Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Monday, September 9, 2013
Fruit and Sweet Flavors in Cigars appealing young smokers
Flavored cigars are very popular among young cigar
smokers. More and more college student are buying flavored cigars from cigars
shop. There are a variety of flavors available in cigar shops such as cherry,
chocolate, white grape and fruit punch. Youngsters especially teenagers are
attracted to these flavors of cigars. And these fruit and sweet flavors are
selling like hotcakes at the cigar shop.
White grape, cherry delight, chocolate, and fruit punch may sound like candy flavors. But now cigars shop are selling cigars with these tastes, often to teens.
White grape, cherry delight, chocolate, and fruit punch may sound like candy flavors. But now cigars shop are selling cigars with these tastes, often to teens.
According to John Abraham with Smoker’s Heaven in Kansas City, the flavored cigars and cigarillos are big sellers anong his younger customers.
“I had to keep at least four to five boxes in stock," Abraham noted saying some brands, “come out with, I don’t know how many flavors, tons of flavors. Every week theyr'e launching something new.”
A shows that even middle school students are smoking them.
College student Anessa Walker isn't surprised flavored cigars are popular. She's also not surprised more high schoolers are smoking cigars.Walker believes it is all in the flavors.
“We like sweet stuff and it just, like makes you want to do it and become popular,” she said.
Walker and other teens from the Hickman Mills Prevention Coalition already spent 2012 getting the city council to require flavored cigar paper – often referred to as blunt wraps- to be put behind store counters and out of reach of teens.
Now as a Hickman grad and part of the group Students Overcoming Life’s Obstacles, or SOLO, Walker still works to spread the message that these cigars aren't such a sweet deal.
“It’s also our fault, too, because we have to take ownership for what we do, too,” Walker said. “Just because its sweet doesn't mean we have to do it.”
Abraham's store does its part, turning away minors, but it doesn't stop them from trying.
“Underage people come in and ask for it, we don’t even give it,” Abraham said. “We check the age and we say no.”
But even for adults, the store has still had to keep more and more of these sweet-selling goods on the shelf.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Thoughts on the State of the Cigar Industry
More and more online cigar stores have come up that are
offering cigars for sale and are proving a strong competition for Brick-and-Mortar
Shops.
It’s been almost two months since the IPCPR Trade Show so,
with the dust settling, it’s a good time to look back at some industry trends
that were on display at the show. These Tobacco Store online stocks a whole range of cigars and offer cigar deals to a lot of customers who shop online for cigars and their accessories.
Quality Increasing
It’s my belief that quality is going up across the board in
the cigar industry, and smoking plenty of samples only solidifies this opinoin.
Obviously these are generalizations and no doubt there are exceptions, but it
seems not only are the cigars being produced now better constructed than they
were 5-10 years ago, they are better cigars that lack obvious flavor flaws. The
result is good for consumers. Whether you buy discounted samplers online, or
just pick up what looks interesting at your local cigar shop, odds are you’re
going to end up with decent or good cigars.
Expectations on the Rise
When finding a good cigar is easy, consumers expectations
are raised. The result can be challenging for cigar companies. Here’s a thought
experiment: Take a recent cigar release and imagine how it would have done if
it was released five years earlier. Last year, CAO introduced the Concert
series, a cigar with sales (I get the sense) that seem to be a little
disappointing to CAO’s parent company, General Cigar. I’d suspect that if that
same blend at the same price point had been introduced five years earlier (two
years before CAO La Traviata) it would have been a smash hit. It is, in my
opinion, a classic example of a cigar that would have stood out in 2007 or
earlier, but now is just another good cigar in the crowd.
Small Brands Fill Niches
It’s easy to discount cigar brands that don’t own a factory
but instead contract someone else to make their cigars. For one thing, there’s
an extra level, and that means an additional mark-up before the cigar reaches
consumers. The brand owner has to buy cigars then mark them up before they are
sold wholesale. Also, people assume that if the blend was so great why didn’t
the factory just release and market it themselves? Those are valid points, but
there’s also a niche that these small brands can fill. For large companies like General
Cigar, Altadis, Davidoff, and Drew Estate, it doesn’t make a ton of economic
sense to create a cigar that will sell only 40,000 cigars. But for a small
cigar line owned by a single brand owner, that level of volume can be a nice
little business, and they can afford to make a cigar that, while it may never
be a huge seller, may find a small but dedicated fan base.
What’s a Flavored Cigar?
With the advent of fire-cured tobacco, the line between
traditional and flavored cigars is beginning to blur. Drew Estate’s
Kentucky Fire Cured and Sam Leccia’s Black line are the most prominent,
but others (Gran Habano) are introducing cigars that use fire-cured tobacco.
It’s an interesting development where the line between traditional and flavored
(Drew Estate calls them “infused”) is breaking down, because the difference
isn’t unnatural chemicals being introduced to the cigar making process, but the
traditional process being tweaked using old technology not normally used for
handmade cigars. Look for this trend to continue.
Friday, September 6, 2013
All For YOU!!!!!!!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
More than two hundred people attend Old Cigar Warehouse opening
The Old Cigar Warehouse reopened in Greenvile, S.C. And more than two hundred persons attended the opening of the Old Cigar Warehouse. Best cigar deals were available to persons who attended the opening. The warehouse is really huge and is located in the heart of Downtown.
Downtown’s new event hall opened with a splash Thursday night as more than 200 people attended the ribbon cutting and Great Gatsby-themed after party.
Located at 912 S. Main Street across from Fluor Field in the West End, the Old Cigar Warehouse mixes classic Southern charm with modern chic.
It features more than 7,000 square feet of event space, an open catering policy and full event support, we can deliver a seamless event. Located in the heart of Downtown Greenville's West End, the opportunities to host high-end, diverse events are endless.
The Old Cigar Warehouse was built in 1882 and historically used as a warehouse for cigars, cigars for sale and cotton. With 45-foot-high ceilings, exposed brick and stained floors, the warehouse is sure to inspire the most creative of events.
The venue is managed by Kathleen Byrne and is a division of Fusion Event Group, which is owned by Tammy Johnson. Both are veterans of the Upstate event planning and catering industry.
“We can do everything from wedding to holiday parties to non-profit fundraisers to corporate functions,” Byrne said. “Our goal is to make every event at the Old Cigar Warehouse memorable.”
Johnson added that the cigar store charm and location make it unique for Greenville.
“We fell in love with this space the minute we saw it,” Johnson said. “We know many in Greenville will do the same.”
Specials Galore!!!
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Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Cigar sampling event a big hit
Cigar smoking has become a big hit at Scranton's Iron Furnaces. There are numerous cigar fans who have visited this event and they are enjoying this event to the core. Many cigar samplers were available here and cigar aficionados were offered best cigar deals here. The amount collected from the tickets was donated to the Lackawanna County Historical Society.
The scent of cigar smoke filled the air behind the Scranton Iron Furnaces on Saturday afternoon at the first Electric City Smoke.
"There's a great core of cigar smokers in Scranton," organizer J.J. Fadden, owner of Big House Tobacco, said. "We figured, why not have an event right here?"
The convention featured nine cigar makers, beer tastings, food and live music. Tickets cost $100 and proceeds benefited the Lackawanna County Historical Society.
Organizer John Argonish, director of sales for Hilton Scranton and Conference Center, said he hopes the event will become annual.
"We wanted to do something good for the community," he said. "Now it's a reality, and it's a great thing."
Cigar enthusiasts gathered under vendors' tents to enjoy the cigar deals each one provided, even challenging one another to contests.
The Ashton Cigars tent hosted a "longest ash" competition - cigar smokers went head-to-head to see which one could leave the most ash on their cigar as they smoked.
George Siracuse of Scranton won the contest with a 5¼-inch-long ash.
"My strategy was a steady hand and many years of training smoking cigars," Mr. Siracuse said. "A well-rolled cigar will give you a long ash."
