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

GIVE ME LIBERTY OR . . .

Cigar lovers respond to call for Congressional challenge

Los Angeles, August 27 – One of the most important functions of the Cigar Association of America is to monitor legislative attacks on the manufacturing and sale of cigars. And CAA President Norman Sharp sounded the alarm on Wednesday:

“HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. The U.S. Senate has amended a House bill (H.R. 4520) to include a provision which would give the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) authority over all tobacco products - including cigars and pipe tobacco. Their reasoning is that they want to protect kids from cigarettes. Yet they have included two products used overwhelmingly by adults.

“Even the FDA, when it made the ill-fated attempt to regulate tobacco products on its own in 1996, specifically chose to EXCLUDE cigars and pipe tobacco because it had NO EVIDENCE OF SIGNIFICANT USAGE BY YOUTH, nor did it have sufficient evidence that they were drug delivery devices.

“To pay for this new increase in the federal bureaucracy, "user fees" - a fancy term for "taxes" - will be assessed on all tobacco manufacturers and importers - which of course will be passed on to "users" such as yourself. The cigar industry in particular has been singled out for punitively large tax increases. Additionally, cigar companies will also be forced to pass along the increased costs inevitable in trying to comply with new government regulations and standards.

“Furthermore, the measure contains provisions which will have a direct, negative impact on mail order/internet sales and this will further increase the price of the tobacco products which you purchase from us.

“Cigars and pipe tobacco are used overwhelmingly by adult men. KIDS DON'T SMOKE THESE PRODUCTS, nor do these industries advertise to kids. Actually, the majority of cigar advertising is geared toward premium, handmade cigars in adult-lifestyle publications. Moreover, government studies have found that the vast majority of cigar smokers - anywhere from 75% to 89% - are OCCASIONAL smokers.”

Sharp asked smokers to send messages to members of the House and Senate conference committee and so many e-mails, calls and faxes were made that the campaign was called to a close by one major retailer just 24 hours later, on Thursday afternoon.

Good for now, but in an election year, we must stay aware. Although the legislation does not allow the prohibition of tobacco products (reserved to the Congress itself), an activist FDA could come close to it. As with the 1966 act prohibiting cigarette (but not cigar) advertising and the ill-fated 1996 attempt at FDA regulation, cigars should be excluded. It’s an adult product consumed by adults, who should be free to choose whether they smoke or not.

Steals and Deals:
Not unbelievable, but worth noting:

• A six-pack of dandy Puros Indios “special-aged” Piramides for just $19.95 from Cigars International. These are giant torpedo-shaped cigars, 6 3/4 inches long, opening to a giant ring gauge of 64 – a full inch – at the foot. Rich in flavor and packed in a cute burlap bag, these are wonderful, enjoyable, Honduran-made cigars and if you haven’t tried them, this is an excellent value at just $3.33 per cigar in the six-pack.

If you’re already a Puros Indios fan, you can get 12 of these fat cigars for $34.95 ($2.91 each) or 24 for $59.95 ($2.50).

• While hardly a “steal” or a “deal,” it was stunning to see hard-to-find Moore & Bode cigars offered by a mail-order/on-line retailer, in this case 2 Guys Smoke Shop. We think very highly of these Miami-made cigars, created under the hawk-like gaze of Sharon Moore and Robert Bode, and ranked them no. 8 in our list of the best mild-bodied cigars available in the U.S.A. (the complete rankings are found in our CigarWire service).

The “Miami” edition is the mild, best-known blend while the “Flamboyan” version is a bit fuller in body. Both are available from 2 Guys; they aren’t cheap at $6.49-17.99 a stick, but congratulations are due to Dave Garofalo of 2 Guys for bringing this brilliant brand to a wider audience.
~ Rich Perelman

Want street prices on 500 brands at your fingertips? Brand-name ratings for mild, medium and full-bodied cigars? Consensus ratings for 565 brands year-by-year since 1992? It’s just $2 a month ($24 a year) for the value-packed CigarWire.

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