 pandemic; it is getting harder and harder to hire skilled people, able to learn and manage production activities and to guarantee business sustainability in the medium [term] and long term,” the company wrote in a statement.
Founded in 1912 in New York City as Suraci Brothers, the company moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania, around 1930, then to Dunmore in 2013.
David Ozgo, president of the Cigar Association of America, said Avanti’s move overseas fits a trend.
“This is a trend that’s been going on for decades,” Ozgo said. “In the U.S., we make a lot of premium tobacco. There is a real issue in hiring employees that probably makes it more attractive for them to move to the Dominican Republic.”
August 10, 2022
Industry Group Opposes Flavored Cigar Ban

Photo: Andrii
The Cigar Association of America (CAA) has filed comments opposing the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed flavored cigar ban, saying FDA’s own data show that underage usage of flavored cigars—the main rationale for the proposal—is at historic lows, after years of continued decline.
“This clearly shows that FDA is proposing a solution in search of a problem. The underage usage of flavored cigars is minuscule,” said CAA President David M. Ozgo in a statement. “It is a blatant example of targeting an industry that is clearly marketing its products to legal age adults.”
The comments note that one of the key purposes of the Tobacco Control Act—the law giving FDA authority to regulate tobacco—is to continue to permit the sale of tobacco products to adults, in conjunction with measures to ensure tobacco products are not sold or accessible to underage purchasers. The current historically low youth usage rates show the success of existing measures.
According to the CAA, government evidence shows that youth usage of cigars is so low as to be almost immeasurable. When the FDA first sought to exercise regulatory authority over certain tobacco products in 1996, the only survey that tracked youth usage of cigars in 1997, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), showed last 30-day youth usage at 5 percent in 1997. In 2020 NSDUH tracked last 30-day youth usage of cigars at 0.8 percent.
The CAA comments highlight the most recent data from the government’s Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Survey (PATH) showing that youth last 30-day usage of cigars overall was down to 0.75 percent and that youth usage of flavored cigars is around just 0.29 percent.
“In short, youth usage of flavored cigars continues to decline to almost unmeasurable levels,” Ozgo stated in the filed comment. “FDA asserts that flavored cigars attract youth. If that were true, we would expect flavored cigars to account for a majority of youth cigar use,” the comment added.
“But the government data clearly show that youth usage of flavored cigars is tiny and declining further,” Ozgo noted.
The comments also state there is no scientific basis for the proposed ban, but there would be devastating economic consequences. Many small businesses, often minority owned, would be negatively impacted as well as an assortment of cigar manufacturers, suppliers and producing countries such as the Dominican Republic and Honduras.
Additionally, the CAA comments go on to demonstrate how the FDA does not show any differentiated health effects posed by flavored cigars and that banning flavored cigars would only lead to the development of an unregulated illegal market for flavored cigars. Illegally produced and sold product can often have dangerous additives.
August 7, 2022
FDA Ignored Evidence in ‘Deeming’ Premium Cigars

Photo: Viacheslav Yakobchuk
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ignored evidence about health risks in considering premium cigars to be subject to same law as cigarettes, a federal judge ruled on July 5, reports Reuters.
The litigation focuses on the 2016 Deeming Rule, in which the agency identified a wide range of tobacco products, including premium cigars, to be subject to its regulatory authority along with cigarettes under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
The FDA rule requires cigar makers to register their products annually, provide ingredient lists for each product and submit products for laboratory testing—procedures the premium cigar industry considers impractical for its handmade, “artisan” products.
The Premium Cigar Association and Cigar Rights of America challenged the Deeming Rule, arguing that, unlike cigarettes and e-cigarettes, premium cigars do not appeal to young people and are not associated with addiction. They cited studies showing that young people are unlikely to use premium cigars, that users of premium cigars are unlikely to smoke them frequently and that infrequent cigar use is not associated with increased mortality.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington DC agreed that the FDA had not adequately considered the studies cited by the plaintiffs, instead asserting that there was “no evidence” that premium cigars were less harmful.
“Where, as here, an agency speaks in absolute terms that there is no evidence, it acts arbitrarily and capriciously when there is in fact pertinent record evidence and the agency ignores or overlooks it,” the judge wrote.
Judge Mehta asked the FDA and the industry groups to submit briefs on whether he should vacate the FDA’s decision or simply remand the matter back to the agency.
July 6, 2022
CCC Mulls Alternatives to Menthol Ban
The Consumer Choice Center, a consumer advocacy group based in Washington D.C., hosted a “Menthol Melee,” proposing alternatives to the Food and Drug Administration’s pending bans on flavored cigars and menthol cigarettes.
The event featured Gwenn Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who died at the hands of police over untaxed cigarettes, as well as nearly a dozen current and former law enforcement officers who believe the proposed policy will erode community trust in places where officers patrol the streets.
“We are hosting the Menthol Melee to hear from various community activists, law enforcement officers, and research experts who understand far too well how ill-fated a ban on these flavored tobacco products would be,” said Yaël Ossowski, deputy director at the Consumer Choice Center.
“While a ban is well-intended, to stop a generation of people from smoking, it will almost certainly have a disproportionate impact on minority communities due to increased police enforcement and will take away police officers’ time from pursuing actual crimes. It will also create a new illicit market that will give incentives to criminals to traffic on our streets, making communities less safe than before,” said Ossowski.
“Added to this, the FDA has done nothing to offer real alternatives that could help stop smoking today, including vaping devices, nicotine pouches, gums, lozenges, and more,” said Ossowski.
“If the FDA is serious about reducing smoking in our country, then the answer must be on harm reduction in all aspects, rather than ratcheting up bans and restrictions that will cause more harm,” concluded Ossowski.
A full list of all the speakers, as well as the full video, is available on consumerchoicecenter.org.
June 21, 2022
Comment Period Extended for Flavored Cigar/Menthol Plans

Image: iQoncept
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is extending the comment period for its proposed rules prohibiting menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars from 60 days to 90 days. The public may now submit comments on these proposed rules through Aug. 2, 2022.
The agency says it is extending the comment period following requests from the public. The FDA also received requests to not extend the comment period from public health organizations but says it believes that a 90-day comment period is appropriate as it allows adequate additional time for people to fully consider the proposed rules, including specific requests for comments, and develop and submit comments without significantly lengthening the rulemaking proceedings.
In addition to accepting written public comments, the agency convened public listening sessions on June 13 and June 15 to expand direct engagement with the public, including affected communities. The recordings for the sessions will be posted to the FDA website once available.
June 17, 2022
CAA Expands State Team
Photo courtesy of the CAA
The Cigar Association of America (CAA) has expanded its team by having Mudi Kpohraror join as the new state government relations director, according to the CAA. Kpohraror will report to Vice President Chris Newbry.
David Ozgo, the CAA’s president, said “Mudi will continue to enable and advance how we advocate on behalf of our member companies to ensure that they have an active voice at the state level. Chris Newbry does an amazing job working with and directing our more than 40 state government affairs consultants across the country. With Mudi, we will add to our capabilities. We couldn’t be more thrilled he’s joined the team.”
Kpohraror brings experience working in state legislatures across the country, including time working at Twitter, the office of U.S. Senator John Hoeven and the North Dakota Republican Party. He also brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his time of service in the North Dakota National Guard.
“I am humbled and excited to be a part of such a great team and reputable organization. I look forward to working closely with the team and its member companies to represent the entire cigar industry while learning from those already actively working in the industry,” Kpohraror said.
Kpohraror is set to assume his role on May 23.
May 17, 2022