COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS SMOKERS . . . WHILE WE CAN!

Los Angeles, November 25, 2010 – Cigar smokers who take time to ponder their hobby over this Thanksgiving holiday break have to be think about Charles Dickens's famous opening paragraph in A Tale of Two Cities:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.

On the positive side, this is a golden age for cigars coming from the three major cigar-producing nations - the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua - as well as for boutique brands from the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and elsewhere. Perhaps never before has there been so much good tobacco for blending, and so many enthusiastic growers and blenders who are working to create new strains of cigar tobacco which are more and more flavorful and more resistant to disease and spoilage.

Cigars themselves are better than ever, and new cigar stars are being created constantly. Just five years ago, who had ever heard of Jesus Fuego? Or A.J. Fernandez? Or the "Fifth Generation" of the Quesada family, three women and three men who have dedicated themselves to carrying on the family's tradition in tobacco and the pioneering work of father/uncle Manolo Quesada at MATASA?

Moreover, excellent cigars are being made by all types of producers, large and small, in an ever-evolving range of shapes, sizes and prices. General Cigar's Macanudo continues as the nation's leading premium brand and the quality has never been better, with Altadis U.S.A.'s Romeo y Julieta lines close behind. At the top end, you can get an exquisite Gurkha Spec Ops cigar packed in a watertight, Pelican-style chest, protected by dense foam padding and with a specially-commissioned, "Special Operations"-style knife inside, or a custom-made satchel complete with a selection of La Gloria Cubana cigars and interior humidor. Or, take your pick of outstanding value brands at $2-3 a cigar like Drew Estate's La Vieja Habana, the JM's Dominican lines or Altadis U.S.A.'s Casa de Garcia.

And although we who enjoy premium cigars are a distinct minority - perhaps less than three million nationally - and well less than a million who are truly passionate about it, has there ever been a time when smokers were more enthusiastic? There are magazines, Web sites, Webcasts, radio shows, Twitter feeds and an organization - Cigar Rights of America which is trying to look out for the dwindling rights of cigar smokers.

All of these positive elements, however, are shadowed by a determined, fanatical and smart anti-smoking lobby which is hell-bent on "saving" smokers from themselves. They have spun and twisted the science of smoke to create a winning narrative that (a) the costs of smoking in terms of "lost productivity" and "medical care" are greater than the billions in taxes paid by smokers of all types annually and that (b) secondhand smoke is a killer which must be stopped.

In just the past two weeks, ordinances passed in Santa Clara County, California have banned the sale of all flavored tobacco (including in cigars), banned smoking in smokeshops, banned smoking in all area of new and existing multi-unit residential buildings (including condominiums) and required licenses for tobacco retailers, and the City of San Jose is considering a ban on all displays of tobacco products in all shops, including tobacco stores. The anti-smoking lobby is quite clever in that it is not pressing for Prohibition - already a failure for alcohol 90 years ago - but is essentially disallowing anyone a place to smoke.

However, there are positive developments in this area. Charles Janigian, head of tobacco products distributor JMG International and president of the California Association of Retail Tobacconists, tirelessly lobbied both the Santa Clara County Supervisors and the San Jose City Council and has made some progress. The ban on the sale of flavored tobacco as it impacts cigars and pipe tobacco is being studied and will come back for review in 30-60 days, and Janigian has been invited to give input the San Jose staff members writing the proposed ordinance.

"You have to be engaged," Janigian said. "If you state your position and tell City Councils and Boards of Supervisors that you are willing to accommodate their interests in keeping young people from smoking as long as they accommodate adult smokers, especially of cigars and pipes, many are willing to listen. But you have to be engaged."

For folks like Janigian, who has worked tirelessly to protect the ability of retail stores to sell tobacco products and allow smoking inside, we can all be thankful. But our future, and the future of cigars, rests with each one of us who knows - or has access to - a local, regional or national legislator.
~ Rich Perelman