Cigar lovers catch a whiff of lower prices

Lovers of exclusive hand-rolled Cuban cigars caught the whiff of falling prices on Thursday, when non-approved parallel imports of “habanos” were given the green light by a London court.

Three senior judges at the Court of Appeal found that Corporaci㳮 Habanos, the Cuban-Spanish cigar marketeer, had allowed – and even facilitated – the purchase of small commercial quantities of the cigars by foreigners, knowing that these would be resold overseas, including in Europe. One reason was the desire for hard currency.