Premium Cigar Imports Rise Again: Up 6.7 Percent Through April
The U.S. market for premium, handmade cigars continues to impress. The numbers for the first five months of the year are in and they show a gain of 6.7 percent when compared to the same period of 2024.
This follows the 2025 first-quarter report that showed an increase of 7.2 percent over Q1 of the previous year. The numbers come via the Cigar Association of America (CAA).
Lead producer Nicaragua exported 83.3 million handmade cigars to the United States for the first five months of the year, up 11.4 percent over 2024 numbers. The Dominican Republic, which has ranked No. 2 for quite some time, showed a decrease of 5.5 percent to 20.9 million, according to the CAA, but it’s important to note that the CAA said the Dominican figures were an estimate, unlike the other country numbers. Honduras was very close to the Dominican Republic, according to the CAA, with shipments of 20.2 million cigars, up 1.3 percent from the same period in 2024.
Imports differ from sales, and just because a cigar is imported doesn’t mean it will sell. However, since more than 99 percent of handmade, premium cigars are made outside the United States, tracking the imports is the best barometer of how the cigar market is performing.
Last year, the United States imported 430 million premium, handmade cigars.
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