All signs point to the Canadian government sticking with its plan to enforce the plain packaging law on tobacco sales in the country. Despite numerous protests, petitions, advocate groups, it seems the Trudeau government will go ahead and do its part to help destroy what is already a highly regulated business sector – the premium cigar market. Ironically, Justin Trudeau’s father was a close friend and ally of Fidel Castro. I wonder if the two past leaders are looking down on this ridiculous law whilst enjoying a Cuban cigar in the outer dimensions.
Selling cigars in Canada, in a legal fashion, is a very tough business. There are so many options for consumers that are sometimes more affordable than purchasing from a local authorized retailer. I have been fortunate and grateful to have built a loyal and passionate clientele that have continued to buy from our shops locally, both at La Casa del Habano in Montreal, and most recently from Whisky Café in Montreal. With all those challenges to ensure customers are satisfied, we are now being faced with a hurdle that will be, to say the least, a test to the industry, and an annoyance to the end customer.
Here are the details and dates and how it can affect you, the cigar consumer. Effective November 9, 2020, the cigar distributors will no longer be allowed to sell cigars with the original packaging. Retailers will then have until May 31, 2021 to sell off all their inventory with original packaging. This pertains to the premium cigars. The small format (mini, club, cigarillos) are already in plain packaging mode. Keep in mind that discounting tobacco in some parts of Canada is illegal, and so retailers in say Quebec are not even permitted to sell their inventory at a discount should they need to liquidate their cigars.
At the time of this writing, all of the major cigar distributors are out of stock on most of their best sellers. Havana House, Canada’s exclusive distributor of Habanos, is slowly running out of many of their cigars. Other distributors like GVA (Davidoff, Arturo Fuente, Brickhouse, etc…), House Of Horvath (My Father Cigars, Calixto Lopez, Atelier, etc…) are in the same boat. The reason for their low inventory is that they were all very careful on not ordering too many cigars before the November cut-off with the original packaging, with fear of being stuck with all those soon to be illegal cigars.
To add to the complexity of the situation, COVID 19 hit the world, making travel next to impossible and creating work from home environments commonplace. Without much travel in which cigar smokers obtain varying portions of their cigars, the Canadian demand at the local retailers was far beyond the expected sales forecasts that any of the distributors could have predicted, and thus, the inventory is being depleted at a faster than ever rate. The result is that many cigar distributors are sold out of our favorite sticks, and will only receive more in months from now. It seems that we will be without several cigars for a period of time.
What a year it has been.
Resistance from the consumers.
Having spoken to several authorized retailers, the initial response from clients to the plain packaging is cold. “We just received the Macanudo cigars, with the same price, but with the plain packaging, and clients are not interested in it” commented Trae Zammit from Smokin’ Cigar in Toronto. Other retailers are finding their humidors are starting to look “depressing” with the ever-growing percentage of brown packaging. The cigar retail section of Whisky Café will also be affected as it’s large humidors will have less color than usual from. I believe that once all the cigars are uniform and the clients overcome the adjustment period, the negativity of it will neutralize from a cigar smokers’ point of view. After all, we do not enjoy cigars because of the band, but of the pleasure and relaxation it provides.
Let’s get down to the details. Below is a list of Habanos cigars coming from Cuba that will be delisted and no longer available as of November 2020. In some cases, they are already unavailable as they may have sold out. Brace yourself, you are sure to find some of your favorites in the list.
Notable and iconic cigars that will no longer be available.
When first looking at the list, I had to double check and triple check it a few times to ensure I was not misreading. There are simply too many iconic and important cigars that are being delisted. This is by no means on knock on the people who made the decisions. No doubt they were business decisions based on past sales, and there was no room for sentimental decisions. I get it. However, not having the entire Por Larranaga and Cuaba lines hurts. No more personal favorites such as the Partagas 898, Cohiba Siglo V, Rafael Gonzalez Petit Coronas, Romeo Y Julieta Cazadores, and San Cristobal De La Habana La Fuerza.
The iconic cigars, such as the Cohiba Lanceros, Montecristo A and Trinidad Fundadores will no longer be available. You may ask, when is the last time you smoked any of these? The reality is, that indeed, those cigars are in the rotation, and even if they are not the most common daily cigars, they do remain a celebration cigar, something you save the date for.
Complete lines will disappear.
The Montecristo Linea 1935 line that consists of the Leyanda, Dumas and Maltes cigars will no longer be available. The Añejados complete line will disappear, although that line never really took off. Our beloved cabinets of 50, no longer available. Not one! It is not 100% clear yet what the future holds for the cigars that come in more elaborate packaging, such as the revered Cohiba Behike, the annual Book Humidors, the Replica Humidors, and so many others that we’ve come to love.
A call to encourage local shops
It is clear that many Canadian cigar smokers purchase their cigars from places other than Canadian retailers. Although I am not here to change any habits, I do encourage the community to purchase a few cigars here and there from their local shops as often as possible. It will make the difference between keeping the industry alive or not having one at all. Remember, they are providing a service, their expertise, taking risks, and offering an experience when we enter their fine establishments. Let’s try not to lose that.
Antonio
Excellent article. very informative. my question now is what’s left in the Cuban inventory that hasn’t been delisted? OUTRAGEOUS!!! I guess you should smoke them if you got them!
indeed. quite a list
What a shame! The brand logos and artwork are such a big part of the experience. I’m gonna miss a lot of cigars on that list too… just enjoyed a Cohiba Coronas Especiales on a hike recently.
On a brighter note, I’m happy to realize it’s you behind these great posts Antonio. Hope to see you again soon! Ciao
Hello Saad, Nice to hear from you and thank you for the nice comments! Yes indeed, please me in touch. Antonio
Thank you for the informative and sad article. It will take time to adjust to these new regulations for sure
thank you Tony
This explains why the website I go to all of sudden has nothing.
yup. try your local shops 🙂
Not much to choose from my area
hey Dan,
where are you located? Check the Whisky Cafe menu. It is a brick and mortar location we work with and they have a good selection, and deliver.
here is their menu: https://whiskycafe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Whisky-Cafe-CIGAR-MENU.pdf
We all need to start mailing all this government garbage – labels, wrappers, boxes – back to the government for proper disposal. I am mailing every government-mandated wrapper to:
Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Postage is free.
Maybe they won’t change their mind, but at least they’ll know what we’re still pissed off about their stupid rules.
Not a bad idea!
[…] Plain packaging in Canada is now ongoing in Canada. For months now, the major cigar distributors have been selling the cigar retailers cigars that comply with the very unpopular packaging law that was passed by the Trudeau government. For full details on the plain packaging law, please refer to our article published October 2020 here. […]
[…] Plain packaging is now ongoing in Canada. For months now, the major cigar distributors have been selling the cigar retailers cigars that comply with the very unpopular packaging law that was passed by the Trudeau government. For full details on the plain packaging law, please refer to our article published October 2020 here. […]