Stogie Guys Friday Sampler CXXVII
Friday, February 6th, 2009In our ongoing effort to make StogieGuys.com as entertaining and informative as possible, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.
1) Wednesday marked the culmination of the protracted clash over SCHIP, one of the most critical political battles in the cigar industry’s history. Obama’s signature made it official: a 52.75% federal excise tax on large cigars (capped at 40.26 cents per stick) effective April 1. While by no means welcome news, these numbers, thanks to groups like Cigar Rights of America and the IPCPR, are a far cry from the $10 per cigar cap originally proposed by lawmakers in July.
2) Imperial Tobacco Group, the giant that owns Altadis, acknowledged this week that it expects the economic downturn to have a negative impact on its cigar output. Although Altadis makes many top-selling brands, the company’s cigar sales are dwarfed by its cigarette component.
3) Inside the Industry: Erneto Perez-Carrillo, the man who created the Miami-based La Gloria Cubana brand, is leaving General Cigars to start a company with two of his children. All sizes in the Cuban Cohiba Siglo line will be available in metal tubes. J. Glynn Loope was formally named executive director of Cigar Rights of America. NBC’s Today Show toured J.C. Newman’s Tampa cigar factory.
4) Around the Blogs: Cigar Jack smokes a Casa Fuente Pyramide. Cigar Inspector checks out a Diplomatico No 2. Stogie Review lights up an H. Upmann Reserve. Keepers of the Flame reviews the Troya X-Tra Cetro.
5) Deal of the Week: It’s not too late to take advantage of Super Bowl specials from Cuban Crafters. While they have quite a few deals, we particularly recommend the Cupido Tuxedo Churchills, which will be the subject of a StogiegGuys.com review in the near future. Get yours here.
photo credit: Washington Post
Thanks for the news and the link to the Casa Fuente. Ever since I heard about them I’ve always wanted to try one.
Stock up this month and next. I won’t stop buying cigars as a result of new the SCHIP taxes, but I will resist paying those new taxes as much as possible by stocking up beforehand and limiting my cigar purchases after Apr 1 to the bare minimum until I start to run really low. If everyone adopts a “stock up now, buy less later” attitude, maybe smokers of all types can flex a little muscle on the feds. Not sure what good it would do under the current administration, but at least we might get a point across.
any obama supporters on this site?
Why exactly would a cigar enthusiast support Obama? Even if you take the “this is for the children” approach, he’s still obliterating the livelihoods of thousands of much needier children in the cigar producing countries.
[...] the B&Ms, producers, and distributors who already must struggle to survive the looming federal SCHIP tax hikes. All this comes as the anti-tobacco campaign to impose a statewide smoking ban is [...]