Social media users display a screenshot of a symbol that says the game is over for Game Cigars due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Cigarette game discontinued after factory collapsed coronavirus”, is read in a screenshot of Google search. “The cashier informs consumers not to buy Game Cigars after the warehouse closed after everyone who worked there was diagnosed with coronavirus.”
Mitchell Blankenship, a Facebook user who shared a message containing more than 3,700 shares, told USA TODAY in a Facebook post that other people told him not to buy Game Cigars. Blankenship stated that he then Googled the data and that an article gave the impression of confirming that the product had been discontinued. Then he turned to Facebook to spread the word.
The claim was also shared via Backwoods Blunts’ Facebook page. This position now has more than 685 shares.
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An article by Cigar Aficionado, “Covid-19: Cigarette Factories React to the Viral Epidemic” lists many cigar stores abroad that suspended their activities because of the pandemic. However, Swedish Match, game cigars manufacturer in the Dominican Republic, was not included in the report.
Swedish Match, the maker of Game Cigars, emailed USA TODAY that the rumor that it had stopped the product was false.
The company suspended its cigar operations from March 23 to April 6 as a precautionary measure, according to one on its website, however, “no worker tested positive for COVID-19”. Swedish Match resumed its cigar business on April 7.
In addition, Game Cigars is still in operation and sells products. There is no mention on the site of a stop.
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The claim that Game Cigars was discontinued after an outbreak of COVID-19 in its services is FALSE according to our research. Game Cigars manufacturer Swedish Match denied the claim and there are no other reports of the company’s closure.
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