17:
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The next year saw a further 12 percent gain in the number of imported cigars into the
American market, to 132.4 million pieces. This was followed by an astounding 33 percent gain in 1995, with 176.3 million cigars imported into the country in that year. This trend further accelerated during the first
214:
demand for premium cigars, resulting in widespread backorders and rising prices. By 1995, the number of backordered cigars to
American tobacconists hit the 25 million mark. Even as imports soared, this supply situation worsened, until nearly 50 million cigars were on backorder, unable to be shipped
262:
to use as filler tobaccos, and brokers started to sell capadura, the same stuff that used to get plowed under. The point that every single conceivable scrap of anything that would pass for cigar leaf was being courted by manufacturers large and small, new and old, to meet the demand for cigars in
312:
Cigar sales began to climb again only in 2001. The rate of growth in the subsequent decade was slow, steady, and sustainable, averaging 6 percent annually. In 2011 a total of 278.5 million premium cigars were imported into the United States — 2.5 times the level of the last "pre-boom" year, 1991.
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The cigar boom is recognized to have ended in 1997, when the expanded supply of handmade cigars caught up with backorders and soon far outstripped demand, leaving millions of unsold cigars in wholesale inventory. Dedicated cigar smokers wearied of the frequently poor quality of new makers and
233:"Tobacco is harvested in six to seven primings, as the leaves on a plant mature from bottom to top. Each priming is normally three leaves. In past years and under normal circumstances, what is left is the corona, or top, of the plant. These are very small leaves heavily laden with
179:(established mid-1990s). Many other upstart companies began manufacturing cigars in this period, meeting a change in consumer purchasing patterns that favored purchasing single cigars produced by a broad range of manufacturers rather than box quantities from established makers.
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The bust which swept the industry continued for a period of two years, a shakedown which resulted in the death of many fledgling companies. Many of the manufacturers who survived the downturn of the industry, generally basing their production in the
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part of 1996, with yet another 36 percent gain posted in the first quarter of that year. By the time 1996 came to a close, some 293 million premium cigars had been imported into the United States — an astonishing 66% gain over 1995's record imports.
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newsletter rated 50 offerings and scored none higher than 90 points for the first time in the publication's 16-month history. Newcomers to the industry, intent on making quick cash from the cigar fad, frequently produced an inferior product.
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cigars began to rise dramatically and manufacturers struggled to keep up with demand, leading to industry-wide shortages of raw materials and finished products. The period was marked and the trend accelerated with the 1992 establishment of
159:
The year 1993 saw the first significant increase in cigar imports to the United States in more than a decade, with a total of 117.8 million cigars brought into the country, an increase of about 10 percent over the previous year's totals.
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problems and began to dump their unsold inventories. Discount cigar retailers suddenly found themselves awash in available product, with cigars sometimes being sold in 1998 for less than the cost of production.
202:. The rapid expansion of demand for and manufacture of hand-crafted cigars may be seen as part and parcel of this broad consumer trend which sought specialized craft products over generic mass-produced goods.
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leaves, remained very constant throughout the 1980s and into the '90s. Basically, there were no new farmers, brokers, or factories for the product, and it was 'the same old, same old' for over a decade."
109:"Because there was only a finite number of potential customers and a fairly predictable demand for premium cigars, the quantity of tobacco planted to supply that demand, and the price for those
90:
Throughout the decade of the 1980s, imports of handmade cigars into the United States remained stagnant at about 100 million cigars per year. The lengthy plateau in consumer demand allowed
254:"During the Cigar Boom years, this practice all but disappeared! Why? Because during the priming cycle the tobacco stalks would have a secondary growth of tiny leaves much like the
131:
In the 4th
Quarter of 1992, the long-term decline in the importation of cigars began to show signs of being reversed, as quantities increased by 4% over previous year totals.
94:
farmers and brokers and cigar manufacturers to plan for future production. Since cigar tobacco requires an extensive preparation process, including stripping, sorting,
210:
Due to the nearly two year turnaround between tobacco seed and the youngest finished premium product, production was for a time unable to keep up with the new
383:
77:
premium cigars. A slow resurgence of the industry began in 2001, until by 2011 total cigar imports began again to approach the peak years of the boom.
140:
magazine, a glossy monthly publication, helped to legitimize the idea that cigars were not a vile relic of a by-gone century and helped to foster an
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you might see on a tree limb. The shortages of tobacco were so ferocious that everyone began harvesting these tiny second-growth leaves, called
537:
504:"The Calm: The Gold Rush Days of the Cigar Boom are Gone, and So are Most of the Quick-Buck Artists Who Flocked to the Dominican Republic,"
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98:, and aging, which can take years on its own, dramatic changes in the level of output required two or three years of advance time.
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were de-emphasized in favor of thicker and longer products, a trend which has continued into the cigar market of the 21st century.
144:
attitude towards hand-crafted tobacco products. Over the years a number of important celebrities revealed themselves to be cigar
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134:
The end of 1992 also saw the establishment of a new publication, credited by some with spurring the cigar boom of the 1990s.
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As backstocks of aged tobacco vanished and inferior sources were exploited, quality suffered. The April 1997 issue of
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Many upstart companies began in the 1990s in an attempt to meet blossoming demand, with long-term survivors including
95:
245:, and others... If the corona remained unsold, then it and the stalk would be plowed under to provide soil-enriching
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For evidence that the premium cigar community was conscious of the parallel even at the time, see the coverage of
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305:, were able to reestablish themselves through the marketing of new and innovative shapes and sizes. Traditional
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began to make itself felt, leading to a shakeout of many of the smaller and weaker upstart manufacturers of
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cigar, unable to ship even a single box of what was then the best-selling premium cigar in
America.
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25:
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companies who flavored this nicotine-laden tobacco and then sold it under names like Mail Pouch,
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due to insufficient wholesale inventory, in 1996. For nearly six weeks in the summer of 1996,
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returned to established names of the industry, while many newcomers moved on to new hobbies.
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As demand for new brands plummeted, newly established makers faced unparalleled
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By 1997, production caught up with demand and the downward side of the cycle of
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364:
Lew
Rothman, "Are You Kiddin' Me? Just How Dumb Does Everyone Think We Are?'
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This period also saw the growth of parallel grass roots industries, such as
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Lew
Rothman later remembered the extraordinary situation in these years:
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during the mid-1990s. Beginning in 1992, imports and sales of
490:
Savova, "A Brief
History of the Cigar Industry," pg. 168.
452:
Savona, "A Brief
History of the Cigar Industry," pg. 167.
412:
Savona, "A Brief
History of the Cigar Industry," pg. 166.
399:
David Savona, "A Brief
History of the Cigar Industry,"
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openlibrary.com/, 2008. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
509:vol. 7, no. 6 (October 1999), pp. 228–237.
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368:vol. 3, no. 4 (Winter 2006-07), pp. 138-140.
468:Simon Chase, "Havana's Obesity Challenge,"
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403:vol. 20, no. 6 (Sept.-Oct. 2012), pg. 165.
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190:houses powered by the rapid expansion of
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472:vol. 7, no. 3 (Fall 2010), pp. 125-129.
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47:is the name given to the resurgence of
381:"The Cigar Boom What It Was (and Is),"
148:in its pages, including television's
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436:magazine, vol. 1, no. 4 (Fall 1996).
198:which produced special varieties of
86:American cigar demand in the 1980s
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237:. The corona was often sold to
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263:the first half of the 1990s."
219:found itself sold out of its
538:Tobacco in the United States
276:The bust of 1997 and legacy
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523:1990s in the United States
230:"Insanity reigned. * * *
184:independent record labels
175:(established 1995), and
101:Cigar industry veteran
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249:for next year's crop.
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217:General Cigar Company
107:
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206:Problems of the boom
171:(established 1992),
105:later recalled that
51:consumption in the
428:2010-11-28 at the
386:2012-10-16 at the
295:Dominican Republic
169:Tabacalera Perdomo
41:
507:Cigar Aficionado,
401:Cigar Aficionado,
344:Cigar Aficionado,
341:"The Cigar Boom,"
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127:The 1992 revival
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533:Commodity booms
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470:Cigar Magazine,
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430:Wayback Machine
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388:Wayback Machine
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366:Cigar Magazine,
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256:sucker branches
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239:chewing tobacco
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173:Oliva Cigar Co.
150:William Shatner
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53:United States
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423:"Micromania"
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346:Autumn 1996.
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152:and radio's
146:connoisseurs
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96:fermentation
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68:
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44:
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22:Cuban cigars
307:ring gauges
177:Rocky Patel
103:Lew Rothman
26:Montecristo
20:Display of
517:Categories
317:References
186:, premium
66:magazine.
45:cigar boom
299:Nicaragua
286:cash-flow
260:capadura,
192:Starbucks
142:epicurean
426:Archived
384:Archived
303:Honduras
247:nitrogen
235:nicotine
221:Macanudo
212:fad-like
111:wrappers
75:boutique
243:Red Man
115:binders
92:tobacco
81:History
57:premium
528:Cigars
194:, and
188:coffee
119:filler
117:, and
34:Havana
30:Cohiba
434:Smoke
301:, or
49:cigar
32:) in
200:beer
43:The
38:Cuba
28:and
432:in
519::
477:^
457:^
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24:(
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