Industry legend voices frustration that cigars ‘tarred with same brush’ as cigarettes in plain packaging debate

As part of World Trademark Review’s fact-finding trip to the Dominican Republic last week, we spoke with a number of representatives from the country’s premium cigar industry. The key message they communicated was that legislators misunderstand how cigars are consumed, and that plain packaging is significantly more damaging to premium cigar brands than cigarette brands due to the industry’s reliance on IP as part of the consumer experience.