What is everyone talking about this week: A Cuban supply shock has struck the market
Cigars have taken a tumble. Where are they to be found?
There’s a new trend blowing up the internet called ‘cigs that don’t count’. It holds that a cigarette, when taken with a drink or at a funeral, should be discounted as a blip. Your lungs are fine, darling: that one was after 2am. A cig when you’re on holiday? It’s basically water. The media more widely has been awash with tales of the smoking renaissance, yet the cigarette’s plumper cousin, the inimitable cigar, has somehow remained conspicuously absent from proceedings.
The obvious explanation — that young people are more likely to smoke anything but cigars — should be convincing. Unfortunately, it is wrong. According to a 2023 survey, consumption of non-cigarette tobacco, including cigars, shisha and pipe, grew faster among 18 year olds than among smokers of 65. Demand has only increased since, even as supply has dwindled. Indeed, when people nowadays talk about cigars, they talk mostly of having trouble finding them.
Various geopolitical and climatic issues are to blame. The beating heart of the tobacco industry is a Cuban region known as Vuelta Abajo, where recent hurricanes and irregular rainfall have wreaked havoc on crop production. The global shortage of fuel and fertiliser has also cast doubt over yields: Cuba, historically reliant on Venezuela for its oil, has been on the backfoot since America’s intervention in January.
Although the online retailer Simply Cigars felt compelled to issue a scarcity warning in April, apocryphal reports from Western consumers often tell a different story. ‘I haven’t seen a shortage of cigars and only smoke Montecristo No 4,’ says Hamish Leng, founder of chartered financial planner Hamish Leng & Co, ‘which seem in good supply.’ A seasoned smoker also should be immune to supply shocks by keeping swathes of their favourite label tucked away in a humidor. These — and non-Cuban cigars, such as Davidoffs or Villigers — are naturally having a moment.
We also should not underestimate how many ‘quite grand’ cigar smokers ‘have a non-premium brand they enjoy in silence,’ says author and academic, Dr Ralph St Clair Wade. ‘Speaking for the generation of resurgent cigar smokers, the premium status of Cuban cigars doesn’t matter to us so much.’ Blue Curran, head of cigars at The Emory in Knightsbridge, concedes that ‘although supplies are lower than they have been in the past’, hotel cigar lounges are impervious to these trends. ‘We’re about showcasing the best that we can find,’ he says, ‘which often means limited-edition or special-release cigars from the past 30 years.’
Shopping vintage, as ever, proves a strong solution. Diversity, meanwhile, is good for business. ‘It’s like a wine list,’ Blue explains. ‘If your menu boasts range, that can only insulate you against a shortage.’ Perhaps a cigar doesn’t count if it’s not your usual Habana. Savour whatever you can find.
This feature originally appeared in the May 20, 2026, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.
