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

IMPERIAL RECEIVES OK ON ALTADIS DEAL

Plus: Alabama has “victory cigars” in hand for win over Tennessee

Los Angeles, October 22 – European Union regulators approved the Imperial Tobacco acquisition of Altadis, S.A., with some conditions, last Thursday.

The deal is currently valued at $22.3 billion, but E.U. officials said that because the combined companies would have too high a market shade in some categories in a few countries, some changes will be required.

Imperial agreed to sell some brands to alleviate these issues, identified as roll-your-own tobacco sold in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain; pipe tobacco sold in Finland and France and cigars sold in Greece.

“We are pleased that the European Commission has approved our proposed acquisition of Altadis,” said Imperial C.E.O. Gareth Davis, “subject to the enlarged group divesting a small number of fine cut tobacco, pipe tobacco and cigar brands in certain European markets, including Interval fine cut tobacco in France. We always anticipated some divestments and, in the context of the overall combined portfolios, these will not materially adversely affect the operational and financial performance of the enlarged group.”

The next approval needed for the transaction to move forward must come from the Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), the Spanish securities oversight agency and this is expected fairly soon.

Roll, Tide!
Our item last week on the “victory cigar” tradition attached to the Alabama-Tennessee football game drew an excited response from Greg Wilhelms of Eden’s Gate, which distributes Adan y Eva cigars and other brands made by the respected Emilio Reyes in the Dominican Republic (label pictured above).

“Eden’s Gate sends Adan y Eva cigars to Major Applewhite (Alabama offensive coordinator) gratis, who then distributes them,” he wrote. Applewhite must have been passing out quite a few on Saturday night after the Crimson Tide defeated 20th-ranked Tennessee, 41-17, in Tuscaloosa.

Wilhelms wrote that he sends several blends to Applewhite, including:

• Adan y Eva Churchills (7 inches by 48 ring) with Connecticut Shade wrappers;

• Adan y Eva Piramides (6 1/8 x 52) with Dominican-grown maduro wrappers;

• Dominican Republic Gold Churchills (7 x 50) and

• Trader’s Reserve Churchills (7 x 50).

That should be plenty for Applewhite to celebrate with, but with the Tide at 5-2 overall and tied for the SEC West lead with LSU at 4-1, he won’t have much time to enjoy them. No. 3-ranked LSU will play Alabama on Saturday in Tuscaloosa for first place in the division.

However, Tide supporters celebrated with cigars all across the country and even in . . . Afghanistan! Michael Tomberlin, a reporter for the Birmingham News and a field artillery major for the Alabama Army National Guard is in Afghanistan and contributes a blog for his newspaper, available by clicking here. His entry on Saturday evening (Alabama time) starts:

“Why am I standing outside in the chilly Afghan air at 1 a.m. smoking a cigar?

“And why do I have a smile on my face the whole time, other than the fact that this Cuban Partagas is a darn fine smoke?

“It's because the University of Alabama Crimson Tide just defeated the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Actually, 'defeated' isn't a strong enough word. We spanked them. We annihilated them. We devastated them. Go ahead and get out your thesaurus in Tennessee and find some other strong words - if there is a thesaurus to be found in Tennessee.

“Nick Saban outcoached Phil Fulmer so bad, the man once the most reviled by the Crimson Nation was reduced to almost being pitied. I said almost. Actually, it was worse than that. By the fourth quarter, Fulmer was reduced to insignificance.

“So, in keeping with tradition, I am enjoying a victory cigar celebrating a great Crimson Tide win and a humiliating Volunteer defeat. I trust that, keeping with tradition, the players in the victors' locker room is joining me in lighting up.

“It is the second significant cigar I have smoked this week. On Tuesday, I lit up my fifth Opus X cigar to mark my five-month anniversary in Afghanistan. That day was also my oldest daughter's 10th birthday, so that cigar had some extra celebratory puffing involved.

“I had to watch the game on a small television as I sat on a seat taken from a damaged Humvee. Our recreation room is not properly furnished yet. I tailgated Afghan style with some chips and dip my loving wife shipped to me.

“But I'm not complaining a bit. I feel blessed to have been able to watch the game live in its entirety.”

Thanks for Michael for what he is doing for our country, and for being part of the cigar life, even in Afghanistan.

Light my fire . . . not
Bic is well known for its multiple lines of inexpensive, disposable lighters. Their new Luminere model, however, is quite clever and a potential conversation piece.

The Luminere is a big lighter at 6 1/2 inches long, but its trick is that the flaming end can be extended from the handle in three different positions, to nearly completely straight. When not in use, the flame end stores in the handle, a little bit like a hex key set!

Bic is promoting these new lighters with discount coupons, but the Bic Web site is quite insistent that this lighter is designed for lighting candles or barbeques and says specifically: “Do not use to light cigarettes, cigars or pipes.” Now you know.

A better alternative is the Zippo Multi-Purpose or Mini-Multi Purpose Lighter, both of which use butane, are refillable and cost as little as $2 more at retail.
~ Rich Perelman

Bookmark

Email This

Comments (0) add comment