Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - BIG BROTHER IN THE HOUSE ... LOOKING FOR FLAVORED CIGARS

BIG BROTHER IN THE HOUSE ... LOOKING FOR FLAVORED CIGARS

BIG BROTHER IN THE HOUSE ... LOOKING FOR FLAVORED CIGARS

Plus: ”Presidential” cigars auctioned on eBay

Los Angeles, March 15 – “Whenever you add candy-type flavors to tobacco products, it is common sense that it will appeal to younger people.”

That’s Amber Hardy Thornton, executive vice-president of the American Legacy Foundation, an anti-smoking lobbying group, commenting in a story on flavored cigars last week in the Tallahassee (Fl.) Democrat.

Is she right?

Probably.

After all, the idea of a Heaven Corona in Cupid’s Cherry Cream is probably not something that the average-age cigar smoker – a man probably in his late 40s or early 50s – would consider. But it might have appeal with two legal-age groups that cigar makers would like to see more interest from:

1. Men in their 20s, and

2. Women!

During the Cigar Boom of the late 1990s, a myriad of flavored brands appeared and wild flavors were introduced that went well beyond the typical sweetened or rum or cognac-cured brands that have been around for decades. But the focus was not on underage smokers, as the Democrat story implies, but on smokers of legal age and women, who were trying cigars in larger numbers as the national fad came and went.

To this end, there are several handmade, long-filler premium flavored brands. Cojimar, Heaven, Havana Honeys and Tatiana are among the most familiar.

But staff writer James Rosica makes machine-made brands such as Phillies and Swisher Sweets the focus of his attention and notes that cigarette companies considered flavored cigarettes at least as early as 1972.

Hey James: cigars made in Cuba as well as Tampa had sweetened tips and some had rum flavoring in the early days of the 20th Century. But the key word here is cigars.

Even the popular King Edward, Phillies and Swisher Sweets lines are cigars, not cigarettes. Unlike cigarettes, they are not a three-minute smoke. Exempting the Mini Cigarillo model, Swisher Sweets range in size from 4 3/8 to 6 1/8 inches in length and 27 1/2 to 44 in ring gauge. Even with homogenized tobacco leaf wrappers and binders, they are still cigars and smoke like them. Comparing even these machine-made cigars to cigarettes is still to place a bicycle next to an automobile, even if it’s a Mini Cooper rather than an SUV such as a handmade, premium cigar such as an Ashton Aged Cabinet Selection, Macanudo or Montecristo.

Tobacco consumption around the world is concentrated in the cigarette trade. Cigars of all types – hand and machine-made – count for so few percentage points in the total use of tobacco to be able to be counted on one hand.

Of this total, the weird and crazy world of flavored cigars barely makes a dent against the billions of non-flavored, machine-made cigars sold annually and the 300-plus million premium cigars imported into the U.S. There’s smoke coming from flavored cigars, but it’s nothing to get fired up about.

Now go wash your mouth out with Listerine . . . in your choice of Cool Mint, Fresh Burst or Natural Citrus flavors!

Hammer time:
Although overshadowed by the frenzy for the Padron 1926 Serie 40th Anniversary cigars, interest in the Fuente Fuente Opus X line is still strong.

A full box of 32 Fuente Fuente Opus X Fuente Fuentes (5 5/8 x 46) drew only three bids in an eBay auction ending last Friday, but topped out at $640, an average of $20 per cigar. The Oklahoma City-based bidder started the auction high at $550 to keep the bargain hunters away and ended up with a strong sale.

An unusual item also finished last week: a gift box of cigars bearing the Seal of the President of the United States. A store called “The White House Attic” offered the item, featuring the Presidential Seal in gold imprint on the top of a mahogany box. A full-color Presidential Seal also illustrated the inner lid and each of the 12 cigars inside the box were presented in a glass tube and had a special band, also featuring the Seal.

The seller indicated that the cigars were pre-Clinton, meaning from the Ronald Reagan or George Herbert Walker Bush administrations. The cigars were made by the Illinois-based Pacific Cigar Company, which makes commemorative cigars and boxes for all occasions, primarily from the Dominican Republic and the Philippines.

The box and 12 cigars did well, with a total of five bids and a hammer price of $330.50.

From the Cubador:
Although the western end of the island was drenched during the hurricane season, a severe drought in the eastern end of Cuba has resulted in the worst water-availability conditions in more than a century.

Tanker trucks now supply water daily to two million Cubans who no longer have running water, out of a total island population of 11.2 million. The government reported that of its 235 reservoirs, 42 are dry and the overall level is at only 32% of capacity. It’s the worst water situation in Cuba since 1901.
~ Rich Perelman

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