The government of Prime Minister Andy Burnham is considering new rules that would require cigars to be sold in plain packaging with graphic photographs, unless they are banned outright. Health ministers under Mr Burnham are examining fresh proposals to bring cigars in line with cigarettes, a move that tobacconists warn could put them "out of business" and lead to a "total wipe-out" of the sector within a matter of years.
Industry Leaders Warn of Immediate Impact
Daniel Freeman, director of James J. Fox, the 140-year-old cigar shop that was a favourite of former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, said: "From the day it comes in, we will become unprofitable." Mr Freeman warned that "plain packaging will instantly kill the [cigar] industry" and added that Sir Winston would be "turning in his grave".
Jemma Freeman, chairman of Hunters & Frankau, the exclusive UK distributor for all cigar brands by Habanos S.A., Cuba's partly state-owned speciality tobacco company, said: "This one step on cigars will end this business in between three to five years. It will be a total wipe-out."
Family Businesses Face Closure
Eddie Sahakian, whose father founded Davidoff of London, said: "If this plays out, there will be no business to pass on. It's the end, it's game over in the UK." Laurence Davis, owner of Sautter Cigars, said Labour was "giving the world of cigar forgery the opportunity to just go wild" and explained that "a cigar with no brand, no box and no label would be very difficult to distinguish whether it was real or wasn't unless you taste it or cut it apart".
Philip Buckthorpe, founder of the Save Cigars campaign, described the proposals as an example of the "nanny state getting out of control in Britain" and asked: "What's next, wine in plastic bottles with no label?"
Government Consultation Underway
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: "We are currently consulting on plain packaging requirements for all tobacco products, as part of our effort to tackle a habit that remains the single leading causes of preventable death, disability, and ill health in this country. All stakeholders, including specialist tobacconists, have been encouraged to contribute to this consultation, and we will consider their responses carefully before any final decisions are taken."
The consultation covers all tobacco products, and the government has said it will take responses from stakeholders into account before making any final decisions. The outcome will determine whether cigars face the same plain packaging rules as cigarettes, a change that industry figures say could end the trade in the UK within three to five years.
