Cigars’ Popularity Boosts Prices: Cigar prices are...

Cigars’ Popularity Boosts Prices: Cigar prices are up, driven by the penchant for puffing among yuppies, corporate big shots and show business types. And that has led to worldwide shortages of high-quality tobacco. “It’s the purest form of supply and demand,” said Norman Sharp, who heads the Cigar Assn. of America, a trade group. Premium cigars, made by hand with long-leaf tobacco, have seen the biggest price increases. In the last year, premium cigar prices jumped an average of 15%, according to a recent study by Statesville, N.C.-based J.R. Tobacco of America Inc., which sells about 40% of the cigars in the United States. One thing’s for sure: Higher prices haven’t snuffed out premium sales. For the nine months ended in September, sales of premium cigars rose 28%, compared with a 12% rise for the same period in 1994, said the U.S. Census Bureau.