Special Study on Cigar Tobacco: A Report of a Study Group of the U.S. Department of Agriculture

Excerpts from the Preface: At its annual meeting held January 24-27, 1961, the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Tobacco Research and Marketing Advisory Committee recommended that a study be initiated to determine the effect on the cigar industry and tobacco farmers if supplies of Cuban tobacco were no longer available; also, the effect of a change in duty rates. The Committee assigned a high priority to the project. A study group comprised of representatives of several agencies in the Department has devoted as much effort as feasible to this problem over the last several months. An understanding of the problems that would emerge if Cuba were no longer a source of tobacco requires accurate information and statistics on the cigar industry and its market, and on the production and specific use of the many domestic and imported cigar tobaccos. Since there has been a conspicuous lack of some of these important factual materials, it has been necessary for the group to focus its attention on the development of an adequate factual base, and a large portion of this report sets forth the results. In addition, cigar consumption and the total leaf requirements are projected some years into the future; some probable effects if Cuban tobacco became unavailable are discussed. Certain problems touched on in the Committee's recommendations, such as alternative foreign sources and their relation to rates of duty, would require longer range research and additional staff. In preparing this report, the study group sought the advice of representative growers, cigar manufacturers, importers, and dealers. The information and opinions gained in this manner have been highly useful in bringing to light various aspects of the total problem that otherwise might have been neglected.