CIGAR supplier Scandinavian Tobacco Group UK is to go head to head with the UK’s value-for-money cigarette brands with the launch this month of Break Little Cigars.
The firm describes the new line as effectively a new tobacco market sub-category, which it calls super value for money (SVFM) cigars.
Launching in mid-May, Break Little Cigars, which consist of a small cigar with an in-built filter with an Ecuador wrapper made of natural tobacco leaf, will be given a knock-down RRP of £4.59 for 17. The firm says the price, though low, will still return double digit margins for retailers.
The range will include three variants – Silver (smooth flavour), Blue (full flavour) and Menthol.
STG UK says Break Little Cigars will offer the cheapest-priced smoke per stick in both cigar and cigarette categories, at 27p a time.
The cigars, which as things stand will not be subject to many of the European Union Tobacco Products Directive restrictions on flavour and pack size that will be applied to cigarettes in the next couple of years, will be sold in cigarette-style, hard-box packs, available in both price-marked and non-price-marked packs.
Alan Graham, head of marketing at STG UK, said: “During the last three years, we have seen Little Cigars become incredibly popular in Europe. So popular in fact that they are now the fastest growing tobacco sub-category in Europe.”
