The Cigar Association of America (CAA) reported the U.S. imported 48.4 million premium cigars in the first two months of 2025, an 8.7% decrease from the previous year. The decline was not due to tariffs, which were announced in April, but are believed to be part of the ever-adjusting post-pandemic market.
The three major cigar exporters all saw declines, with the Dominican Republic down 4.1%, Nicaragua (which accounts for more than half of the market) down 9.3%, and Honduras down 19.3%. Those three producers account for 99% of handmade, premium cigar shipments to the United States.
“January’s imports are typically anemic compared to the other 11 months of the year, oftentimes less than half of some of the peak import numbers that occur in the second half of the calendar,” Charlie Minato wrote for Halfwheel. “While imports have cooled off from their peak in 2020-2022, the U.S. imported 430 million premium cigars in 2024, up more than 90 million units compared to pre-pandemic levels.”
According to the CAA, the market increased from 338 million handmade cigars in 2019 to 465 million in 2022.
