Stogie Guys Friday Sampler No. 443

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post a mixed bag of quick cigar news and other items of interest. Below is our latest Friday Sampler.

1) The long-rumored expansion of Burn by Rocky Patel to Washington appears to have taken a step forward. A recent report says the cigar bar has applied for permits to locate in a three-story building originally built as a bank, but more recently used as a jazz and burlesque club. According the the article, the application is for a “seating capacity of 250 and a total occupancy load of 350 [that] will operate as a cigar lounge serving food and alcohol. There will also be a DJ and solo performances.” No word on when the location, which is a few blocks from the Verizon Center, would be opening if everything is approved.

2) A group called The Royal Society for Public Health is pushing the UK to expand the existing smoking ban to include outdoor spaces like parks, public squares, and the outdoor portions of restaurants and pubs. While anti-smoking activists have pushed such bans under the pretense of protecting non-smokers, rather than controlling the decisions of adults to use a legal product, this new push seems to have dropped that pretense. The organization’s spokesman told the BBC: “We believe that banning smoking in these locations via an exclusion zone could further denormalise smoking, ensuring that it is seen as an abnormal activity.”

3) Inside the Industry: Longtime cigar site Stogie411 has announced it is signing off for good Aug. 29 with a live show called One Last Cigar. Pete Johnson’s Tatuaje and L’Atelier cigar companies are for first time using in-house representatives, as opposed to independent brokers, to rep cigars to shops in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Eastern Pennsylvania, Washington, and Delaware.

4) Deal of the Week: This five-cigar sampler includes some hard-to-find limited smokes for about 40% off the retail price. Just $26 (free shipping included) gets you the Crowned Heads Mason Dixon South, L’Atelier ER14, Old Homestead Torpedo, Rocky Patel Valedor Robusto, and La Flor Dominicana Suave.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Burn