 Plus: Huskers in Havana!
Los Angeles, August 17 – Cigar smokers are always asking burning questions (get it?). So we went to get answers from an industry expert.
During the Retail Tobacco Dealers of America (RTDA) Convention and International Trade Show in New Orleans last week, we spent a few minutes with Brad Weinfeld of S.A.G. Imports, distributor of Fonseca and Joya de Nicaragua, among others, finding out why cigars burn the way they do.
Question: Why do some cigars burn evenly from start to finish, while others burn more quickly at the top or bottom, sometimes at a 45-degree angle?
Weinfeld noted two possibilities for this:
• The burning qualities of the wrapper are tied to its thickness. If the wrapper leaf is a little thicker in one area of a cigar, it will burn more slowly that the area which is thinner; or
• The wrapper may be of the same thickness all the way around, but the binder may have the same problem and not conduct enough heat to the wrapper to burn it properly.
Attention to this detail while you are smoking will allow you to correct this by burning a little extra wrapper/binder to help keep the cigar smoking evenly.
Question: Why do some cigars burn evenly in the middle and some end up with a conical shape on the end?
A great question and one Weinfeld was ready to answer. He pointed out that this common feature of some cigars has to do with the choice of tobaccos in the filler. Where a cigar burns evenly, the balance of ligero, volado and seco leaves has been matched perfectly.
However, sometimes the blend calls for more ligero leaves in the filler, which are from the top of the tobacco plant, are thicker and more resistant to burning. This leaves less room for the volado leaves, from the bottom half of the plant and which are used for combustibility and seco leaves from the middle of the plant, and which provide flavor and aroma. Thus the central core of the cigar burns more slowly and creates the conical “nose” we are all so familiar with.
Comment: The biggest problem in not enjoying your cigar from the beginning is improper or incomplete lighting. It’s critical to ensure that the entire end of your cigar is lit so that you can enjoy the complete flavor. Whether you use a match or lighter, make sure you rotate your cigar in quarter-turns while you light it (“turn and burn”) and then turn the end toward you and blow on it gently to see if it’s all alight. If so, enjoy. If not, get that Dupont pinging and fire up the rest of your smoke. You’ll be rewarded with all of the flavor that the blend is designed to provide.
Cornhuskers travel from the heartland to Havana:
Demonstrating once again that commerce comes before politics for many states, a delegation from Nebraska is meeting in Havana this week, led by Governor Dave Heineman (R).
The group was invited by Pedro Alvarez, chairman of the Cuban government’s import company, known as Alimport. With Cuba’s acute shortages of food, Nebraska soybeans, corn and wheat are of considerable interest and discussions have moved into direct negotiations for sale, according to the delegation’s organizer.
That would be Nebraska Director of Agriculture Greg Ibach, who noted “This appears to be the opportunity we had hoped it might be. I am hopeful that Cuba can grow quickly into a market for Nebraska products.”
Alvarez told the Cuban state press agency that Nebraska was the 34th state to send a trade delegation to the island, following Vermont’s trade mission last week. It’s another sign that with a potentially significant market so close to U.S. shores, continued pressure to lift or modify the trade embargo will confront the next U.S. President. A resolute George W. Bush is not likely to even consider it.
Canadian tobacconist fights smoking ban in his store:
The Edmonton Journal reported that Chris Hansen of Burlington on Whyte, a local tobacco shop, is fighting a local law that prohibits consumption of tobacco products in his shop!
He’s been cited twice under the new city law which went into effect in July 2003, but is only now being more strictly enforced since the second-phase ban on smoking in bars and restaurants went into effect on July 1, 2005.
Hansen told the Journal, “It ought not be impossible for a group of consenting adults to meet in a social and relaxing environment to enjoy what is otherwise a completely legal activity.
“Oddly enough, according to the City of Edmonton, there would be nothing illegal about eight or 10 people standing just outside the door of my store smoking.”
He will make his case while disputing his citation on September 22. The law doesn’t have any exceptions and Hansen is likely to lose this round. Whether he can win a political battle, joining with other smokers and advocates of civic liberties, is the real question.
With Canada’s approval of same-sex marriage earlier this year, smokers now rank behind gays and lesbians in the hierarchy of rights in Edmonton. This despite the fact that some 20% of Canadians smoke and the homosexual population in Edmonton ranges from an estimated low of 2% to a high of 10%. Who is standing up for the rights of the minority which enjoys a completely legal product, tobacco? Not Canada and not Edmonton. Shame on the Maple Leaf.
~ Rich Perelman
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