Why Cuban Cigars Are So Expensive | So Expensive

Jul 11, 2026 | Cuban cigars hold a reputation as the world's most opulent tobacco product. A box of good quality Habanos can cost thousands of dollars.

Every hand-rolled Cuban cigar goes through about 500 manual tasks from seed to cigar. But over the last 25 years, cigars made in other countries in the Caribbean and Central America have become comparable in quality, consistency, and cost.

Some experts suggest that up to 95% of all Cuban cigars in the US, which hasn't allowed the import of Cuban cigars since the 1962 embargo, are actually counterfeit.

So why are Cuban cigars so desirable? And is that why they're so expensive?

Smoking Bans and Economics Hit Famed Cuban Cigars
REUTERS: Production of finest tobacco leaf down 14 percent / Cigar production, export earnings off sharply / Industry draws on inventory

HAVANA - Global economic woes and the worldwide spread of smoking bans are taking their toll on Cuba's famous cigar industry, with the just-completed harvest of the country's finest tobacco down 14 percent over 2009, local media said on Monday.

In westernmost Pinar del Rio, home of Cuba's most famous tobacco, the harvest came in at 22.4 million leaves, down from 26 million in 2009, according to Guerrillero, the province's Communist party weekly.

The area's tobacco is used as wrapper leaf and part of the filling in Cuba's prized cigar brands, including Cohiba, Montecristo, Trinidad and Partagas.

"There was a reduction in planting due to limitations in resources caused by the economic crisis," the weekly said.

Cuba's premium cigars dominate the world market with 70 percent of sales. >>> Marc Frank; Editing: Jeff Franks and Will Dunham | Monday, June 21, 2010