Tobacco.org

• A Brief History Of The Cigar  

Castro's regime (and American attempts to eliminated it) prompted the Bay of Pigs debacle, closed off a beautiful country with a vibrant music culture, and -- possibly worst of all -- triggered a 46-year-old trade embargo that has deprived Americans of Cuba's most prized export: its vaunted cigars.

Though Cuban cigars are perhaps the world's most revered, the stogie probably didn't originate on the island. Cigar smoking first took hold elsewhere in the Americas--exactly where and when remains uncertain. . . .

Ulysses S. Grant's cigar habit proved his undoing, saddling him with the throat cancer that killed him. And Freud was a chimney: Patients on his couch had to endure not only running commentary about their suppressed Oedipal complexes but the acrid stench from his 20-a-day cigar habit (which ultimately killed him too).

Despite the obvious health risks, cigars remain a fixture of pop culture. An episode of Seinfeld centered around a box of Cubans, while the stogie's famous champions include Michael Jordan, Rush Limbaugh and Lil' Wayne. Politicians dabble too . . .

Yet Washington is where cigar-lovers looking to enjoy a smooth Cohiba or Romeo y Julieta -- without skirting the law -- can look for hope. President-elect Barack Obama has indicated a willingness to discuss with Raul Castro the repeal of bans on Cuban-American travel and remittances--gestures that could ultimately lead to scrapping the trade embargo. For aficionados, that would be a welcome tonic for the grim times ahead. As Evelyn Waugh said, "The most futile and disastrous day seems well spent when it is reviewed through the blue, fragrant smoke of a Havana cigar."

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Will Red Lion's cigar be snuffed out? 

'Ten years ago, we were young and durable,' Red Lion Mayor Bob Frutiger said Tuesday of the volunteers who put on the 'Roarin' in the New Year' each New Year's Eve. The fiberglass cigar, which a lion character holds as it's hoisted into the air, weighs 100 pounds and is 8 feet, 3 inches long. Tuesday, the cigar was lying in the borough's garage, awaiting what could be its final rise into the sky. (Daily Record/Sunday News - Paul Kuehnel)

Tonight could be the curtain call for Red Lion's cigar-raising lion.

The popular "Roarin' in the New Year" tradition, which draws 1,000 to 2,000 people to the borough's square each New Year's Eve, is in jeopardy after 12 years.

"We're burnt out," committee member Jeff Herrman said recently. "Most of us have been doing this since the beginning. Unless we get new blood to help, this will be the last year."

But a call for volunteers in the fall led to only one new recruit, member Christina Frutiger said Tuesday.

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• John Middleton Sues to Overturn Single-Sale Ban 

John Middleton Co. joined other cigar companies in asking a Maryland circuit court to overturn a recently enacted Prince George's law that bans the sale of single cigars. In its filing, the companies are asking the court to enjoin enforcement of the law and ultimately declare it invalid under state and federal law. The law is scheduled to take effect January 12, 2009.

The Prince George's law is similar to legislation enacted last year by the City of Philadelphia that was struck down on state preemption grounds by Pennsylvania courts.

"We believe there are other more effective ways of advancing the general policy goals that motivated this law without penalizing adult cigar smokers who frequently purchase single cigars," said Craig Schwartz, General Manager, John Middleton Co. "We are prepared to work with legislators at the state level to address these concerns," added Schwartz.

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Cigar company still rolling after 100 years 

A family has been running the C.J. Newman Cigar Factory and is determined to keep on rolling.

For 36 years, C.J. Sjoblom has been making her own cigars at the Tampa factory and driving 160 miles a day to do it.

It's the only cigar company left in the United States that's still owned by the founding family.

While workers around country are losing their jobs every day and factories closing, the 100 employees here are not a bit worried.

"It was something their daddy wished to never end. They are keeping it going for him, and for us," said Sjoblom.

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Research and Markets: Unique Snapshot Report Focuses on the UK's Cigar Market 

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/652472/snapshots_uk_cigar) has announced the addition of the "Snapshots UK Cigars 2008" report to their offering.

Snapdata's Snapshots UK Cigars 2008 provides 2007 year-end market size data, with 2008 estimates, 5 years of historical data and five-year forecasts. The Snapshots report gives an instant overview of the UK cigar market and covers miniature and standard cigars. Market volume is based on consumption of UK paid duty cigars.

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• MARYLAND BRIEFING: Businesses and Smoker Challenge Cigar Law in Court  

A cigar wholesaler, several retailers and a cigar enthusiast have filed suit against Prince George's County, arguing that the county overstepped its legal authority when it adopted a ban on the sale of cigars in packages of less than five.

The County Council passed a bill in November that classified cigars in certain instances as drug paraphernalia and banned the sale of single cigars. The legislation, signed by County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), was intended to curb the use of blunts, cigars hollowed out and filled with marijuana. The county was the first jurisdiction in the country to pass such legislation.

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Six Seconds With…Rocco DiSpirito 

If you were mayor, what would you change? I'd make every vehicle a hybrid. Theater would be free on Monday nights. I'd oversee the school lunch programs and allow cigar smoking in the city.

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In 2008 Films, Characters Abroad, Conflicts Hitting Close to Home  

THE LAST MISTRESS

The French feminist director Catherine Breillat’s erotic costume drama, adapted from Jules-Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly’s novel, “Une Vielle Maîtresse” and set in 1830s Paris, is the year’s sexiest movie and has its most searing female performance in Asia Argento’s. It observes the consuming 10-year affair of a hotblooded, cigar-smoking Spanish-Italian courtesan (Ms. Argento) who flouts the rules of polite society, and a sloe-eyed dandy (Fu’ad Aït Aattou) who is unable to let her go. The study of unbridled sexual combat between two willful sensualists is a politically charged exploration of sexual and social role playing.

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Cigar bars exempt as Dallas expands smoking ordinance, but not all meet criteria  

Dallas' newly expanded smoking ordinance, which city officials will begin enforcing April 10, will allow smoking in bars only if they generate at least 15 percent of their gross revenue from the "sale or rental of tobacco, tobacco products, smoking implements, or smoking accessories for on-premises consumption." That percentage had to exist as of last Wednesday.

The Havana Social Club, a year-old haunt in Victory Plaza with its leather chairs and stocked humidor, should easily qualify for the "cigar bar" exception, its owner says.

The cigar bar provision will not, however, apply to most other Dallas bars, which generate most of their revenue from alcohol and food.

It also means an established Dallas bar that doesn't today derive 15 percent of its gross revenue from tobacco and tobacco-related sales cannot suddenly do so and expect to fall under the city's cigar bar clause, Interim Assistant City Manager Forest Turner said.

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No more tobacco sold at pharmacies 

Starting Feb. 12, no pharmacy in Boston will be allowed to sell cigarettes. That restriction is just one of several approved by the Boston Public Health Commission's board last week aimed at tightening tobacco regulations.

Along with pharmacies, educational institutions may not sell tobacco products. The board also voted to immediately expand workplace-smoking restrictions to include adjacent areas such as patios and loading docks, and to prohibit smoking in hotels, inns, and bed-and-breakfasts in Boston. . . .

The new regulations also prevent any new smoking bars from opening, such as hookah or cigar bars, but the ones already in operation can remain open for 10 years. There are no smoking bars in the Parkway area.

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• West Side bans smoking bars  

WEST SPRINGFIELD - Hookah bars are banned, but new food service regulations are on hold.

The Board of Health Wednesday voted 3-0 to make smoking bars, which include cigar bars and hookah bars, illegal.

Donald J. Wilson, tobacco control coordinator with the Massachusetts Municipal Association, said many communities do not have outright bans, although some, such as Amherst, interpret their tobacco use regulations as not permitting them. Others have interpreted their regulations as allowing them because there is no explicit language barring them.

The Northampton Health Board, for example, initially approved an application for a hookah bar earlier this fall, but reversed its decision in December.

At present, the state regulates smoking bars only through the Department of Revenue.

Six communities have Department of Revenue approved smoking bars - Boston, Worcester, Sudbury, Shrewsbury, Fitchburg and Barnstable.

"The easiest way is to make it clear we don't allow them," Wilson said.

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MiVT: Cigar Factory 

Lizzie Keating the last person you'd expect to see cigar-rolling. Keating chuckles, "The Irish, private-school thing usually throws them off!"

But this business owner does roll cigars, by the dozen, through her 4-year-old company, Vermont Cigar Factory. She beams, "I just love the process! It's nice to know it's probably the freshest cigar in the state!"

She learned this craft from a Cuban master cigar roller now living in Key West, Fla. Keating recalls, "He told me to basically not be too confident because it's always a learning process."

Keating has discovered different kinds of tobaccos and the skill it takes to make a tightly-rolled, long-lasting cigar. Using seasoned tobacco grown in the Dominican Republic and Connecticut, she sells online and more commonly, shows off her talents in live demonstrations at weddings and golf tournaments.

She's a sort of entertainer who provides custom-labeled products to party-goers.

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• Cigarillos are becoming very popular with teenagers in Canada.  

Flavoured cigarillos are attracting kids who are getting hooked on tobacco, according to the provincial NDP's health critic.

Adrian Dix said the cigarillos are popular because they are packaged individually, making them cheap, and they are flavoured to taste like fruit or candy, but they are as bad as smoking cigarettes.

He said they came in flavours like tangerine, peach and chocolate and spearmint and were aimed at teenagers.

"Now they won't smell like smoke if they come back to school. They just smell like raspberry and vanilla," said one teenage girl who was interviewed about her smoking habits. . . .

A popular brand called Prime Time has a cult following on Facebook, he added.

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Court upholds conviction in 'Cuban' cigar case 

A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of a Florida man for selling counterfeit Cuban cigars under trademarks registered in the United States after Fidel Castro took power.

Juan Jose Penton claimed he did nothing illegal because his shop sold replica "Cuban" brands taken over when Castro nationalized cigar manufacturers in 1960. The Cuban trademarks are not recognized in this country, but the names are also owned by companies registered here.

A jury convicted Penton of violating the Trademark Counterfeiting Act

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Gov. David Paterson unveils dire New York State budget that includes new taxes, layoffs and cuts 

Additional items the state is considering raising fees and taxes on: . . .

A 50 cent tax on cigars. The current tax is equal to 37% of the wholesale price, or 34 cents a cigar.

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