Cigars, Cigar Information and where to find Premium Cigars, Discounted Cigars and even Cheap Cigars - DEMOCRATS CONTINUE ATTEMPTS TO PASS SCHIP BILL

DEMOCRATS CONTINUE ATTEMPTS TO PASS SCHIP BILL

DEMOCRATS CONTINUE ATTEMPTS TO PASS SCHIP BILL

Plus: Red Sox celebrate American League pennant with cigars!

Los Angeles, October 29 – Congressional Democrats made some minor revisions to the SCHIP legislation and sent it to the House floor for another vote last Thursday. The result was predictable.

The new bill (H.R. 3963) passed, of course, but even with 14 Republicans who voted to sustain President George W. Bush’s veto not present, the bill did not attract enough votes to override another promised Presidential veto. The vote was 265-142 in favor of the bill, but a two-thirds majority required 272 votes in favor. The bill will now go to the Senate.

A Republican-backed bill which would have scaled back the expansion of the SCHIP program from that proposed by Democrats lost, 164-242.

A note to the trade from Chris McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) noted:

“Congressional Democrats are currently working on legislation to reintroduce the SCHIP legislation. This proposed legislation will be nearly identical to the previously failed proposal, H.R. 976. Attempting to appease moderate Republicans, only minor revisions have been made to the eligibility requirements. The tobacco tax proposals, including the excessive taxation on handmade cigars, will remain in the legislation.

“IPCPR's federal lobbyists feel that with no substantial changes to this second SCHIP proposal, the president will again veto the legislation (if and when it passes both the House of Representatives and the Senate), and the veto will withstand a second attempt at an override by the House-not enough moderate Republicans will not be swayed to vote in favor of an override due to such minimal changes.

“Progress has been made in demonstrating on Capitol Hill that the current proposal will prove detrimental to our industry and we continue working for a compromise.”

The Associated Press reported Friday that since the re-vote on the modestly-revised bill did not add any Republican votes, meetings will be held with members of a group of 38 Republicans who previously wrote to President Bush about their ideas concerning the SCHIP bill. According to the AP, “If the group can agree to a list of changes that might attract at least a dozen more Republicans, they said, members will ask the Senate to incorporate them as amendments when it votes on the health insurance measure next week.

“Some legislators consider the effort a long shot. Several Republicans said House Democrats acted insincerely this week. And the back-to-back votes that fell short of a veto-override margin seemed to underscore Bush's clout in Congress.

“‘Not only did they not get more Republicans’ in Thursday's vote on the revised bill, but ‘they alienated a lot of us who supported it before,’ said Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.”

With funding for SCHIP approved only through November 16, the pressure on both sides to come up with a solution will increase. President Bush said on Friday that Democratic lawmakers were wasting time by passing legislation that they know he will veto again.

The Red Sox are smoking!
When the Boston Red Sox won the American League Championship Series, four games to three, over the Cleveland Indians, they celebrated with the traditional accouterments: champagne and cigars. And fittingly enough, the cigars were provided by one of the team’s all-time greats: Cuban-born former pitcher Luis Tiant.

Media reports noted that “El Tiante” was handing out handfuls of his El Tiante 23 Series cigars to Red Sox players and staff after the game. The widely-published photo of Sox closer Jonathon Papelbon with a cigar in his mouth was of him enjoying an El Tiante.

The cigars were actually an idea of Tiant’s son Daniel and feature a picture of the pitcher in his Red Sox days. They’re made in Nicaragua with a choice of a natural (mild-bodied) or maduro (medium-bodied) wrapper in three sizes: Churchill (7 inches by 50 ring), Belicoso (6 x 54) and Robusto (5 x 50). They’re packaged, of course, in boxes of 23, saluting Tiant’s number during his 19-season major league career.

USA Today reported that “The elder Tiant, 66, may get a chance to enjoy a freshly made Cuban cigar next month. Tiant said he hopes to join an ESPN production crew on a trip to Cuba to film scenes for a documentary on his life. He hasn't returned to the Communist island since leaving 46 years ago.

“‘I'd like to see my home country again before I die,’ Tiant said. ‘I'm not sure if it'll happen, but if I go, I can die happy.’”

Another Montecristo:
Since its introduction to the post-Embargo U.S. market in 1995, Montecristo has always been a Dominican-made cigar. That is about to change.

J-R Cigars is introducing the Montecristo Flor Fina, which already has a slightly confused listing on the J-R website. It notes that a preliminary release of cigars with an Ecuadorian-grown, Sumatra-seed wrapper and Honduran-grown binder and fillers is or will be available in two sizes.

However, five sizes are shown, perhaps a preview of the final 2008 edition of this blend, with an Ecuadorian wrapper, but from Connecticut seeds, also with Honduran-grown binder and fillers. The body is listed as medium-bodied and offered in boxes of 10 at $6.40 to $8.80 each.

While Montecristo is perhaps the most famous cigar trademark of them all, it’s also one of the most used. Including this new blend, there will be – by our count – 11 different Montecristos in production, all made by Altadis U.S.A.:

• Distributed by Altadis U.S.A. (6): Montecristo, Montecristo Classic, Montecristo Platinum, Montecristo Serie C and Montecristo White Label.

• Distributed by Cigars by Santa Clara (4): Montecristo Afrique, Montecristo Club Cabinet Selection, Montecristo Peruvian Square Pressed Series and the new Montecristo Flor Fina.

• Distributed for Great Discovery’s of Houston, Texas (1): Montecristo Habana 2000.

What’s next?
~ Rich Perelman

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