The pandemic helped a lot of markets to grow in the cigar consumption, but this period has had an amazing impact when it comes to Brazil. The cigar smoking wasn’t so popular among young generations as it was commonly vied as an habit of elderly people, but since 2010 the scenario is changing.
With the growth of social media and with more information available in the web this habit started to call the attention of a once viewed as a lost generation of cigar smokers. Since the pandemic, the country experienced a real boost in consumption as many new brands started to arrive in the local market.
One of those brands was Joya de Nicaragua, the oldest Nicaraguan Cigar brand. And the growth for Joya was really fast. So fast that Juan Martinez Cuenca, CEO of Joya came to Brazil to take a closer look at the market and to do a series of events in cigar shops at Sao Paulo.
From Monday through Saturday Joya did cigar tasting events in partnership with Reality Cigars (Joya official importer to Brazil) and the local shops and all of them have sold out.
“We at Joya were really impressed at how our brand became popular with the Brazilian cigar smokers. The market has become so important to us that it now figures as one of our top five markets” says Juan Martinez.
Although that was the first trip to the country, it will not be the last for Juan Martinez. “For me it was a surprise to see how many nice cigar shops and lounges the city of Sao Paulo has. It was a fantastic experience to spend the week here and have this close contact with our customers. We are very happy with the work Reality Cigars has done in the recent years and we are ready to help then to improve in the years to come” adds Juan.
Reality Cigars started bringing the Joya de Nicaragua Clasico line and the Rosalones Brand, but rapidly expanded the brand portfolio with the Antaño Series, the Cinco Decadas among some other Joya special lines.
When asked about Joya future plans for Brazil, Juan preferred not to be specific but answered “we are working in some new ideas” with a smile on his face.
