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| TROOPS GET A BOOST FROM ALTADIS U.S.A. |
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Page 1 of 2  Plus: Are “fresh” cigars OK to smoke as is?Los Angeles, April 17 – Cigars are indisputably part of the lives of many servicemen – and perhaps some servicewomen as well – serving the United States overseas. Altadis U.S.A. has launched a program to try to make sure they are well supplied. A new program called “Operation Cigars for Troops” is being started nationwide at retail tobacconists with a planned 50,000 or more free cigars to be sent to American military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the company, “The effort works as follows: consumers purchase one or more of the ‘Operation Cigars for Troops’ four-packs specially designed for the event. They pay for three cigars and receive the fourth free. For each four-pack sold, Altadis U.S.A. sends a free cigar to the troops overseas.” The brand and sizes includes in the promotion are some of the most popular in the Altadis U.S.A. line-up: The actual pricing may vary due to local sales and tobacco taxes. Smokers who would like to send a “virtual greeting” to the troops can also do so at the CigarsForTroops Web site. Q&A on “fresh cigars”: We received a question about smoking “fresh” cigars that come right off of a roller’s table and whether they are just as good as cigars which go through the normal finishing process in a cigar factory. There is a difference and it was very clearly explained by Jose Seijas, Altadis U.S.A.’s general manager of the world’s largest cigar factory, the Tabacalera de Garcia in La Romana, Dominican Republic, during our visit there last month for the inaugural ProCigar Festival. Seijas noted that when leaves are taken from storage and prepared for use in making cigars, they are re-hydrated through an extensive, multi-step process to ensure that they are in good condition and ready for rolling. However, that process is not exact in that different leaves will have different levels of water content, from about 14 percent up to 18 percent, when combined during the bunching and rolling process into cigars. So, when a cigar has been rolled and sits on the top of the roller’s desk, the constituent leaves are almost certainly not all at the same water content level. That can cause uneven burning as some parts of the cigar may be notably wetter than other parts. |
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Did you know?
“Csonka cigars are named for the Hall of Fame fullback of the Miami Dolphins, Larry Csonka.
