Stogies shed their stodgy reputation
Makers say clients are younger, want more variety
DANA SANCHEZ
Herald Staff Writer
MANATEE - With the company's annual sales growing an average of 41 percent, workers at Cusano Cigars have reason to light up a stogie every day of the year.
Headquartered in Manatee County, Cusano manufactures and distributes cigars, hand-rolled in the Dominican Republic and sold wholesale to about 2,000 retailers throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Sales to younger cigar smokers in the 22- to 32-year-old range have contributed to a mini-boom, manufacturers and retailers say.
Move over, Macanudo and Arturo Fuente.
Young smokers are often weaned on cigars flavored with cognac, vanilla and honey and others bearing names like Acid, Juicy Lucy, Dirt and Root.
Flavored cigars also are a favorite with female smokers.
"I guess the Pepsi generation has a sweet tooth," said Jack Bennington, owner of Bennington's Tobacconist Inc. on St. Armands Circle.
Flavored cigars account for 5 percent to 6 percent of his sales, Bennington estimates.
But that's growing, he said, partly because cigar companies like Drew Estates, which makes the Acid brand, have done a great job with marketing that appeals to cigar smokers with different tastes.
"They've appealed to a sense of rebellion, of identity, of uniqueness," Bennington said. "Young smokers don't want the staid brands like Macanudo and Fuente. It defines their rebellion against the social cigar world."
From a connoisseur's point of view, flavored cigars are looked down upon a bit, "not a serious cigar," Bennington said.
But manufacturers like Cusano have paid attention, producing their own flavored brands of rum, vanilla, cognac and honey in addition to more traditional cigars.
At Cusano, flavors are made by passing flavored air through leaves as they ferment.
"We don't dip ours," said Clif Randolph, marketing manager for Cusano.
Cusano moved from Sarasota to a 10,000-square-foot facility in Manasota Industrial Park in February 2004, thinking the space would last until 2010.
"By 2007, we may be at maximum usage. That's how much business has grown," Randolph said.
Last year, Cusano saw sales of $3.4 million. Last month, the company exceeded its daily goal of $17,000 in sales, translating to potentially more than $4 million in yearly sales if the company can sustain the numbers. The company fills 80 to 100 orders a day with a staff of 13, expanded from six a year ago.
Mike Chiusano is owner and master blender, traveling the world testing tobacco and recently garnering Cusano a mention in the May edition of The Robb Report, a high-end, luxury magazine known for rating expensive cars and jewelry.
The Cusano Corojo 1997, a dark and spicy cigar, is made from a product of Cuban tobacco seeds smuggled out of the country and cross-bred with other strains.
Harvested in 1997, the crop has been aged and fermented with enough in stock to produce a million cigars.
When Corojo was mentioned as a frontrunner in Robb on the same page as a pair of $1,000 jeans, the buzz was enough to make phones ring off the hook at Cusano, Chiusano said.
This is Cusano's second mention in Robb. The first was for the Cusano 18. Both the Corojo and the 18 received a 91 rating from Cigar Aficionado, a feat accomplished by only 1 percent of all cigars rated, Chiusano said.
A Corojo or Cusano 18 cigar costs around $5. Generally, cigar prices can range from less than $5 to $20 a stick.
"It's amazing they keep putting us in there because we're not the $1,000 jeans," Chiusano said.
The moderate boom in cigar sales is fueled by a better product on the market, said Chris McCalla, legislative director for Retail Tobacco Dealers of America, a nonprofit trade organization representing retail tobacconists and manufacturers.
Independent cigar companies like Cusano have dwindled from hundreds in the 1990s to about 10, McCalla said.
"These days, there's fewer of them but they're producing quality cigars," McCalla said. "Cusano is considered a very good cigar company. Everything is done in-house. They have tighter control on the quality of the end product."
Fuente & Newman Cigar Co., a 100-year-old Tampa operation, chose not to make flavored cigars, opting instead for traditional cigars that have been the company's hallmark.
Area sales manager Michael McKinney said he hasn't noticed a trend toward younger smokers.
"A more educated smoker, not necessarily younger," McKinney said. "People know more than they ever have about cigars, the blends and what goes into making them."
Bill Holliway is vice president of Tobacco Depot, with 18 retail stores on Florida's central west coast. He sees a definite interest in premium cigars with the younger set.
He puts it down to the bad rap cigarette smoking has received, coupled with a desire to enjoy smoking in a group.
"The younger group is going to cigars versus cigarettes," Holliway said. "Flavored cigars are one category that has helped drive that business."
With cigar prices more competitive and quality improving, cigars are accessible to smokers from a broad walk of life.
Blue and white collar workers, including firemen and paramedics, are among Holliway's customers.
"The best cigars in the world come from Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Honduras," Holliway said.
Cusano, which has tried to emulate the finest Cuban cigars ever made, agrees.
Cusano doesn't compete against Cuban cigars in the United States owing to the trade embargo with Cuba.
But the company sells side-by-side with Cuban cigars in Canada, where Cuban imports are subject to stiff taxes.
"When you have your same cigars sitting next to what's known as the best cigars in the world and you sell out, that's a good sign," Randolph said. "The feeling is that we've surpassed Cuban cigars in quality."
Cigar smoking carries an allure or romance that cigarettes have lost, Chiusano said.
"It's more politically correct to smoke cigars than cigarettes," Chiusano said. "It's like the renegade thing, the anti-politically correct."
Despite this being good times in the cigar industry, Cusano sees diminishing returns in the flavored cigar market.
"It's probably a passed fad," Chiusano said. "The market is pretty well saturated and going down."
Heather L. Phillips, owner of Heavenly Cigars in Naples, disagrees.
Heavenly is one of the two largest flavored-cigar makers, according to McCalla. Heavenly produces 10 flavored cigars including Heather's Honey Nut, Cupid's Cherry Cream, Orange Dreamsicle and Grape Goddess.
Using an angel theme to market her company, Phillips has seen triple-digit expansion several years in a row since opening in 2000.
Expansion into international and domestic markets has been slowed only by the influx of other companies jumping into the flavored cigar business, particularly in the last 14 months, Phillips said.
People are becoming aware of how unhealthful cigarette smoking is, whereas cigar smokers don't necessarily inhale, Phillips said.
McCalla backs her up, saying cigar smokers, generally, do not inhale.
"Cigar is a product of pleasure and leisure, far from being a product of habit," McCalla said.
Phillips estimates 40 percent of her market is new smokers, ages 22 to 32. Women are also a large portion of her market."
They are really indulging, experimenting and trying new and unique products," she said.
Dana Sanchez, Herald business reporter, can be reached at
dsanchez@HeraldToday.com or at 745-7080, ext. 4500.
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