Habanos cigars - marketed in violation of the Tobacco Act?

With rows of open cigar boxes in front of him and stressing the fact that this is not a Power-point presentation but an evening for aficionados , while the salesrep praises the tasty hand-rolled Cuban cigars and explains that they are a good investment.

– Take a puff, fill your glasses if you feel like it, says the salesrep from Habanos Nordic.

In Sweden, the marketing of tobacco products is largely prohibited and value judgments are definitely not allowed. More than presenting price lists and information about the origin of the product and whether the product is available for sale is prohibited. However, the fact that the compliance is so and so in the cigar industry is something that Cigarrvärlden has reported on several occasions.

These suspected illegal marketing activities are not limited to individual retailers, however, but have occurred at events organized by distributors such as Habanos Nordic – now Elite Trading Scandinavia – which sells hand-rolled Cuban cigars to retailers in the Nordic and Baltic regions.

”There will be no Powerpoint-presentation. I will not stand here and nag you to death for two hours straight”

What do these events look like? The salesrep stands at a table covered with open cigar boxes and says things like “this stick is absolutely fantastic” and “get your hands on these too” about other cigars. Cigarrvärlden has reviewed films from two events that were held in 2020 and 2021, respectively, but a similar one was planned as late as the spring of 2024, at Hotell Havanna in Varberg which Cigarrvärlden previously wrote about – and which was formerly owned by Lasse Diding, who otherwise most often appears in the media in connection with the awarding of the annual Lenin Prize – who, incidentally, offers plenty of pictures of cigar-smoking guests in his advertising brochure Havanna Post. This particular event “went south” when Varberg Municipality followed up a tip about possible violations of the Tobacco Act linked to the event, which resulted in two warnings. One for a violation of the Tobacco Act and one for a violation of the Alcohol Act.

Image 1: Screenshot from the association that held the event that "went south" [gick åt skogen in Swedish, Editor´s Note]. Screenshot from the app Min Förening - Club Cigarro del Havanna.

The then CEO of Habanos Nordic, Stephan Praetorius, stated in an interview with Cigarrvärlden conducted this spring that no event at Hotell Havanna was planned and that they hosted no events at all since the introduction of the outdoor smoking ban, which came into effect on July 1, 2019. This in turn is contradicted by the films that Cigarrvärlden reviewed and that have been available on social media. However, after Cigarrvärlden began investigating the matter, the films have been removed.

– We are not hosting events, says Praetorius but later modifies his statement.

– If there have been events, someone has presented a product. It is a PowerPoint presentation. It is for educational purposes only.

The Swedish Consumer Agency is the regulatory body responsible for overseeing illicit marketing activities. Cigarrvärlden reached out to get their take on the matter, which yielded a general response through one of the lawyers. 

-But in general it can be said that different forms of events (even with elements of education) can constitute marketing depending on how the event is designed. For example, if the event is about products that the host also sells, this could indicate that the event should comply with the marketing rules in the Tobacco Act."

In the reviewed films, no Power-point presentation is visible, and at one point the salesman explicitly states that "there will be no Power-point presentation. I will not stand here and nag you to death for two hours straight" before explaining that this is "our evening", an "aficionados' evening".

Film 1: Excerpt from a film of approximately 40 minutes that was broadcast live from the store that owns the Facebook account. Downloaded from Facebook. The salesrep talks about other major events hosted by Habanos and that cigars were given away for free on another occasion, which is illegal. Video in Swedish.

One might add that the salesrep seen in the films has extensive experience as a salesrep for Habanos and has a diploma from the Habanos Academy and has also taught at said Academy.

Since the interview was conducted, Stephan Praetorius has taken over the distribution of Habanos cigars through his own company The Premium Company Nordic AB, something Cigarrvärlden has taken a closer look at in a previous article: Cuban Cigars And Their Asian Partners – Slave Trade, Fraud And Money Laundering. Under The Nose Of The Regulatory Agency In Gothenburg, Sweden.

Edits/updates in order, by date/time: 

The editorial team. 

If you work for a reputable news outlet, we are open to the possibility of sharing material (research), raw data and full names free of charge. Contact our editorial team on redaktion@cigarrklubben.se for more information.