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| THE STARS ARE OUT; SO ARE CIGARS |
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Page 1 of 2  Plus: Sign of the Devil now available at CigarAuctioneer.comLos Angeles, January 30 – With the Screen Actors Guild Awards being given a waiver in the ongoing Writers Guild strike against producers, the stars came out last weekend for the event and so did the cigars. C.A.O., which under lifestyle marketing chief Jon Huber, is one of the most active participants in entertainment awards programs, was sampling its cigars in the private HBO S.A.G. Awards Luxury Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel near Beverly Hills. “We handed out approximately 65 C.A.O. Sopranos samplers (4 cigars/sampler) and another 40 boxes of C.A.O. Vision Catalyst (20 cigars/box - pictured),” said Huber, successfully placing his brand with high-profile performers who came to the Luxury Lounge as guests of HBO and who will now at least try the brand, if they are not already a C.A.O. smoker. Among those who picked up cigars were acting stars Hector Elizondo, Martin Lawrence and Joe Mantegna, English comedian Ricky Gervais and actress Perrey Reeves (“Mrs. Ari” in “Entourage”). And, naturally, there were plenty of takers from the cast of “The Sopranos,” including creator and head writer David Chase and actors Tony Sirico (“Paulie Walnuts”), Steve Schirripa (“Bobby Bacala”) and John Ventimiglia (“Artie Bucco”). Sign of the Devil: Famous Smoke Shop’s CigarAuctioneer.com site has had some interesting items available for sale, but never anything quite like this. Up now are 25 signs for the discontinued Diablo brand from General Cigar! It has a red glow and runs on AC power, measuring 13 1/2 inches high and 26 1/2 inches across. It is, according to Gary Korb’s description, the perfect way to dress up your “man cave” with a piece of cigar history. These are the same signs that were given to retailers for promotional purposes, but with the brand no longer in stores, they’re now available to you. Bidding started at $1 and the auction continues through next Monday, February 4, ending at 9:59 p.m. Eastern time. If you feel the need to buy some Diablo cigars to go along with your sign, those are on auction as well. A total of 40 boxes of the Caliente size (5 inches by 50 ring) are available. Originally retailing for $131.25 per box of 25, bidding starts at $39.95 with the same ending time. California’s tobacco-funded health-for-all plan dies in committee: “It doesn't matter how many good things are in the bill if there isn't money to pay for them,”said ultra-liberal State Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) as her Senate Health Committee voted down a plan to provide health insurance for nearly all Californians by a 10-2 margin. The plan was to be funded principally (but not solely) by a $1.75 addition to the state’s tobacco tax and a corresponding increase to other tobacco taxes, including cigars and pipe tobacco. It was being pushed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and the leaders of both California legislative houses, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D) and Senate President Don Peralta (D). |
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Did you know?
“American cigar production fell to less than 1,000 factories (971 registered) by 1954 and only 477 in 1961.
