Consider this. The cigar shop at Beirut International Airport sells the largest volume (100,000 boxes per year) at arguably the best value anywhere in the world, while its VIP cigar lounge has won a Frontier Award (the “Oscar” of the global duty free industry) in the Special Concept of the Year category.
Lebanon imports some 5 million cigars a year (roughly equivalent to 5% of Cuba’s annual export production) while the market is registering healthy annual growth of around 10%. This puts Lebanon firmly in the world’s top 10 cigar consuming nations alongside Germany, France and Spain. It is not surprising therefore, that Phoenicia Trading, the company that imports Cuban cigars into Lebanon, is keen to nurture this national obsession.
This culture has not come easily. Robust marketing has been key in increasing awareness and developing tastes. “Our marketing strategy is mainly focused in the on trade market,” said Walid Saleh XXXX of Phoenicia Trading. “We make regular, often monthly promotions, cross promotions, continuous advertising and panels, motivation certificates for loyal customers, sponsorship agreements at important events, associations and live demonstrations.” Saleh also explained that Phoenicia Trading is also involved in brand building through alliances (it has teamed up with drinks giant Diageo) to sell cigars via complementary drink brands.
Retailing has also matured. During the war, cigars were sold in kiosks, other non-specialist stores and at duty free shop at the airport. It was not until 1994 that the first specialist store, La Casa Del Habano, opened. Since then others have followed, elevating cigars and cigar accessories – humidors, lighters cutters and the like – into a higher retail consciousness. The smoker has also evolved. According to Saleh, “cigar smoking began as a trend, a status symbol, but now it has developed into a genuine culture. The customer knows exactly what he wants and cigars are becoming increasingly offered as gifts.”
Most, though not all the best cigars come from Cuba, which exports some 125 million cigars a year, saving another 100 million for the domestic market. Cuba is considered the finest tobacco-growing land in the world due to the nature of its soil and its climate, which produces a quality of leaf not found anywhere else. It is the long process through which the Cuban cigar undergoes before it gets to the consumer – seeding, farming, harvesting, fermentation, manufacturing, quality control, boxing and ageing – that allows them to charge top dollar and which puts them on a higher quality plane than cigars made in the Dominican Republic and Honduras (so potent a brand is Cuba that those cigar manufacturers that moved to other islands have lost their mystique and market share).
For the record, the trend today among Lebanese smokers is for medium ring gauge cigars, a move away from the bigger ring gauge that once defined the taste of the local smoker. The most popular brands are, in order, Romeo Y Julieta, Partagas, Hoyo De Monterrey, Cohiba, Montecristo, while the most preferred sizes are, again in order of popularity, Robustos, Petit Coronas, Coronas, Churchills, and Corona Gordas. (Double Coronas, which require longer – up to three hours to smoke – come in 8th place.).
Smoking a cigar is closely associated with having made it. It is the totem of celebration. It is also a luxury good, the finest of which stand alongside the best caviar, watches, clothes, and wine. Women are gradually learning to enjoy delights of cigars, especially the smaller models. Perhaps therefore it is fitting to leave the final word with actress Demi Moore, who claims to be partial to a puff. “A cigar is like a fine wine,” she said recently. “There’s a quality, a workmanship, a passion that goes into the smoking of a fine cigar.” Who would disagree with her?
