Stogie News: American Cigar Consumption on the Rise

An interesting article out of Brunei, of all places, reported yesterday that American stogie sales jumped a whopping 28 percent from 2000 to 2004. This news is even more stunning considering cigarette sales declined ten percent over that same time period.

The article quotes Action on Smoking and Health Executive Director John Banzhaf – an anti-smoking zealot, not an impartial expert – claiming marketing campaigns, low taxes (excuse me?!), and cigar wielding politicians are to blame for the surge in stogie sales.

“Many of the factors that began leading to the [cigar] increase are still present,” Banzhaf said. They include the perception that cigars look fashionable and the fact that high-profile politicians and others are seen smoking them regularly. “We have Arnold (Schwarzenegger, California’s governor), smoking cigars and occasionally, Bill Clinton,” he said. “More and more women are smoking cigars.”

While busybody do-gooders like Banzhaf chalk increasing cigar consumption up as bad news, it’s worth noting there are a few positive health consequences. For one, cigar retailers and various studies suggest the average cigar enthusiast smokes much less than the average cigarette smoker. One to three times per week, to be exact. (My friends who smoke only one to three cigarettes per week consider themselves nonsmokers.)

Also, stogie smokers do not inhale. So while their risks for oral cancers are marginally higher than nonsmokers, heart disease and lung cancer rarely enters into the equation.

The alarmist article provides additional insight when it cites a recent study out of Cleveland that found, out of the 4,000 plus teens polled, 23 percent prefer cigars, compared to only 16 percent who prefer cigarettes.

This research – albeit limited in scope – contradicts two public misconceptions: (1) that teen tobacco consumption is almost entirely composed of cigarettes; and (2) that the average cigar smoker is a senile, porch occupying grandpa.

For those of you who question the validity of half-baked “reporting” out of Brunei – as you should, especially given the local media’s strong ties to Sultan Hassanal Bolkia – the research does square with an October AP article that ran in hundreds of American publications. That article prompted us to write a commentary about avoiding the pitfalls of the mid-90s cigar boom.

–Patrick A

Tags: cigars