You’ll have to contact Krug to get one, but they’ll be happy to hear from you.

Supremes hear challenge to Main tobacco delivery law:
The State of Maine passed a law in 2003 that required common carriers such as FedEx, UPS and others to check to see if packages containing tobacco products were properly marked as such and to require those receiving the packages to show proof of age. The carriers want none of this responsibility.

So the Motor Transport Associations in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts all filed suit, claiming that the Maine act is invalid because is it pre-empted by other Federal laws. The carriers won at the District Court and Court of Appeals level, but the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, which was argued on Wednesday.

At stake is the ability of a state to pass legislation aimed at preventing underage smoking and collect tobacco taxes by essentially deputizing the carriers to provide assistance at the time of delivery. The carriers say they aren’t the government. The outcome could have a national impact on how you will be able to receive cigars ordered by telephone or Internet and whether carriers such as DHL, FedEx and UPS will even handle the shipment.

San Diego eminent domain case drags on:
There seems no end in sight to the eminent domain case in San Diego where the Centre City Development Corporation used its powers to grab the Gran Havana Cigar & Coffee Lounge in order to build a 334-room hotel.

There’s no hotel and the space is still a parking lot. The owner of the Gran Havana lounge, Ahmad Mesdaq, filed suit and won a $9.1 million judgement, but that has been reduced by subsequent court actions. He had a contract to be paid $7.8 million to settle his claims, but the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the agreement has expired. The parties are now in mediation to try and resolve the matter.

If the issues aren’t resolved by January, the development agency will declare the developers (who have invested a reported $23 million so far) in default.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but Mesdaq had a popular and successful business that was terminated by government officials to make way for another business. Board member Jennifer LeSar told the Union-Tribune that she voted against taking Mesdaq’s property and is “happy she did.” Where does that leave Mesdaq?

Club Mac attack:
The facade on East 63rd Street is discreet, but there’s no doubt that there’s plenty of action going on behind the double-door entrance to New York’s Club Macanudo.

General Cigar’s ace public relations chief Victoria McKee reports that the Club was the scene of another movie shoot for an upcoming Coen Brothers film, and the facility will also be featured on NBC’s “Today” show on Monday, December 10.

The “Today” segment is a feature on a 30-something Harvard graduate living in New York. The fellow’s favorite happens to be, of course, Club Macanudo. No word yet on whether the segment includes a mention of the Club’s famed (infamous?) Sixty-Third Street Martini, perhaps the world’s most expensive at $63 each.
~ Rich Perelman

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