No, the Asian market has not hoovered up all the habanos!

Dag Holmboe, CEO of The Pacific Cigar Company, exclusive distributor of Cuban cigars in Asia, denies the rumors. And confirms that the shortage of Havanas is global. Excerpts from the interview he gave us in L’Amateur de Cigare English edition #16, currently available for subscribers.

 

Interview by Jean-Pascal Grosso, our special correspondent in Hong Kong

 

L’Amateur de Cigare: True or false: the Asian market is hoovering up a significant proportion of the available cigars at the expense of other markets.

Dag Holmboe: That’s definitely not true. We often receive calls from Europe, complaining that we are taking all the available Cuban cigars for Hong Kong and Asia more generally. But we are facing the same issues as everyone else, i.e. shortages and difficulties getting resupplied. It is not serious to believe that we have captured the entire market for Cuban cigars.

 

L’ADC: If this is just a rumor, how can you explain it?

D.H.: It probably comes from the acquisition of half of Habanos S.A. by the Chinese group Allied Cigar Corporation. Rumors immediately started going around saying that they would favor Asia. But I reiterate – that is not the case.

 

L’ADC: Have you ever thought about communicating on the issue?

D.H.: No. There are so many rumors circulating in this industry that we would spend all our time drafting press releases (laughs)!

 

L’ADC: What is the current supply situation?

D.H.: The same as everywhere else: not good. If I remember correctly, Coprova drafted an open letter via the trade press explaining that the supply problems in France would continue in 2024. We haven’t issued that type of warning, but when my customers ask me when things will improve, I tell them that I don’t know.

 

Subscribe and read the entire interview in L’ADC English edition #16.