Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars

THE ROSETTA STONE FOR CIGARS?

Plus: Ontario Health Minister Stumbles onto the Truth About Smoking

Los Angeles, January 7 – “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

This familiar saying is actually a mistranslation and then misquotation of a Chinese proverb, but it works for us in trying to figure out which cigar is which?

If you’re in the middle of a walk-in humidor, do you know which Arturo Fuente cigars are Gran Reserva? Hemingway? Don Carlos?

Or whether an Avo is Classic, XO, Signature or Domaine? OK, you can probably pick out the maduro by yourself . . .

Or the toughest of all: Punch. You have to really know your cigars to tell the standard line from the Punch Deluxe and both of those from the Grand Cru.

Now to the rescue comes the Famous Smoke Shop catalog for January 2005. It’s a virtual Rosetta Stone for the many different brands and their now-numerous line extensions.

In 66 pages, Arthur Zaretsky and his team present 124 different charts for brands and brand families, most accompanied by excellent photography which illustrates the different bands for each brands and its brothers and sisters. Even the short sales charts at the back of the catalog have pictures of most of the cigars and their bands, so you know how to identify them.

The four flavors of Punch, clearly defined. All five styles of Macanudo and of Partagas. Five versions of the Carlos Torano series. And the quite confusing quartet of Romeo y Julieta: 1875, Vintage, Reserva Real – all of which have red bands and white lettering – and the easier to tell Reserve Maduro, with its black background and silver letters.

There are other catalogs which also provide excellent picture references to brands, such as J-R Cigars and Holt’s Cigar Co., but none show as many brands – or offers such an easy-to-use index – as Famous.

Thanks, Arthur.

The catalog is free, can be ordered on-line and the Famous prices are competitive, although sharp buyers can watch this space for the best of their weekly (daily?) price changes.

Let Freedom Ring!
A Saskatchewan hotel owner is fighting the new provincial smoking ban in hopes of getting it reconsidered.

Barry Gumulcak, owner of the Vanscoy Motor Hotel south of Saskatoon, is continuing to allow his customers to smoke during the two-month transitional period from January 1 through February 28.

Public health officers will be fining businesses which do not comply after the two-month grace period ends, but Gumulcak wants the legislature to amend the new law to permit smoking rooms and designated indoor smoking areas.

He’s unlikely to win in the short term, but he’s on the right track. The health minister of Ontario, George Smitherman, stumbled on the truth in his victory speech when similar regulations were imposed in his province in December: “In other words, unless Ontarians want to be exposed to cigarette smoke, they won’t be.”

Smitherman conveniently forgot about outdoor smoking, but his throwaway statement is exactly where smoking regulations should be. That means that business should have the right to determine whether their establishments are smoke-free or allow smoking. Signage on the every entrance will state whether smoking is allowed and that those who enter to do at their own risk.

If I want to be exposed to tobacco smoke, I should have that choice. I can’t speak for Canadians, but at least in the U.S., we used to say that this was a “free” country.

Michigan Learns the Truth:
The state of Michigan is finding out that simply raising taxes on tobacco does not necessarily lead to lower smoking rates.

After raising its cigarette tax rate to $1.25 per pack, one of the highest in the nation, Michigan has collected more taxes – $98 million worth in the first five months of the new rate – the result has been to drive Michigan smokers to buy from neighboring states such as Ohio and Indiana, where the tax rate is lower, and from mail-order and on-line retailers.

Not that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) cares. Her goal was to use a combination of tobacco, liquor and estate taxes to balance the state budget, but got only the tobacco tax out of the Republican-led state legislature. So $98 million is better than nothing.

Naturally, the tax hike is causing layoffs and beginning to close businesses which relied on cigarette sales, especially close to the state’s borders. Even the state’s Chamber of Commerce sees this. “It’s clearly counterproductive,” noted Tricia Kinley, a Chamber lobbyist, in an interview with the Associated Press. “The cigarette tax is not the panacea-type solution to Michigan’s budget problems.”
~ Rich Perelman

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