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HABANOS SALES UP 7% IN 2007

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> Caribbean Region: Juan Lopez “Short Torpedoes” (5 x 50);

> France: Bolivar “Petit Libertador” (4 x 50) and Ramon Allones “Especial de Allones” (5 1/2 x 52);

> Hong Kong: Bolivar “Amonia” (7 1/4 x 57);

> Lebanon: Ramon Allones “Phoenicios” (6 3/8 x 54);

> Portugal: Vegas Robaina “Petit Robustos” (4 x 50);

> Spain: Ramon Allones “Grandes” (7 x 49);

> Switzerland: Bolivar “Legendarios” (6 1/8 x 50) and Juan Lopez “Maximo” (6 1/4 x 48);

> United Arab Emirates: Punch “Robustos” (4 7/8 x 50).

There are now a total of 133 Casas del Habano, and Garcia said that current plans call for the opening of 37 new stores in 2008.

The Festival continues through Friday, with the closing gala and the auctioning of specially-made humidors.

New Hampshire considering killing its cigar stores:
The state motto of New Hampshire is “Live Free or Die.” As the Manchester Union-Leader described so well in an editorial last week, killing off the state’s small but successful cadre of cigar stores seems to be on the minds of the state legislature:

David Garofalo of Londonderry, owner of the Two Guys Smoke Shop chain, moved his shop from Boston across the state line to Salem after Massachusetts put him out of business with a cigar tax in 1996. Now New Hampshire is about to do it to him again.

“In 1996, Massachusetts was going to pass a tax on cigars from zero to 15 percent. As the biggest retail store in Boston at the time, I said you are going to force me to move,” he said.

“They did it, we moved up here to Salem, N.H., and our business thrived.”

Massachusetts doubled that tax to 30 percent in 2002, and Garofalo's business increased again.

Having no tax on cigars is helping New Hampshire's economy. There are 27 cigar shops in the state, store owners say. And more are on the way. Garofalo plans to open one in Nashua in April. But not if House Bill 1510 passes.

“We will be out of business the day before the tax goes into place. That's a promise. We can't pay it.”

HB 1510 bill would impose a 60 percent tax on the wholesale price of all cigars. You read that right: 60 percent.

The tax would apply to all inventory, not just each cigar sold. So a dealer such as Garofalo, with an 8,500-square-foot store and thousands of cigars in stock, would suddenly have to hand tens of thousands of dollars to the state for the privilege of continuing to do business.

The remainder of the story also notes that Roy Kirby, who worked for Garofalo, mortgaged his home to open a Two Guys Smoke Shop location in Seabrook. If the bill passes, he said, “I’ll be bankrupt and out on the street.”

The bill is expected to come to the New Hampshire House floor on March 5, where it is hoped that it – and not the state’s cigar shops – will die.
~ Rich Perelman

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