Gloom Descends on US Cigar Trade

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 08/03/2009

Cigar sales in the US have dropped 10-15 per cent during the past year, according to a USA Today story quoting Dan Carr, COO of General Cigar. Federal taxes on large cigars jumped from 5￠ to 40￠ at the beginning of April, and small cigars were hit with a tax increase of $1 per pack, the newspaper quoted Rich Perelman, editor of Cigarcyclopedia.com, as saying. Now, tobacco tax increases were pending in 34 states, Carr added. "I can't even use the word cautiously optimistic," Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America told USA Today. "These are dark, dark days," he said. Enditem