While there couldn't possibly be more encouraging news in the cigar industry than the year-end import statistics for 2004 (for complete coverage, see our story beginning on page 42), talk of another "cigar boom," - mini or otherwise - is enough to make any seasoned industry veteran's blood run cold.

Total cigar imports to the U.S. rose 21% last year, and premium cigar imports in particular were up 12% - great news even in the face of spiraling tobacco taxes, some pretty major smoking bans anchored on both coasts in California, New York, Florida, and Massachusetts, not to mention dozens of smaller cities and towns. The upshot is that while government pursues its anti-tobacco agenda for society's own good, patrons of cigars are enjoying a small "golden age" at the moment: plenty of superior tobacco leaf being grown carefully, without pressure from wildly expanding demand, aged properly, rolled by a stable workforce of well-trained tabaqueros, and readily available through a nationwide base of brick-and-mortar retailers, mail-order catalogs, and yes - a thriving base of Internet retailers. While the industry and many consumers face challenges that didn't exist years ago, the pastime - so far - isn't being driven to the verge of extinction. Not that the government and an extremely active anti-tobacco network isn't trying.

But images of the "boom" bring to mind a whole different set of problems - problems from within: success running so out of control that it turned into a giant liability. The boom wasn't just about Americans rediscovering the pleasures of premium cigars, but the American business spirit of going where the action is. The growing popularity of cigars in the 1990s became wildly over-hyped, expanded too quickly, and overloaded a slow-moving, tradition-based industry - nearly bringing it to its knees. The casualties were widespread, and the memories of questionable operatives nearly ruining the entire party for everyone still ring fresh in many people's minds.

So growth last year was great news, and unlike the wildly rapid growth in imports that began in 1993 and peaked in 1997, the recent resurgence is a much calmer trend. Somehow, everyone hopes it will stay "reasonable," while continuing its upward trend. Maybe this "boom" will be the one that is done right - without all the casualties.

E. Edward Hoyt III