Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: DON’T GIVE FDA REGULATION OF TOBACCO

FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: DON’T GIVE FDA REGULATION OF TOBACCO

FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: DON’T GIVE FDA REGULATION OF TOBACCO

Plus: More new cigars and sizes on the way at the RTDA!

Los Angeles, July 26 – Dr. Mark McClellan was Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration from 2002 to 2004. And he is sure that giving the FDA regulatory control over tobacco is the wrong thing to do.

“I think there is some potential for regulation of tobacco. I'm a little bit nervous about putting it in FDA," said McClellan, who now co-chairs the Coalition for a Stronger FDA, in an interview with reporters in Washington.

“Hopefully that discussion in committee will be a start of really identifying how, if we're going to go towards more tobacco regulation, how we can make sure we do it in a way that will lead to improvement in health outcomes, not to more smoking, not to more people thinking this is a safe enough cigarette and things like that.

“There's a lot of nervousness at the FDA about being caught in that kind of problem.”

With the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee holding hearings on the possible regulation of tobacco by the FDA yesterday, McClellan noted that “Having been at FDA, the agency doesn’t have any staff that’s used to thinking about how do you make an unsafe product relatively more safe. It has way more to do that it has manpower or resources to do.”

Not that this will slow down the anti-tobacco zealots, but McClellan is sounding the same note as current FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach. The current Commissioner is concerned not only about resources, but also about asking the FDA – which up to now has been in the business of certifying the safety of products – to certify a product which Eschenbach considers not to be safe.

It’s an issue which is certain to roil the debate in the House of Representatives if the FDA control bill passes the Senate. And if passed by Congress, would President George W. Bush listen to his own FDA Commissioner and veto it?

RTDA saluted in advance of its 75th show:
With the 75th annual Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade show coming up in Houston, the RTDA itself is being honored with first-time commemorative products from three manufacturers:

• Zippo, which will debut its ZippoBLU butane lighter at the show, is also producing an elegant commemorative lighter for the show to distribute in a limited edition of 2,500 pieces.

It’s a standard Zippo pocket lighter in design, but with a special new finish called “Chrome Noir” that recalls the 1930s when both Zippo and the RTDA were formed. The lighter is adorned by the RTDA’s 75th anniversary logo.

• Integral Logistics, which offers top-end lighters such as the Lotus, Bugatti and Porsche lines, will introduce a special version of its triple-flame, tabletop T3 line with the RTDA 75th anniversary logo prominently displayed.

• Don Salvatore is producing a unique, glass-topped humidor surrounded by an inlay design and the RTDA logo silk-screened onto the top. Finished in rosewood, part of the proceeds from the sale of this model will go to the RTDA to help fund legislative activities designed to help the retail smokeshop. More than 5,000 attendees are expected to descend on Houston for this year’s four-day show that runs from August 5-8.

La Aurora introduces a really regional cigar:
The Dominican Republic’s oldest cigar factory – La Aurora – has introduced the Excepcionales, a 5 3/4-inch by 48-ring robusto that has been produced in just 100 boxes of 50.

That’s not very many cigars to go around, so the Excepcionales will only be sold in cigar stores on the island of Manhattan – New York City!

The cigar comes unbanded and features Dominican-grown wrapper, binder and filler leaves plus a little Nicaraguan-grown leaf in the filler to add balance. The wrapper is Corojo and the cigar is full-bodied. It will retail for $13 each, plus local sales and tobacco taxes. In New York, that makes the out-the-door price a hefty $15.45 per cigar.

Michael Herklots, the general manager of the Davidoff of Geneva store at Columbus Circle, helped develop the blend while working with Manuel Inoa, the factory manager at La Aurora over the past six months. He reports that the blend was introduced last week at Fumee, a new cigar store in the Washington Heights area of New York. It’s in the center of the Dominican section of the city, so the guests were more than ready to try the new Excepcionales, enjoy some Rum Zacapa and plenty of good food.

More cigars in more sizes at the RTDA:
A very old cigar company and a very new one are expanding their lines for the upcoming RTDA show in Houston:

• Topper Cigar Company, which has been in the business since 1896, is adding a fat Toro-sized cigar to its richly-flavored Cosmo line, made in Honduras.

The new size is the “Boss,” measuring 6 1/2 inches long and 54 in ring gauge, but nicely priced at $5.00 each. It features a Connecticut Broadleaf along with Honduran-grown binder and filler.

• Eddie Ortega’s United Tobacco is capitalizing on the success of its 601 line, made by Pepin Garcia in Nicaragua and adding new sizes.

The Red Label group, with a Habano wrapper, will add the Guapito, a small cigar of four inches and 32 ring gauge, to be offered in boxes of 100. The Blue Label group, with maduro wrappers, will add the Prominente (5 1/2 x 56) in boxes of 20 and a Green Label group is being formed for those cigars with extra-dark Oscuro wrappers, with five sizes.

In addition, Ortega is introducing a Serie 601 Edicion Limitada, which will be issued only once per year. The cigars will be double-corona-sized at 7 1/2 inches long by 52 ring gauge, but will be offered in elegant ceramic jars of 24 cigars each.
~ Rich Perelman

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