Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - SCHIP PROGRAM WILL CONTINUE, BUT BUSH PROMISES BILL VETO

SCHIP PROGRAM WILL CONTINUE, BUT BUSH PROMISES BILL VETO

SCHIP PROGRAM WILL CONTINUE, BUT BUSH PROMISES BILL VETO

Plus: Top British cigar no longer to be made in Britain

Los Angeles, October 1 – President George W. Bush continues to promise a veto of the bill expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program as passed by Congress.

That bill, financed by taxes on tobacco products, including a mammoth increase in the federal tax cap on large cigars to $3 each, has been cheered by proponents of children’s health care and socialized medicine and jeered by the tobacco industry and those against runaway federal spending. It will be only the fourth veto by Bush during his seven years as President.

Happily, the immediate future of the children’s insurance program is not at stake.

Although the program authorization expired on September 30, it was included in a “continuing resolution” to allow the government to continue functioning for a few months that will be passed and signed today. That will give the Congress and the White House a chance to find enough common ground to get the program re-authorized into the future. The current program costs about $5 billion per year and the current bill expands it to $12 billion per year.

It will also give the cigar industry’s lobbying efforts more time to reduce the tax increases to a workable level. UBS investment analysts Nik Modi and Michael Kwon, writing on Barron’s Online, predicted that the Congress will settle on a “watered down version of the bill, one that does not require as much federal funding (and subsequently, not as high a tax increase), which would draw in more support from House Republicans.

“In the end, we believe we will see a federal excise-tax increase, but by a lower amount, in the 30 cents-to-45 cents per-pack range.”

That would mean a raise from the current 39 cents per pack by 77 to 215 percent to 69 or 84 cents per pack of cigarettes. A corresponding rise in the cigar tax from the current 20.719 percent would still be high, but it’s the tax cap that is at issue: everyone would be satisfied if the cigar tax cap were raised by the same amount as the per-pack tax rate, from 4.875 cents per cigar now to 10.5 cents or so. But even raising the tax cap to $1 would raise the price of a box of 25 cigars by $25 to $50 depending on how retailers mark up the manufacturer’s prices.

Famed British cigar will no longer be made in Britain:
The famous Hamlet cigar brand has fallen victim to the smoking bans in Britain and will be made in Northern Ireland beginning in 2009.

Gallaher Tobacco, maker of Hamlet and now owned by Japan Tobacco, said through a spokesman that “Commercially, it is not viable to keep the Cardiff factory open.”

The J.R. Freeman factory in Wales had made the Hamlet brand for more than a century and for 43 years at its current location, but with sales declining by 50 percent since 1999, it no longer made sense to run a factory just for cigars. Even so, some 470 million Hamlets were sold as late as 2004, but production was down to 330 million last year.

The closure will cost more than 200 jobs in Cardiff and the local unions are asking the company to reconsider. Said Gallaher through a spokesman, “The decision is a result of a continuing decline in the UK cigar market and has been accelerated by the smoking ban. It is a commercial decision.

“Obviously, the proposal is regrettable and the changes to not reflect the performance of the workforce in Cardiff.”

Hamlet production will move to Ballymena, Northern Ireland, where Gallaher already has a cigarette factory and 95 jobs will be added to create a Hamlet production line. Like some U.S. machine-made brands such as Dutch Masters and Muriel, Hamlet was as well-known for its television commercials as it was for its cigars. Using a consistent theme of “Happiness is a cigar called Hamlet,” ads depicted artists, athletes, teachers and others in tough situations who relaxed by enjoying their favorite cigar. One 1986 ad, featuring comedian Gregor Fisher, was considered one of the best ads ever shown on British television, as Fisher couldn’t get a self-portrait right in a public photo booth and gave up, finally lighting a Hamlet to relax.

CigarFamily’s Toast Across America continues:
The fifth annual “Toast Across America” national fund-raiser for the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation operated by the Fuente and Newman families continues into October with 19 events remaining in this year’s program.

Funds from the event, which is being held in 57 different smokeshops in 29 states, go to support children’s and community programs – including the building of the Cigar Family Community Complex – in the Dominican Republic.

As part of the event, which is sometimes simply an in-store party and in other locations a full-blown cigar dinner and exposition, special cigars are always made available. This year, the cigars to be featured include a Fuente Fuente Opus X and a Diamond Crown Maximus, presented in a commemorative wooden box.

The program kicked off on September 14 at tobacconists in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hartford, Connecticut and Denver, Colorado and the last event will be held on November 8 at Jon’s Pipe Shop in St. Louis, Missouri.

Cigar industry veterans Kemper and Pegg promoted:
Congratulations to two well-known and well-liked veterans of the cigar industry who have both been promoted within their companies to senior positions.

Arthur Kemper is now Vice President of the Tabacalera Perdomo, moving up from his former position as National Sales Director. He joined Perdomo as a salesman in 2000 after five years as manager of The Humidor in San Antonio, Texas.

The always-dapper Micky Pegg has been promoted to Vice President of Sales at C.A.O. from his position as National Sales Manager. He joined the company as a regional sales manager in 2003 and became National Sales Manager in 2004. It’s easy to spot Pegg in a crowd: look for the man with a ready smile, a cigar in hand and a big bow tie!
~ Rich Perelman

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