The Stogie Guys

In 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 snippets of interest. We call ‘em Friday Samplers. Enjoy.

1) Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted 289-139 in favor of extending and expanding SCHIP. As we reported Tuesday, among the bill’s numerous tobacco tax increases is a 750% hike in the federal tax on large cigars. The cap on the 52.4% tax (on the wholesale price) is being increased from 5 to 40 cents. Yesterday, the bill passed its first Senate test by surviving committee.

2) Following our Tuesday coverage of SCHIP, the anti-smoking zealots over at Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) decided to hotlink to a Stogie Guys image. Rookie mistake. As a result, we made the graphic to the right appear on ASH’s homepage for over 12 hours (here’s a humorous screenshot).

3) Baltimore officials announced on Wednesday a prohibition on “the sale of individual, cheap cigars” like Swisher Sweets and Phillies. Part of a growing trend, the move is intended to discourage youth tobacco usage by keeping prices high. No word on how the city health commissioner plans to prevent kids from pooling money together and splitting up packs of five.

4) In an article about undervalued luxury items, International Listings cited our Friday Samplers as a good way to “keep an eye on how weather, politics, and the economy all weigh on [cigars].”

5) Inside the Industry: The Colibri Group, known for its upscale lighters, unexpectedly shut its doors and filed for bankruptcy. Alec Bradley revamped its website. Cigar Aficionado shocked many cigar smokers by picking the Casa Magna Colorado Robusto as its cigar of the year.

6) Around the Blogs: Cigar Jack smoked a Perdomo Squared Maduro. Keepers of the Flame lit up a Taboo Twist. Cigar Inspector tried the La Aurora 1495 Cameroon. A Cigar Smoker reviewed a Padilla 1968. Stogie Review fired up a Casa Magna Colorado Belicoso.

7) Deal of the Week: Not surprisingly, there’s a new inauguration-themed cigar sampler: the Presidential Sampler. For $49.99, you get ten premium smokes including one each from Cohiba, Graycliff, CAO, Romeo y Julieta, Camacho, Padilla, and Montecristo.  Get yours here.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Stogie Guys

The airport in Providence, Rhode Island, is remarkable in at least one way. You can stroll out the front door, walk for just a few minutes, and find yourself at a commercial highway with bars, restaurants, gas stations, and other enterprises. With the weather too chilly and damp for outside smoking, I decided to use the time I had during a stopover there to eat a quick meal.

I went to an Irish pub and sat at the bar, dropping my briefcase on the adjacent stool. The bag I use is an old one emblazoned with the name of my former employer. The bartender noticed it and asked if I was reporter. I told him I’d retired a few years back and complimented him on his sharp eye. He said he was particularly attuned to it because a former Washington Post reporter had stopped in between flights recently, and they’d talked about a book he’d written. I laughed and said about the only thing I wrote about these days was cigars.

“Oh, you smoke cigars?” he said. “I do, too.” He went on to tell me he enjoyed Fonsecas, sometimes worked at a local shop, and was impressed with the selection at a local cigar store chain. I gave him one of my Stogie Guys business cards and told him about the site. He said he’d check it out.

As I left, I laid a cigar down with the tip. I was glad I had a couple with me because it seemed just the thing. I hope that when he got a chance to smoke, it brightened his day as much as he did mine that gray, wet afternoon. Is there anything else that can create instant camaraderie like a cigar?

–George E

photo credit: Flickr

I suspect, as a result of the current economic turmoil, many cigar enthusiasts are temporarily experimenting with value sticks as potential substitutes to pricier options. Let me do you a favor by suggesting you not waste any time or money on the affordable Gispert Natural Lonsdale.

Handmade in Honduras, this Altadis stogie sports a Connecticut shade Ecuadorian wrapper with Nicaraguan and Honduran binder and filler tobaccos. Astonishingly, several of the 11 Natural vitolas have rated as highly as 90 in Cigar Aficionado (Gispert has another six Maduro sizes complete with a San Adreas Morrón wrapper.)

Sounds too good to be true, especially since the six and ½ inch by 44 ring gauge Lonsdale sells for only $38-47 per cedar chest of 20. “Heck,” I remember thinking to myself before lighting one up for this review, “if it performs moderately better than George E’s Quick Smoke, this could be a decent recession option.”

I had good reason to be somewhat optimistic. With a well-applied wrapper, tight cross-section, and clean look, this Gispert has the appearance and feel of a cigar three times its price.

I was much less enthusiastic, however, after I toasted the foot and took a few deliberate draws. The uber-mild flavor of grass and sweet milk was almost nonexistent—the sort of creamy taste that can be drowned out completely by beer or wine, let alone rum or whiskey.

After the first inch I was still waiting for something to arrive, but only a light, airy, hollow taste was detectable. With nothing discernable to savor, I felt like I was smoking just for the sake of smoking. I enjoy mild cigars, but there’s a big difference between mild and bland.

Frankly, at the halfway point I wanted to extinguish the cigar and move on to something, anything, else. Never mind that the burn was straight, albeit with a strangely thick, bulging black mascara; decent physical properties don’t add up to much if the cigar tastes like white construction paper.

So, as you might have guessed, I don’t think I’ll be picking up another one of these anytime soon. The Gispert Natural Lonsdale serves as a stark reminder that, when it comes to cigars, you often get what you pay for. Recession or boom, I give it one stogie out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys

[UPDATE: According to the IPCPR, the tax cap will be 40 cents per large cigar. Please click here for their full press release. The tax portions of the bill can be downloaded here (pdf) and the full bill can be downloaded here (285 page pdf).]

Well, it looks like today we’ll all finally learn just what the new federal tax will be on cigars. No more speculation and rumor. The facts will be laid out in the bill to reauthorize the 11-year-old State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which is slated for a vote in the House of Representatives Wednesday or Thursday.

Federal budget crunchers were working the numbers Monday, trying to see if everything adds up. Apparently, the increased tax revenue—largely from a cigarette tax boost—isn’t now sufficient to expand and fund a five-year plan. So, there’s consideration of shortening the time frame and coming back again in a few years.

As I write this Monday night, the final SCHIP bill hasn’t been released. It’s anticipated this morning, and the first place you’re likely to find it is on the House Rules Committee site or on Thomas.gov. Groups involved with tobacco, such as the IPCPR and the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, will also be on top of it.

For most of you reading this, the heart of the issue is what happens with large cigars, the category that includes premium sticks. One provision that could have devastated small cigar shops, a floor tax on inventory, has been shelved. And the plan to boost the cap on individual cigars—currently about a nickel—appears also to have been scaled back.

When President Bush vetoed the previous SCHIP bill, the cap was $3. There has been intense lobbying to push it down more. A few weeks ago, a number of reports put the cap proposal at $1. Over the weekend, a couple of retail shop owners told me they’d heard the cap would be 40-45 cents. A GOP staffer on the Hill told Patrick S on Monday that he was hearing cap figures between 39 cents and $1.

Jeff Borysiewicz, an executive at the gigantic Corona Cigar Co. and executive vice president of Cigar Rights of America, said Monday night that even if the tax ends up at the lowest of those ranges, he won’t be satisfied.

“I don’t feel good about what’s happened,” he told me. The group was among those arguing for a percentage tax increase equivalent to the 156.4 percent boost for cigarettes. That would have put the cigar cap between 12 and 13 cents.

Borysiewicz said he’s convinced that a tax even in the 40-cent range will have significant negative repercussions on manufacturers, importers, retailers and customers as it ripples through the market.

As you read the figures in the new bill, bear this in mind: What you see today is almost certain to become law. SCHIP enjoys strong support from key GOP and Democratic lawmakers, and what the House approves is what the Senate will vote on. Though there has been a lot of talk about having the legislation ready for a Jan. 20 signing by President Obama on Inauguration Day, I’m told it’s highly unlikely the Senate will vote by then.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

For about a year I’ve been dipping periodically into a colorful box of Old Henry Coronas. I liked them from the start, performing something like a Pepin light with less spice than his powerhouse blends and a little more leather.

It’s been several months since I lit one up, though, and when I did I got a surprise. A pleasant surprise. A year of aging has rounded the edges of this Nicaraguan puro and turned a good smoke into a considerably better one.

That shouldn’t be surprising. When Patrick A gave the Old Henry Robusto three stogies in an October review, he commented that it seemed like a stick that would benefit from some age. I believe he was correct.

On the other hand, even though a year isn’t very long to age a cigar, I’m wondering whether these aren’t near their peak. My reasoning: If they mellow noticeably in a year, will they go too far in another 12 months or so?

Maybe not, but I don’t think I’ll wait to find out, at least for all of them. I probably have ten or so left, and I plan to smoke them a little more rapidly in 2009 than I did in 2008. Of course, who knows whether my good intentions will hold up.

I’ve also tried the Robusto and prefer the somewhat longer (5.5 inches) and thinner (44 ring gauge) Corona. For my taste, it’s a bit smoother and more satisfying. When Patrick S did a Quick Smoke on the Robusto he rated it a “Buy.”

If you keep your eyes open, Old Henry can also be a pretty good buy. As a Holt’s house brand, it’s often specially priced and offered with some bonus or other. The latest catalog lists 25 Coronas at $99.95 with a five-pack of other Pepin cigars. I believe I paid about $10 less and got a five-pack and a couple of coffee mugs.

Right now, I give this cigar four out of five stogies. And I’m wondering what I’ll think as the year progresses. Will they continue to improve, stay about the same, or begin to slide? I’ll let you know.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

–George E

photo credit: Wikipedia

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

This six inch by 53 ring gauge cedar-wrapped Torpedo has a toothy, deep black maduro wrapper with splotches of gray. Spanish for “double maduro,” it features singular black coffee notes with some occasional bitterness. There were no problems with construction. Altogether this is a pleasant, if uninspired, medium- to full-flavored maduro.

Verdict = Hold.

–Patrick S

Each Saturday and Sunday we’ll post a Quick Smoke: not quite a full review, just our brief take on a single cigar.

This five inch by 50 ring gauge cigar, which had been resting in my humidor since I reviewed it over a year ago, was better than I remembered. Gone were many of the underperforming physical characteristics, and the spicy flavor of pepper, clove, and molasses seemed more nuanced than before. Consider the Series ’68 Robusto $5 well spent—especially if you’re patient enough to give it some time to improve.

Verdict = Buy.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys