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Regulation and its effect on the market is the headline conversation,
but there’s always more to talk about among top stogie makers.
T
he cigar business is a talking business. Stogie enthusiasts love
to chat about the last great cigar they enjoyed. They typically
learn of their next great cigar by talking to other cigar lovers and
purveyors, conversations that often move beyond cigars and run deep. So
naturally, it makes sense that cigar makers are big talkers, too—and lately,
they’ve got a lot to talk about.
The “Racing the August 8 Crunch” Conversation
Perhaps the most obvious topic is regulation, given the FDA’s recent fi-
nalized deeming rules and the August 8 deadline for releasing new prod-
ucts with a grace period before manufacturers have to file for Substantial
Equivalence (SE) or a Pre-Market Tobacco Application (PMTA). The
weeks before that fateful day found many cigar makers working overtime,
particularly those with pre-predicate tobacco (before the FDA’s arbitrary
date of February 15, 2007), not just to get out their own new SKUs, but
Top Cigar Mind Talk
By Renée Covino
C I GAR SENSE
38
TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016