Exploring the Presence and Type of Premium Cigar Retailers With Neighborhood Sociodemographic Correlates in the United States, 2019–2021

Abstract

Introduction

Little is known about the location and store type of premium cigar retailers in the United States. Different store types may expose people to secondhand smoke (eg, cigar bar or lounge) and may also have age restrictions (eg, tobacco shops) that could reduce youth exposure to products and marketing.

Aims and Methods

We obtained a national retailer dataset from the Premium Cigar Association (PCA) from 2019 to 2021. We coded store type using nine categories and used generalized estimating equations to examine associations between census tract sociodemographic characteristics and PCA store type.

Results

Of the 1279 PCA retailers, the majority were cigar stores (39%), followed by tobacco shops (26%), cigar bars or lounges (20%), and beer, wine, or liquor stores (15%). Overall, there were no statistically significant associations between tract-level sociodemographic characteristics and the odds that a retailer was a specific store type versus another store type. However, PCA retailers located in tracts with a higher percentage of non-Hispanic Black residents were associated with 1.12 times the odds of being a cigar bar or lounge versus another type (95% CI, 1.02 to 1.22).

Conclusions

The majority of PCA retailers are specialty cigar stores or cigar bars or lounges, and few are more traditional tobacco retailers, such as convenience stores. We document a higher odds of a store being a cigar bar or lounge for retailers located in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of Black residents, which may contribute to inequities in tobacco-related disease and disability because of potentially greater secondhand smoke exposure.

Implications

Specialized retailers account for most premium cigar stores. One in five PCA retailers was a cigar bar or lounge, which raises public health concerns around exposure to secondhand smoke for patrons and employees. Local jurisdictions should examine zoning ordinances in tandem with sociodemographic characteristics to ensure inequities in the location of cigar bars or lounges are not produced or sustained given the potential harms associated with secondhand smoke exposure.

Introduction

Living close to tobacco retailers or in neighborhoods with high availability of tobacco retailers is associated with tobacco use behaviors among both youth and adults.^1–3 In the United States, there are persistent racialized and socioeconomic inequities in the availability of brick-and-mortar tobacco retailers (eg, convenience stores, tobacco shops).^4–6 As such, the tobacco retailer environment is an important point of intervention for promoting health equity and tobacco control.⁷ Among all tobacco products, there is a paucity of research on premium cigars, due in part to the fact that they comprise a small percentage of the cigar market in the United States (U.S.).⁸ Little is known about the location and characteristics of premium cigar retailers.

The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) is an advocacy group for the premium cigar and pipe retailer industry in the U.S. and is focused on the success of brick-and-mortar premium cigar shops.⁹ PCA retailers include specialty stores that may exclusively sell premium cigars (eg, cigar stores), stores that sell cigars and other tobacco products (eg, tobacco shops), or shops that offer a more interactive experience that allows on-site smoking (eg, cigar bar or lounge where premium cigars are purchased and smoked on-site). Different store types may expose people to secondhand smoke (eg, cigar bar or lounge) and encourage co-use of alcohol and tobacco (eg, beer, wine, or liquor stores; cigar bars or lounge)^8,10 while other store types may have age restrictions (eg, cigar stores, tobacco shops) that could reduce youth exposure to products and interior marketing.

In the 2022 National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report on premium cigars, Kong documented 1289 PCA retailers in populated U.S. census tracts.¹¹ The total number of PCA retailers in a state ranged widely from just 1 in West Virginia to 220 in Florida.¹¹ The vast majority (98.3%) of census tracts did not have a PCA retailer; however, tracts with a higher proportion of non-Hispanic white residents had a greater odds of having at least one PCA retailer (vs. none) while those with a higher percentage of non-Hispanic Black residents or Hispanic or Latino residents had a lower odds of having at least one PCA retailer.¹¹ Analyses in the NASEM report also showed that premium cigar purchasers, who tend to be older, non-Hispanic white, and have higher educational levels and income compared with users of other cigar types,^8,12,13 were more likely to reside in census tracts with higher median income and education, compared with the general population,⁸ which may reflect these neighborhood-level findings.

There is little known about the types of stores that sell cigars, nor the ways in which store types are associated with area sociodemographic characteristics, which could contribute differentially to premium cigar use behaviors or exposure to secondhand smoke. The purpose of this study is to describe the store types of PCA retailers and to explore whether PCA retailers located in neighborhoods with varying sociodemographic characteristics are associated with the odds of being a specific store type.

Methods

Premium Cigar Retailers

We obtained a list of all current brick-and-mortar U.S. PCA members from 2019 through 2021. Details of this list and cleaning procedures are described elsewhere.¹¹ In short, this list includes PCA retailers where the majority of sales were for premium cigars or pipe tobacco, and data included store names and full addresses (n = 1289).

Store Type

One author (A.C.V.) used Stata version 17 to code each PCA retailer into a primary store type based on its listed name using the seven store type categories from the Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings¹⁴ (ie, convenience store; drug store or pharmacy; beer, wine, or liquor store; grocery store, mass merchandiser, tobacco shop; other). We created two additional store-type categories: Cigar store and cigar bar or lounge. We classified retailers including a cigar descriptor (eg, “cigar” or “cigarz” or “stogie”) in their store name as a cigar store and those retailers including a cigar descriptor and “bar” or “lounge” in their name as a cigar bar or lounge.

We were not able to code 265 retailers based on store name alone. For these retailers, one author (A.C.V.) searched each one online by store name, verified the listed address, and confirmed products sold. Retailers highlighting cigars as a primary product sold were classified as cigar stores, while retailers noting general tobacco product sales (eg, cigarettes, vapor products, and cigars) were classified as tobacco shops. Retailers were categorized as a cigar bar or lounge if they prominently featured cigars in their products sold and either (1) described or pictured a smoking room or lounge on their site, or (2) had online reviews describing a smoking room or lounge. We excluded a total of 10 retailers because of the store being closed or not being able to verify information to apply a store-type code, resulting in a final analytic sample of 1279 PCA retailers.

Neighborhood Sociodemographic Characteristics

We downloaded census tract sociodemographic composition variables from the 2015–2019 5-Year American Community Survey via Social Explorer. We conceptualize race as a social construct resulting from structural racism and discriminatory systems. Tract-level race and ethnicity variables included percent of non-Hispanic white individuals (white), percent of non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black) individuals, and percent of Hispanic or Latino individuals based on self-report categories. We also include the percent of the population that was 65 years or older and median household income. These variables have been consistently associated with traditional tobacco retailer availability across the U.S.,^4–6 and older adults report a higher prevalence of premium cigar use.⁸ We scaled percent variables to 10s (eg, 10% is coded 1.0) and median household income to 1000 $USD. Income was missing for two census tracts, so the analytic sample for models that include this variable was 1277. We used ArcMap 10.8.1 to spatially join each PCA retailer location to its respective census tract and sociodemographic composition.

Statistical Analysis

We created binary outcome variables for each store type (eg, cigar store: 1 = retailer is a cigar store, 0 = retailer is a different store type). As PCA retailers are nested within counties, we fit generalized estimating equation models with an exchangeable working correlation matrix, which adjusts both estimates and standard errors. Given the exploratory nature of this study and correlation between sociodemographic variables, we fit unadjusted models that included only one sociodemographic variable to examine relationships between each sociodemographic variable and the odds of a retailer being a specific store type versus not. We conducted all statistical analyses in SAS 9.4.

Results

Of the 1279 PCA retailers included in the analysis (Table 1), the majority (39%) were cigar stores, followed by tobacco shops (26%), cigar bars or lounges (20%), and beer, wine, or liquor stores (15%). Fewer than 1% of retailers were convenience stores with or without gas, grocery stores, or some other store type, and no PCA retailers were drug stores or pharmacies or warehouses or mass merchandisers.

Table 1.

Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Retailer Primary Store Types and Census Tract Sociodemographic Characteristics of Retailers, United States (n = 1279), 2019-2021

Store Type	Count	Percent
Cigar store	502	39.3
Tobacco shop	327	25.6
Cigar bar or lounge	249	19.5
Beer, wine, or liquor store	186	14.5
Convenience store with or without gas	8	0.6
Other type	4	0.3
Grocery store	3	0.2
Drug store or pharmacy	0	0.0
Warehouse or mass merchandiser	0	0.0

We fit statistical models for the four most common store-type outcomes: Cigar store; tobacco shop; cigar bar or lounge; beer, wine, or liquor store. There were no associations between tract-level sociodemographic characteristics and the odds that a retailer was a specific store type versus another store type, with one exception: PCA retailers located in census tracts with a higher percentage of Black residents were associated with 1.12 times the odds of being a cigar bar or lounge versus another type of retailer (95% CI, 1.02 to 1.22; Table 2).

Table 2.

Unadjusted Associations Between Census Tract Sociodemographic Characteristics and Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Store Type, United States (n = 1279)

Sociodemographic Variable	Cigar store	Tobacco shop	Cigar bar or lounge	Beer, wine, or liquor store
	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)	OR (95% CI)
Percent aged 65 or older	0.92 (0.82 to 1.03)	0.96 (0.84 to 1.10)	0.95 (0.80 to 1.13)	1.10 (0.92 to 1.31)
Percent of non-Hispanic white residents	0.99 (0.94 to 1.04)	1.04 (0.98 to 1.10)	0.94 (0.88 to 1.00)	1.01 (0.94 to 1.09)
Percent of non-Hispanic Black residents	0.99 (0.91 to 1.07)	0.98 (0.91 to 1.05)	1.12 (1.02 to 1.22)	0.91 (0.74 to 1.12)
Percent of Hispanic or Latino residents	1.04 (0.94 to 1.14)	0.93 (0.85 to 1.03)	1.00 (0.90 to 1.11)	1.07 (0.93 to 1.24)
Median household income ($USD)*	1.00 (1.00 to 1.01)	1.00 (0.99 to 1.00)	1.00 (1.00 to 1.01)	1.00 (0.99 to 1.00)

We created binary outcome variables for each store type (eg, cigar store: 1 = retailer is a cigar store, 0 = retailer is a different store type). We used generalized estimating equations to account for the nesting of PCA retailers within counties. We scaled percent variables to 10s and median household income to 1000 $USD. Bolding indicates statistical significance.

^* n = 1277.

Discussion

Approximately 60% of PCA retailers were cigar specialty shops (ie, cigar stores or cigar bars or lounges), with another quarter captured as a tobacco shops, and 20% as a beer, wine, or liquor stores. This differs substantively from the store types of national tobacco retailers, which in 2017 were largely comprised of gas or convenience stores (38%) or grocery stores (34%), with only 11% classified as beer, wine, or liquor stores and 4% as tobacco shops.¹⁵ Most people who buy premium cigars at retail purchase them from cigar bars or tobacco or cigar shops,¹⁶ and these store types may have age restrictions that could reduce youth exposure to products and interior marketing if compliance (eg, carding at the door) is enforced. While cigar shops may exclusively sell premium cigars, tobacco shops sell a variety of other tobacco products (eg, cigarettes, little cigars), which could contribute to multiple tobacco product use.

In our study, one in five PCA retailers was a cigar bar or lounge, indicating the option for potential on-site consumption, which raises two primary public health concerns. First, on-site consumption may lead to secondhand smoke and other toxicant smoke exposure for patrons and employees of these retailers. Studies of hookah lounges have identified considerable carbon monoxide exposure among their patrons¹⁷ and employees¹⁸ as well as elevated levels of indoor air pollutants that can cause adverse health effects.¹⁸ While the specific level of exposure to harmful and potentially harmful compounds depends on how premium cigars are smoked (eg, frequency, depth of inhalation),⁸ secondhand smoke exposure to these products in cigar bars and lounges may further expose individuals to these compounds.

Second, our online search of 265 cigar bars or lounges indicated that some retailers may also sell alcohol for on-site consumption: The concurrent use of alcohol and premium cigars may contribute to specific use behaviors, as well as heightened toxicant exposure. One randomized placebo-controlled crossover study of young adult dyads showed that when provided with an alcoholic drink, participants smoked hookah longer, and had higher total inhaled volume than when provided a placebo drink.¹⁰ The concurrent sale of alcohol and premium cigars in cigar bars or lounges and beer, wine, or liquor stores also supports that the venue in which these products are sold may contribute to their patterns of use. Premium cigars are frequently marketed with alcohol in magazines and at events (eg, festivals): premium users also report a higher prevalence of past-month alcohol use compared with non-premium cigar users.⁸ Given that the combination of alcohol use and tobacco smoking produces greater risks for head and neck cancers than either alone,¹⁹ norms that support co-use of these two products may increase the known health risks of each substance.

A previous analysis of these data in the NASEM report found that census tracts with a higher percentage of Black residents had a lower odds of having at least one PCA retailer.¹¹ However, we found that the percentage of Black residents in a tract was associated with a higher odds of a retailer being a cigar bar or lounge. This preliminary finding suggests that nationally, while PCA retailers may not be as present in neighborhoods with a higher percentage of Black residents overall, when PCA retailers are present in these neighborhoods, they are disproportionately cigar bars or lounges. Given concerns with secondhand smoke discussed prior, this may be especially concerning from a health equity perspective, as even outdoor secondhand smoke is a concern.²⁰ The potential inequity in the location of cigar bars or lounges may also be partially due to historical policies, such as zoning codes that dictate where cigar bars or lounges may operate.

Limitations of our study include an incomplete list of cigar retailers; therefore, we cannot fully estimate the overall number of other retailers that sell and market premium cigars. Second, the PCA did not provide store-type codes, and we coded this based on store names and online searches. It is possible that there is some error with our coding though we tried to maximize standard practices used for tobacco retailers by using Standardized Tobacco Assessment for Retail Settings.¹⁴ Third, there was little variability in the presence of some store types over others, and we may have been statistically underpowered to detect associations; caution should be taken when interpreting estimates given the exploratory nature of this study. Finally, survey data show that premium cigar users were less likely to purchase their cigars in-person compared with non-premium cigar users,¹³ and data from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau suggest that approximately one-third of premium cigars were purchased online in 2017.⁸ While our study is limited to brick-and-mortar premium cigar retailers, future work should also examine the availability, sales, and marketing of premium cigars via other channels, including through online channels and industry-sponsored magazines.⁸

Overall, this is the first study to examine the store-type characteristics of PCA across the U.S. The majority of PCAs are specialty cigar stores or cigar bars or lounges, and few are more traditional tobacco retailers, such as convenience stores. Local jurisdictions should examine zoning codes and ordinances surrounding the location and operation of cigar bars or lounges in relation to community sociodemographic characteristics to ensure inequities are not created or exacerbated given harms associated with secondhand smoke exposure.

Supplementary Material

A Contributorship Form detailing each author’s specific involvement with this content, as well as any supplementary data, are available online at https://academic.oup.com/ntr.

Supplement Sponsorship

This article appears as part of the supplement “Regulatory Research Advances on Premium Cigars,” sponsored by the Center for Coordination of Analytics, Science, Enhancement, and Logistics (CASEL) in Tobacco Regulatory Science (5U54DA046060) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse at NIH and FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.

Funding

AYK was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (P30CA225520) and the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET R23-02). OG and ACV were supported by the National Cancer Institute and FDA Center for Tobacco Products (U54CA229973). This work does not represent the view of the funders, and the funders had no role in any aspect of the study design, data analysis and interpretation, writing of the manuscript, or decision to publish.

Disclosure

AYK serves as a paid expert consultant in litigation against the tobacco industry.

Data Availability

Premium Cigar Association retail data may be requested through the Public Access Records Office of the National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine. American Community Survey data are publicly available.