Cigar smoking 'could disappear from UK by 2026' Cigar smoking could all but disappear from Britain within little more than a decade if the current decline in the habit continues. The UK's consumption of cigars has fallen by four-fifths over the past two decades and could die out altogether by 2026 on current trends, the Financial Times reported. The bans on smoking in enclosed workplaces introduced across Britain in 2006 and 2007, soaring duty rates and anti-tobacco health campaigns have all contributed to the fall in the popularity of cigars. British smokers bought 2.1 million kg of cigars in 1992 but this fell to 0.4 million kg last year, according to figures from HM Revenue & Customs. Imperial Tobacco, the UK's second biggest tobacco company, estimates that there are only about 300,000 regular cigar smokers left in Britain, down from 700,000 a decade ago. Simon Evans, a spokesman for the firm, put this decline down to young people's perception of cigars as uncool. "They see them as something their dad or grandad would smoke," he told the Financial Times. However, despite the gloomy outlook, there is some better news for tobacco companies at opposite ends of the market: sales of the most expensive premium cigars and cheap miniature cigars are holding up.