60 Whisky Magazine | Issue 161TASTE
60 Cigars & Whisky
62 Cocktails
64 Whisky Epicurean
66 TastingsH
ow did you first enter
the cigar industry?
I claim that I ‘matured’
into the family-oriented
cigar industry 10 years
ago, after spending 25 years in the
corporate tobacco trade. At the time, I
was working as a country manager for
a global firm and my children were at
university in the UK. The opportunity
came along to take up a consultancy
role at Tor Imports, a UK-based cigar
importer and distributor, and re-locate
back to a beautiful part of Britain to be
closer to them. The company was at a
crossroads and not sure which route to
take. So, in 2012 I made a life-defining
decision to take over the business and
started spreading the word of New
World Cigars.Have things changed over the years?
My first job in the industry was as
a young salesman selling Marlboro
from the boot of my car to 25 retailers
a day in the East End of Glasgow, while
my most recent cigar event was at
the Ritz Hotel in London, presenting
and sampling New World Cigars to
ambassadors from 37 embassies
and their VIP guests! The most
obvious changes have been increased
legislation and very high tobacco
duty taxation. Although not a gatewayto cigarette smoking, cigars are
treated under legislation and taxation
almost identically to cigarettes. This
makes it difficult for a business with
limited resources to keep up with the
regulations and to ensure that we
are fully compliant, but we do. Our
information back in 2009 suggested
that the market share of Cuban cigars
versus New World Cigars was estimated
to be between 95:5–90:10, and it is now
closer to 70:30–65:35, with some areas
outside of London being 55:45 in favour
of New World Cigars. We will continue
to see this trend develop as cigar
smokers become more demanding over
quality, varied choice and wanting more
value for their money.Is it true you coined the term ‘New
World’ in relation to cigars?
On my first visit around cigar
retailers, I picked up that they defined
hand-made cigars into two segments,
Cuban and Non-Cuban. Thinking
about it on my way back to Devon I
thought that ‘non’ was such a negative
description and inferred that they were
poorer quality. In comparison to the
wine industry, no one refers to French
wine and non-French wine! Individually,
cigars from Nicaragua, Dominican
Republic and Honduras were fantastic
quality but had low profiles or exposurein the UK. So, after further research,
we decided to join them all together
and use their collective strength. We
trademarked ‘New World Cigars’ and
set about on our mission of changing
the language of the industry.What do you feel makes New World
Cigars unique?
Most of our cigar-making partners
are family-owned businesses, with
either the name of their family or their
country of origin on the cigar band
or box. This means that they want to
produce the best they can. An example
is that since Cigar Aficionado started
ratings and awarding a No.1 Cigar of
the Year in 2004, New World Cigars
from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic
and Honduras have been awarded
this accolade on 12 occasions out of a
possible 15. Cigar makers from the New
World are not limited to using tobacco
from only one country and can carefully
select tobacco from around the world
to create new and innovative blends,
strengths and taste profiles. Many of our
cigar-making partners are exiled Cuban
families, with long histories of farming
and tobacco growing. When they left
Cuba, in the late 1950s, they brought
their skills and a pocketful of seeds
with them. They not only make award-
winning cigars, but support hundreds ofWORDS CHRISTOPHER COATESTHE NEW WORLD
Celebrating 35 years in the tobacco trade this year, Scott Vines
is one of the leading figures in New World Cigars
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