Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - THANKS FROM THE DOMINICAN FOR BUSH’S VETO

THANKS FROM THE DOMINICAN FOR BUSH’S VETO

THANKS FROM THE DOMINICAN FOR BUSH’S VETO

Plus: predictions for Cuba’s future!

Los Angeles, October 8 – Dominican Agriculture Minister Salvador Jimenez told the Diario Libre newspaper that the veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program bill by U.S. President George W. Bush has potentially saved 54,000 jobs in the country.

Similar sentiments were heard from the Cibao Tobacco Harvesters Federation, whose 300 members could have been devastated by a severe downturn in cigar exports. The SCHIP bill could also have led to the closure of up to 60 cigarette factories in the Dominican, whose exports are worth about $100 million U.S. annually.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) told reporters on Sunday that she and fellow Democrats are winning Republican votes on the issue and still need about 20 more Republicans to switch sides in the veto override vote that is scheduled for October 17 or 18. So the bill – and it’s $3 tax cap for premium cigars – is not dead yet, although the odds of switching enough votes to gain a two-thirds majority are still high.

Smokers can help individually by sending messages to their Representatives or Senators telling them to uphold the President’s veto. This can be done easily and quickly by using either of the two Web sites available to cigar enthusiasts for this purpose: the Cigar Association of America or the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association.

Oliveros shipping new anniversary and coffee cigars:
The Habana Cuba Cigar Company is justly proud of their well-respected Oliveros cigar lines and two new lines introduced during the summer are now shipping.

The Oliveros Eight Zero Anniversary Royale is a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Oliveros brand that debuted in Cuba in 1927. It’s billed as a medium-to-full-bodied blend with a Honduran-grown wrapper, Costa Rican binder and four-nation filler blend. It’s offered in boxes of 20 in four sizes and a fifth size (a Toro) in a tubed edition of 10 cigars.

The Oliveros line is also well known for its flavored versions, including the popular Gold series flavored with Kelt Cognac. Now, the roster includes the Oliveros Kopi Luwak (pictured), using what is billed as the “most expensive coffee in the world” as the concept for a coffee-flavored line that starts with a marvelous Brazilian maduro wrapper. This line is box-pressed and offered in two sizes named Jambi (a corona) and Kuwak (a toro).

From the Cubador:
A really interesting post on the Canadian Web site KiwiCollection.com from travel correspondent Erik Wachtmeister, the founder of A Small World, about his recent trip to Havana:

“We stayed at the Hotel Saratoga, now considered the best luxury hotel. It overlooks the Capitolio and has a nice roof terrace pool with stunning views. Great place to stay. . . .

“I had a great deal of conversations [sic] with entrepreneurs who are quietly getting ready to capitalize on the inevitable change that will someday sweep over Cuba. The consensus is that the next administration in Washington will dismantle the embargo and that Fidel’s brother Raul is getting more relaxed as well. This will eventually lead to a resurging economy, after 50 years of an embargoed centrally planned economy. “Two bullish indicators: 1. The Government is now openly stating how bad the economy is. 2. Private investors are hoping things will take a little LONGER, giving them more time to strike deals with people who realize its time for a change.”

From the Cubador II:
The U.S. International Development Agency has an office called the “Cuba Transition to Democracy Program” and it commissioned a report from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska about what to do about compensation for the assets seized by the Cuban government after the Castro regime took power in 1959.

According to a story by Associated Press reporter Oskar Garcia, “The Creighton scholars tasked to build a model to handle claims from Americans, Cuban exiles and current Cubans said in their report that the United States needs to make sure the new Cuban economy doesn’t get destroyed while trying to square away claims.”

Making an assumption that a “new look” Cuban economy would be based on capitalism, the Creighton study indicates that the best way to go would be to provide those with legitimate claims development rights and tax incentives so that they will invest in Cuba and create the jobs and wealth that their efforts were yielding prior to 1959.

So, for example, if the Oliva and Torano families had claims that were considered legitimate, the Creighton study would suggest that they be given farmland – maybe their old farms? – for tobacco so that they could return to growing leaf as they did prior to the Cuban Revolution. How sweet would that be?

The AP story noted that some “6,000 American claims have been determined valid by the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, which the study values at about $6 billion in current dollars, with interest. The claims are wide-ranging, from homes to corporate assets, sugar mills and oil refineries.”

Settlement of these claims will undoubtedly by a condition of lifting the U.S. trade embargo and the Creighton study said that if the claims were paid off in cash, it would only be for pennies on the dollar.

However, the study assumes that a “new” Cuban government would agree to such a process and that’s completely open to question. The study did note that a quick movement toward democracy and capitalism in Cuba after the death of 81-year-old Fidel Castro is not likely, but a more gradual transition is possible.
~ Rich Perelman

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