STORY: Lebanese cigar lovers hold to hobby despite economic crisis
DATELINE: July 1, 2023
LENGTH: 00:05:33
LOCATION: Beirut
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of a man shopping at a cigar shop
2. various of cigars
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): JOSEPH EL KHOURY, Owner of Peter Cigar
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): ALI SHMAISANI, Cigar smoker
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): JOSEPH EL KHOURY, Owner of Peter Cigar
6. various of Peter Cigar

STORYLINE:

Despite suffering the worst financial crisis in its history, Lebanon remains a big spender on cigars.

A study released on May 31 by data analysis site Statista revealed that Lebanon ranked number one globally on per capita revenue from cigar sales in 2022.
   
According to the study, Lebanese spends 36.7 U.S. dollars per person on cigars, compared to 35.6 dollars in the second-placed United States, 27.5 dollars in Qatar, 20.2 dollars in Luxembourg, and 15.1 dollars in Iceland.
   
The result surprised many as cigars, often considered luxury products, have retained a strong market in Lebanon, which is suffering from a financial crisis that plunged over 80 percent of its population into poverty.

Joseph el Khoury, the owner of Peter Cigar, told Xinhua that the number of consumed cigars did not drop in Lebanon after the economic crisis, but the market saw people coming from outside the country to buy in quantities and resell the products in their countries of residence due to low taxes on the product.

He added that after the increase in the tax on cigars, people shifted to lower quality of cigars to maintain their consumption habits.

SOUNDBITE 1 (Arabic): JOSEPH EL KHOURY, Owner of Peter Cigar
"The number of cigars in demand did not drop, but it increased at some point. Because the tax was low in Lebanon. This is why the cigar's price was low, and it saw a big demand from people from outside Lebanon, meaning that people visiting from outside the country bought cigars and took them while traveling.

Lately, when the tax on cigars increased, meaning the VAT and the custom tax, cigars restored their old high price; the demand for high-quality cigars dropped, but the number of cigars sold is still high."

Khoury's remarks were reiterated by Ali Shmaisani, a cigar smoker, who told Xinhua that the economic crisis and loss of bank deposits forced cigar consumers to resort to less expensive cigars to maintain their habits.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Arabic): ALI SHMAISANI, Cigar smoker
"When it comes to cigars, the consumption is still the same, but we are going to cheaper cigars. Instead of buying premium cigars all the way, we chose different kinds of cigars with a variety of budgets to be able to smoke the same number of cigars daily.
People were forced to change the quality of cigars they consume because of the economic crisis, which led to restrictions on withdrawals of deposits at banks. At some point, people did not have dollar currency in their pockets, so they were forced to resort to less expensive cigars without giving up on the quality, meaning they chose good-quality cigars at an affordable price."

Khoury attributes people's attachment to cigars despite the unprecedented crisis in Lebanon to the confidence it gives them.

SOUNDBITE 3 (Arabic): JOSEPH EL KHOURY, Owner of Peter Cigar
"Cigar is a habitude; one gets used to smoking cigars, and you feel that people are not ready to give up on their habitude of smoking cigars because it gives them a kind of self-confidence.
At the beginning of the crisis, sales of cigars increased by much because, as I said before, it was cheap and was being exported to other countries from Lebanon in large quantities.
We received people we didn't know from outside Lebanon, and they used to buy in vast quantities. They used to buy in unprecedented quantities; we were not used to selling this much. When the cigar became expensive again, we returned to selling the same quantities we used to sell ahead of the crisis."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beirut.
(XHTV)