I was in Amsterdam again recently.

I walked into Hartman Cigars and bought an H. Upmann Majestic for €8 (about £6.67).

The same cigar in Britain sells for £26!

That’s 289.81% more…

There is something almost absurd about that number.

The Majestic is not supposed to be an extravagant cigar. That is part of its charm. It is uncomplicated, beautifully made, gentle and distinctly Cuban.

Majestic, without needing to be grand.

Yet in Britain, even a cigar like this is slowly becoming something reserved for people wealthy enough not to care what it costs.

And I wonder what we are losing.

I understand the argument for public health. Cigars are not healthy, and I have never pretended otherwise.

But there is a difference between informing people of risk and slowly making a pleasure inaccessible to them.

Tax it. Hide it. Restrict where it can be enjoyed. Restrict how it can be spoken about. Raise the price again.

Eventually, you do not eliminate cigars.

You simply decide who can afford them.

Perhaps that is what saddens me most.

Cigar smoking was never only about tobacco.

It was the tobacconist who remembered what you liked. The older gentleman explaining why one wrapper burned differently from another. The young smoker buying his first proper Cuban. The conversations between strangers that somehow became easier once both had something burning between their fingers.

Where is that community supposed to come from if the next generation can barely afford to enter it?

Perhaps that is what Amsterdam reminded me of.

A cigar does not have to be an act of wealth.

Sometimes it can simply be an afternoon, a chair, good company and eight euros.

Governments have been trying to protect people from tobacco for centuries.

But there is a strange point at which protection becomes exclusion and tax collected.

And when every pleasure is made available only to those rich enough to survive its punishment, we should ask whether we are still protecting people.

Let us not forget that alcohol in Britain is sold in buckets to anyone above the age of 18.

On the same Amsterdam trip, I smoked a Trinidad Vigia.

It only confirmed what I have suspected for some time: Trinidad remains Cigar Letters' number one cigar brand.

Beautiful tobacco, rolled to perfection.

Britain prohibited most tobacco advertising under the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002. England's indoor smoking restrictions followed in 2007.

As of October 2026, UK excise duty on cigars stands at £508.12 per kilogram.

And from 1 January 2027, it becomes illegal to sell tobacco, including cigars, to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.

Lets see how long that law lasts… Or perhaps it will create a black market as these laws often do, either way I sure am glad I do not fall into that bracket.

How do you feel about this reality? Let me know.

Until next time.

Yours truly,
The Cigar Lover

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