Cuban cigars vanish from Spain's tobacco shops as Tabacalera looks to Asia

Tobacco shops run out of Cuban cigars and Tabacalera now sells to Asia

The customer asked for Partagás; none had arrived. The shopkeeper offers a Nicaraguan brand. The scene repeats itself in tobacco shops across Spain: there are no Cuban cigars. Cohíba, Partagás — especially the 898, D4 and D6 vitolas —, Montecristo (2, 4 and 6) and Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill are all missing. Even the small formats, the mini and club sizes, fail to arrive. "Tabacalera has been supplying far fewer Cuban cigars than we order for a long time, but now it's a drama," summarizes Josep Maria Sitges, president of Barcelona's tobacco retailers.

Why are there no Cuban cigars in Spanish tobacco shops?

Cuban production has been bled dry by the island's economic deterioration. Constant power cuts that halt the machines, water supply problems, shortages of pesticides and fertilizers, and an aging workforce of cigar rollers: those who remain are older and young people seek other jobs. On top of that, a market shift has taken place: demand from Asia-Pacific and China has displaced Spain as the world's largest cigar market, according to Habanos SA executives at the Havana Festival attended by Sitges.

The change of focus is also a change of owner. Since 2021, the company that distributes the cigars, Tabacalera SLU, has belonged to the Asian investment group Allied Cigar Corporation: Altadis sold it for 1,040 million euros. It keeps its headquarters in Madrid, but no longer has Spanish shareholders and gives priority to its Asian customers. The company's communications director, Juan Girón, insists that only the habano is failing, not cigars in general, and compares it to wine's denominations of origin.

How much has the price of a Cohíba risen?

A Cohíba has gone from 19 to 60 euros in a very short time, according to the tobacco retailers' president, while most consumers look for cigars priced below 10 euros. Tabacalera has standardized the worldwide price of its premium ranges — Cohíba and Trinidad — because demand far exceeds production. The result has chilled a side business: according to Sitges, Chinese citizens used to buy large quantities of Cuban cigars in Spain to take home when traveling for work or on vacation. The price increase and the shortage have put an end to that practice, he maintains.

Last year Spain sold 18.7 million premium cigars at an average price of 7.7 euros, according to the Comisionado de Tabacos (Spain's tobacco regulator). The gap between the average cigar and the luxury vitola alone explains where the market is heading.

Supply quotas, wine cellars and counterfeits

Faced with the shortage, Tabacalera has established quotas: it only distributes to tobacco shops specializing in Cuban cigars or with an Habanos Point, always with a wine cellar, to project an image of luxury. Even those receive less than they ask for. With the little that arrives, the shops save the cigars for their regular customers.

The gap left by the shortage is being filled by counterfeiting. There are organized rings that buy cigars of any origin and reband them with premium vitolas, and law enforcement is working to identify them with the distributor's help, though the phenomenon is hard to control. Among aficionados, a home method circulates: ultraviolet light on the band, which on genuine cigars would show reactive ink. Some claim the fakes rolled on the island are indistinguishable to the palate; others reply that no cigar leaves Cuba without going through controlled channels.

What cigars to smoke if there are no Cuban habanos?

The alternative many aficionados turn to is the Nicaraguan route, made with Cuban seed; one participant in the discussion asserts that for under 5 euros nothing better can be found. The Dominican Republic and Honduras complete the catalog: Tabacalera, the world's largest distributor, has its own factories in both countries and also sells tobacco from other origins. Aficionados sum it up bluntly: there are hundreds of brands and vitolas to keep you busy trying.

The problem is not only Spain's. According to one aficionado, in Canada orders arrive in a trickle, with shipments suspended or limited since January, and German online cigar shops are empty. In Catalonia, another participant relates, anyone who wants a genuine Cuban cigar has turned Andorra into their go-to tobacco shop. A calculation circulating among aficionados puts worldwide demand at eight million cigars against less than one million of production: the arithmetic doesn't add up anywhere.

The cigar smoker no longer plays the game

The profile has changed. The after-dinner, card-playing smoker has disappeared; the new generation are professionals aged 35 to 60 looking for an occasional experience, who research online, hunt for limited editions and try new brands. The company itself describes it as selective, gourmet consumption of artisanal product. The business, meanwhile, is growing: 827 million dollars last year, up 16%, with shipments to Spanish tobacco shops rising that same 16% in June — though that counts the entire portfolio of origins. Some former cigarette smokers have switched to cigars with an argument the shopkeepers repeat: smoking cigarettes is a vice; smoking cigars is a pleasure.

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One figure remains that doesn't fit. The average premium cigar sold in Spain costs 7.7 euros. The Cohíba that's no longer in the display case, 60.