Joined Jun 2006
502 Posts | 0+
Chester, NJ
I got my issue of Cigar Magazine last tuesday and finally made my way through it, and the last article, what they call the final focus, is intitled "Are You Kiddin' Me? Just How Dumb Does Everyone Think We Are"
I am fairly new to Cigar smoking, well I should say that I'm fairly new to paying attention to cigar smoking, I've had a humi for about 6 years and always enjoyed a good cigar but never really cared what it was or where it came from untill recently. But anyway, back to the article...
The article is about the plateau that the premium cigar industry was on throught the 80's and into the 90's and how the demand for premium cigars started to increase in 91 & 92, almost a "boom". It goes into pretty good detail on how the demand went from a pretty steady 100 million cigars per year to 150, 200, 300, and almost 400 million at the peak.
The interesting thing about this atricle is that it compares this "boom" to the embargo of Havana made cigars. Everyone thought that it wasn't going to last more than a few weeks, and definetly not more than a month or two, so everyone kept making 100%-havana-filler-cigars, and selling them at the same prices.
The article suggests that once the demand surged from 100 to 200 million every year, each manufacturer needed the equivilent of twice their normal inventory of tobacco. And since the growth took everyone by surprise, no one had planted any more tobacco then they had in previous years. Now the atricle goes into detail about the cycle of tobacco and how it's harvested in 6 or 7 primings as the leaves mature from top to bottom, and how most quality manufacturers have two to three years worth of tobacco nventory so that the cigars are made with a properly fermented leaf...(it's very interesting)
What this all boils down to, is that in order to maintain inventory for the "boom" demand, cigar manufactureres needed to use up all of this tobacco. And the question remains...It's now 2006, but the previous 2 or 3 years apply, and some manufactureres are releasing cigars made with tobacco from the early 90's....?
Personally the article sold me on the fact that it is not possible. But I maintain that I haven't done any reasearch, and they say, you can't always believe what you read...I was just wondering if any one else saw this article, or had an opinion on this.....
I'm not sure of how this post applies to the rules of citing a source, but I'll do it anyway just to be safe:
Rothman, Lew. "Are You Kiddin' Me: Just How Dumb Does Everyone Think We Are." Cigar Magazine. Winter 2006: 138-140.
I am fairly new to Cigar smoking, well I should say that I'm fairly new to paying attention to cigar smoking, I've had a humi for about 6 years and always enjoyed a good cigar but never really cared what it was or where it came from untill recently. But anyway, back to the article...
The article is about the plateau that the premium cigar industry was on throught the 80's and into the 90's and how the demand for premium cigars started to increase in 91 & 92, almost a "boom". It goes into pretty good detail on how the demand went from a pretty steady 100 million cigars per year to 150, 200, 300, and almost 400 million at the peak.
The interesting thing about this atricle is that it compares this "boom" to the embargo of Havana made cigars. Everyone thought that it wasn't going to last more than a few weeks, and definetly not more than a month or two, so everyone kept making 100%-havana-filler-cigars, and selling them at the same prices.
The article suggests that once the demand surged from 100 to 200 million every year, each manufacturer needed the equivilent of twice their normal inventory of tobacco. And since the growth took everyone by surprise, no one had planted any more tobacco then they had in previous years. Now the atricle goes into detail about the cycle of tobacco and how it's harvested in 6 or 7 primings as the leaves mature from top to bottom, and how most quality manufacturers have two to three years worth of tobacco nventory so that the cigars are made with a properly fermented leaf...(it's very interesting)
What this all boils down to, is that in order to maintain inventory for the "boom" demand, cigar manufactureres needed to use up all of this tobacco. And the question remains...It's now 2006, but the previous 2 or 3 years apply, and some manufactureres are releasing cigars made with tobacco from the early 90's....?
Personally the article sold me on the fact that it is not possible. But I maintain that I haven't done any reasearch, and they say, you can't always believe what you read...I was just wondering if any one else saw this article, or had an opinion on this.....
I'm not sure of how this post applies to the rules of citing a source, but I'll do it anyway just to be safe:
Rothman, Lew. "Are You Kiddin' Me: Just How Dumb Does Everyone Think We Are." Cigar Magazine. Winter 2006: 138-140.