Industry News
The Latest Cigar Numbers Are In: Premium Holds Firm While Budget Cigars Slip
The newest U.S. cigar import figures tell a two-speed story. Premium handmade cigars just posted their fifth straight strong year, holding above the 400-million mark, even as lower-priced, mass-market cigars — the everyday cigarillos and value smokes that make up most of what shoppers actually buy — lose ground. For a value-focused store and its customers, that split is the number that matters.
Premium keeps defying gravity
According to the Cigar Association of America data reported by Cigar Aficionado, premium cigar imports were essentially flat in 2025 but still cleared 400 million cigars for the fifth consecutive year — a level that would have looked extraordinary not long ago. As recently as 2019, imports sat at roughly 338 million.
The country-by-country picture shows how concentrated the premium trade is:
- Nicaragua: Shipped 258.4 million premium cigars, about 60% of the total and up 2% from 2024.
- The Dominican Republic: Sent 93.7 million, down 12%.
- Honduras: Shipped 74.5 million, up 11%.
Together those three origins account for roughly 99% of the handmade premium cigars entering the U.S. Nicaragua's continued dominance and Honduras's gains offset a softer year for the Dominican Republic, leaving the premium segment broadly steady.
The mass-market squeeze
The resilience at the top doesn't extend to the bottom of the price ladder. Reporting on recent import data, halfwheel noted cigar imports opened 2025 down nearly 9% before the year evened out — and the softness has been concentrated in the cheaper, high-volume end of the market. Total large-cigar volumes have slipped even as premium held, meaning the decline is landing hardest on budget cigars and machine-made cigarillos.
Why the divide? A few forces are pulling in the same direction. State excise taxes and minimum-price rules raise the shelf cost of value smokes, where price sensitivity is highest. Flavor restrictions in some jurisdictions clip parts of the cigarillo category. Furthermore, a chunk of the traditional mass-market audience has drifted toward oral nicotine pouches and other smoke-free products.
Premium buyers, by contrast, tend to treat their cigars as an affordable luxury and keep buying through economic bumps.
It's worth keeping the scale in perspective. Estimates put the global cigar market near $56.7 billion in 2025, with modest growth expected in 2026 — so this is a large, stable category reshuffling internally, not one in free fall.
What it means for value shoppers
If you mostly buy cigarillos and everyday cigars, the trend has real consequences. Expect the value segment to feel continued pressure from taxes and regulation, which can nudge prices up and thin out certain flavored options depending on your state. The upside: brands and retailers competing for a shrinking mass-market pie have every reason to sharpen pricing and keep popular multi-packs in stock.
For anyone who occasionally reaches for a premium stick, such as those found in the Drew Estate Cigars collection, the data is reassuring — the handmade segment is well-supplied and stable, dominated by Nicaraguan, Dominican, and Honduran production. Availability and pricing still vary by state, especially where excise taxes and flavor rules are in play.
Value shoppers often look for alternatives like Factory Throwouts No. 49 Premium Cigars or reliable machine-made brands like Dutch Masters to maintain their hobby without the premium price tag.
The bottom line
The cigar market isn't shrinking so much as splitting. Premium handmade cigars remain remarkably steady above 400 million imports a year, while budget cigars absorb the hit from taxes, regulation, and shifting habits. For a store built around value, that means watching the mass-market pressures closely — and for shoppers, it means prices and selection at the low end, including popular items like Black and Mild Cigars and White Owl, will keep tracking what regulators do next.