Annual Cuban production wavers between 160-200 Million hand made cigars per year. You may see higher numbers, but those include machine made cigars, too.

The average hand made Cuban cigar wholesales (the price to distributors) at $5-7 per cigar.

So, if I say that 7*200,000,000 = about $1.4 Billion per year it would be close if my math is correct, to the annual amount. That is using the higher numbers, BTW. I think that estimate is way too high, but I am willing to accept that it might be close.

$1.4 billions sounds like a great deal of money, but not when you are talking about the number of people involved. I can name an extremely large number of companies in the US that generate that much money.

Anyone know how much revenue is produced by cigars in DR, Nic, Hon, and other large producers? I would love to know.

FYI, these numbers come from from various articles by James Suckling of CA.

According to Suckling articles, 6-8 million cigars are purchased by US citizens. 6-8 million of 160-200 million produced. We are talking 3-5% for the US.

3-5% is not anywhere near the number of 22% given by others in this newsgroup. However, to be fair, I got mine by doing math using numbers from James Suckling, a highly regarding cigar expert that spends considerable time in Cuba talking to and working with high-end cigar people in Cuba. These numbers may not be reliable. You decide.

No politics here, just numbers. Steve*R, you can keep bashing away if you want in the other thread. 🙂

My guess is that if the stupid embargo was lifted the 3-5% of purchases by the US would go up dramatically... at the expense of other nations, of course 😉

Russell: Look at the dates of the CA articles from which you're quoting.

I enjoy reading Suckling's articles, but the numbers he throws around always have to been taken in context.

During the pre-Embargo era, when cigar smoking was far more prevalent in the U.S., (yes, I smoked cigars pre-embargo) the vast majority of cigars smoked in the United States were "real" domestics...Harvester, Muriel, Phillies, Dutch Masters, Munniemaker, King Edward, El Producto, White Owl, William Penn and many, many others. There were a substantial number of clear Havanas, cigars rolled in the U.S., but, almost Cuban puros, Garcia y Vega, Perfecto Garcia, and many others. Many of the otherwise clear Havanas had Connecticut Shade wrappers, but were otherwise comprised of Cuban tobacco. At that time, estimates were that because of price point, Cuban cigar sales in the United States were at the 3% to 5% level of gross cigar sales, though I've seen figures that place the number as low as 2%. Simply, anywhere from 2% to 5% of all cigars sold in the United States were of Cuban origin.

You must distinguish between two number sets. #1 is the percentage of Cuban cigar production that is sold in the United States. The number most frequently cited is 20 to 22%, but it's virtually impossible to authenticate because of the embargo.

The number Suckling is quoting is from a completely different number set, that for convenience we'll call, #2, and that is the percentage of cigars sold in the United States that are Cuban in origin. Obviously, 20 to 22% of all cigars sold in the United States are not Cuban. That would be an astonomical increase. 20% to 22% of Cuban cigar production might represent only 3% to 5% of all cigars sold in the United States.

Based on pre-embargo figures and the decline in production of the American made cigar, the percentage of Cuban cigars sold in the U.S. has remained relatively consistent.

Please, everyone remember that the facts should never get in the way of an argument (or a good story)!! I love a good circular argument!!

Good point, Bucky.

Yeah, Suckling doesn't know what he is talking about. Yep, I will go with that.

Oh, and all of a sudden, since 2001, US consumption has gone up 8 times. Yep, that is it...

Oh, in case I wasn't clear, that was sarcasm. Steve*R, you need to re-read the post and do the math.

Your mangling of the math does not make the amount of US consumption go up 8 times as much.

Russell: You really need to calm down, read the post, and come to the understanding that there are two figures that you are clearly confusing.

1. The percentage of Cuban production purchased by Americans.

2. The percentage of all cigars smoked by Americans which are Cuban.

The figures are clearly not the same.

Let me simplify with an example from the classic Samuelson text, Introduction to Economics, using Samuelson's favorite, "widgets."

On the international widget market, the United States purchases 50,000 widgets per year.

Croatia produces 5000 widgets per year.

The United States purchases 1000 widgets per year from Croatia. ergo

The United States purchases 1/5 or 20% (one thousand of the five thousand produced) of the Croation widget production.

However, because the United States purchases a total of 50,000 widgets per year, totally, from all sources, the 1000 widgets purchased from Croatia is 1/50 or 2% of the total widgets purchased. (one thousand of a total fifty thousand)

Replace widgets with cigars and I hope you come to an understanding.

I would just like to add that there currently are sanction in place regarding trade with the Balkans and the former states of Yugoslavia. Before dealing in the widget trade with Croatia, I would advise consulting the US goverment regarding legal issues.

US Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control:

http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/eotffc/ofac/sanctions/index.html 

H.D. fires with the velocity of a Bobby Hull slapshot.

He shoots...............He scores!!!!

LOL

Steve*R

There is no reason to calm down as I am not freaking out. You see, I can do math. 🙂

I am a bit sick of those that want to play with numbers rather than just admit that they may have been mistaken. Also, I don't claim my numbers, I let Suckling stand on his own. He doesn't need to be backed up. His numbers have been shown to be the same or close for the last few years. We are not talking pre-embargo, we are not talking cigar boom, we are talking about the last couple of years in the industry.

So, I think that about covers it. BTW, 6-8 million cigars is a hell of a number, but as far as a percentage it IS 3-5% of Cuban production, and much LESS of total US consumption. Unless you are trying to say that the US only consumes only 30-40 million cigars a year, total. If that is what you are saying, then your math works.

If you have different numbers, great. However, I find it interesting that you don't say where they come from. I really don't care, I just find it interesting.

So, how about we get off the subject. It is boring.

Or is this going to be something that you can't walk away from? Notice how I walked away from the other thread even though you called me a liar? It really is easy enough.

Oh, and don't try to say that you didn't call me a liar, that will really piss me off then.

Russell: Have you ever been to Croatia? LOL

"Pissed off"

Have you considered the use of the word angry? (shaking my head in disbelief)

LOL - no, "Pissed off" is the appropriate term. 🙂

Easy....in the immortal words of Sgt. Hulka from one of history's greatest movies; Stripes, "Settle down Francis."