Cigar Rights

For decades, the U.S. embargo on Cuba has kept Cuban cigars out of American hands. But recent developments, from confirmed talks between the Trump Administration and the Cuban government to potential new investment rules for Cuban-Americans, are raising fresh questions about the island’s future and what it could mean for the premium cigar industry in the United States and...

Please Note: The importation figures in this article are derived from the U.S. Government’s import codes and do not currently differentiate between hand-made premium cigars, as set forth in the Mehta Definition, and non-premium machine-made products in the same weight category.

Since April 2025, a rapidly shifting tariff regime aimed at...

Since April 2025, a rapidly shifting tariff regime aimed at the very nations that hand-roll America’s premium cigars — Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras — has forced manufacturers, retailers, and consumers to confront a fundamental question: how much has this actually cost the premium cigar industry in actual dollars and real demand? What comes next?

If you buy premium cigars in New York, you already know the pain. The state currently taxes cigars at 75% of the wholesale price with no meaningful cap — making New York’s tax burden one of the most punitive for premium cigars in the country. But companion bills now working their way through the New York Legislature could change that, and the implications extend well bey...

In August of 2023, Judge Amit P. Mehta handed the premium cigar industry one of the most important legal victories in its history, vacating the FDA’s regulatory authority over premium cigars. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals later affirmed that ruling, making it final. Premium cigars are now formally and permanently removed from FDA jurisdiction — or at least, as permane...