The Stogie Guys

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) Officials in Alexandria, a central Louisiana city with a smoking ban that predates the statewide ban that went into effect in 2007, are hoping to make it even tougher to light up. Their aim is to adopt a stricter ban that also criminalizes smoking in bars and gaming establishments. “Statewide, the only places you cannot smoke are restaurants. For several years now, a small group of prohibitionists have consistently failed in their efforts to expand the state’s smoking ban to include bars,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association. “Extending the smoking ban in this Central Louisiana city could have a negative economic impact throughout the state…”

2) Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was caught with a cigar in his mouth at Salzburg Airport in his native Austria. Smoking at airports in Austria is illegal, but a spokesperson for the facility suggested no charges would be filed. Meanwhile, an anti-tobacco group vowed to file a lawsuit against Schwarzenegger.

3) Inside the Industry: Two new cigars from Prometheus (in addition to the what we reported on in our IPCPR preview) include the Angelenos JM and the Sencillo Black. Angelenos JM is a new 5.5-inch, 54 ring cigar created in conjunction with actor Joe Mantegna with a portion of sales going to charity. Sencillo Black is made by Plasencia in Nicaragua. Black comes in five sizes and features a Nicaraguan wrapper and binder with filler from Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico. (more…)

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) Politicians in Augusta are scheming to ban smoking in the Georgia city’s restaurants and bars. But Chris McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association, capitalized on the powergrab to sound off against anti-tobacco zealots across the country. “There are as many examples across the United States of cities and counties loosening their smoking bans as there are those tightening them. They are finding that legislated smoking bans are unnecessary, they inhibit economic growth, and health issues like secondhand smoke are seriously overstated by the prohibitionists,” he said. “The fact is that smoking bans cost jobs, tax revenues, and economic growth…”

2) The third annual Macanudo Millionaire contest is now underway. Click here to enter to win an all-expense paid, three-day, two-night trip to the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. If you are selected, you’ll go to the Playboy Club at the Palms where you’ll have the opportunity to win $1,000,000 in a round of poker. If you win because we told you, feel free to buy us something nice.

3) Inside the Industry: Crowned Heads, the newly formed company founded by Jon Huber, Mike Conder, and other former CAO employees, has announced its first cigar: “Four Kicks.” It will be made at Tabacalera La Alianza, which is run by Ernesto-Perez Carrillo. Four Kicks will retail for  $6.95-8.65 and debut in four sizes: Corona Gorda (5.6 x 46), Robusto (5 x 50), Sublime (6 x 54), and Piramide (6.1 x 52).

4) Around the Blogs: Stogie Review reviews a Tatuaje Black Petit Lancero. Smoking Stogie smokes the Tatuaje Avion. Nice Tight Ash checks out a Viaje Oro Reserva EL. The Tiki Bar kicks back with a Tatuaje L’Espirit de Vérité 2009. Your Cigar Ratings is looking for people to review these cigars so they can appear in the next issue of The Cigar Network magazine.

5) Deal of the Week: Here’s a hot deal on some tough-to-find Fuente smokes. $115 gets you two Añejo 48s, two Hemmingway Classics, two Double Chateau Naturals, two Double Chateau Sun Growns, and two Opus X Perfection X cigars.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Macanudo Millionaire

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) With the eyes of the industry on the annual trade show in Las Vegas, cigar enthusiasts may have missed the shakeup at Davidoff. Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, president and CEO of the Switzerland-based company, has named Jim Young the new president of North American distribution (Young was formerly president of Guinness USA). Christian Eiroa now serves as an advisor to the company instead of president of Camacho (Camacho was acquired by Davidoff in 2008). And Peter Baenninger has been moved from heading up Davidoff’s U.S. operations to overseeing global retail. No word yet on how these management changes may impact Davidoff’s portfolio of cigars, which includes AVO, Camacho, Cusano, Griffin’s, Zino Platinum, and Winston Churchill.

2) Cigar Rights of America, a consumer-based group that works at to protect the freedoms of cigar enthusiasts, has launched a quarterly newsletter called Cigar Patriot. If you are a CRA member and you haven’t received your copy in the mail yet, be sure to log on to the CRA website and update your contact information. You can also view a digital copy here.

3) Inside the Industry: Altadis announced new lines at last week’s trade show, including “A. Turrent Puro Corojo” (using a Mexican wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan and Mexican filler), H. Upmann 1844 Reserve (featuring an Ecuadorian wrapper around Nicaraguan binder and Dominican filler), and “Diamondback” (blended by Omar Ortez with an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler). For more new releases see StogieGuys.com’s complete 2011 Trade Show coverage: Show Preview, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Odds and Ends, and Final Thoughts. Reviews of new releases will start next week.

4) Around the Blogs: Smoking Stogie smokes Undercrown by Drew Estate. Stogie Review has lots of Trade Show videos. Stogie Fresh has Trade Show photos. Cigar Fan fires up a Kinky Friedman Kinkycristo. A Cigar Smoker lights up an E.P. Carrillo Maduro.

5) Deal of the Week: This special lands you ten full-bodied smokes at a very mild price. Just $30 gets you five Cain Habano robustos and five Perdomo Criollo 10th Anniversary robustos. Or double up for only $20 more.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Davidoff

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) This week, William S. Spann was announced as the new chief executive officer of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association at the group’s 79th annual Trade Show in Las Vegas. Spann replaces Joe Rowe, who headed up IPCPR for a decade. His previous experience includes a 20-year career with the Navy, serving as chief of staff of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and several executive roles within Governor Jeb Bush’s administration. “On behalf of the Board of Directors of the IPCPR, I want to extend a hearty welcome to Bill Spann who, we are confident, will help continue moving the association forward on behalf of its retail and manufacturing members,” said Gary Pesh, president of the IPCPR. “At the same time, we wish Joe Rowe a long and happy retirement.”

2) Now that StogieGuys.com has returned from covering the 2011 Trade Show, we’re looking forward to reviewing many new cigars over the coming months. We’re happy to prioritize the order of these reviews based on our readers’ interests. Though we face some constraints in terms of immediate availability, we’d love to hear from you about which cigars you’re most interested to read about. So feel free to leave a comment or shoot us an email.

3) Inside the Industry: This week Patrick S attended the IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas and got plenty of information about new releases. Check out his coverage from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and be on the lookout for a show wrap-up next week.

4) Deal of the Week: The exclusive My Father El Hijo is available for pre-order here. For a limited time, those who order a box get a free T-shirt.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: IPCPR

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) Back in 2008, Boston bureaucrats adopted sweeping extensions of the city’s smoking ban, ordering all cigar bars to close by 2018. Before that move, even supporters of the city’s ban, which was four years old at the time, were calling the proposed legislation too severe. “The new regulations go too far,” wrote the Boston Herald. But on Monday, a provision attached to the Massachusetts budget that would have saved Boston’s cigar bars was vetoed by Gov. Deval Patrick.

2) Next week, Patrick S will be in Las Vegas to cover the 78th annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers (IPCPR) Association Trade Show—the convention where cigar makers from around the world come to showcase their products and debut new creations. Check back often on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for live updates from the Trade Show floor as we get the skinny on new products. And feel free to leave a comment on this post if you have a question you’d like us to ask a cigar maker.

3) Inside the Industry: In its annual survey of American tobacco retailers, Cigar Insider found that this year’s best selling cigars brands are, in order, Padrón, Arturo Fuente, Rocky Patel, and Davidoff. The “hottest” brands (those most requested by consumers) are Padrón, Tatuaje, Arturo Fuente, and Rocky Patel. The survey also cites that over 67% of shops are reporting higher sales over the previous year, even though consumers remain price-sensitive.

4) Around the Blogs: This week’s “Around the Blogs” segment is dedicated solely to the 4th Annual Smoke a JJ for JJ Day, which is July 22nd (next Friday). Jerry Cruz, co-founder of Stogie Review, friend of this site, and all around good guy, started the tradition to remember his late son JJ who passed away due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Details here.

5) Deal of the Week: With platinum at over $1,700 per ounce and gold at over $1,600, this Platinum and Gold Sampler is the closest you’ll get to a bargain on the precious metals. Just $35 gets you five each of the Montecristo Platinum Vintage 1999 and CAO Gold (both in the robusto size). Grab your sampler while supplies last.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

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) A bill that would have expanded California’s statewide smoking ban to include cigar shops and private clubs, after passing in the Senate, this week died in the Assembly in Sacramento. “By all appearances, one of the worst smoking ban expansion proposals in the nation has been defeated,” read a press release from Cigar Rights of America (CRA). “This victory sends a message to not only California, but the country. However, it is California. The opposition will be back, and CRA will continue to diligently monitor the state legislature for any attempt to revisit this issue—and they will.”

2) The bill to prevent the FDA from regulating premium cigars continues to slowly gain support in Congress. It now has 30 cosponsors, and includes a bit of bipartisan support, with four Democrats on board. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to write your representative and ask him or her to become a cosponsor.

3) In June’s “Question of the Month,” we asked readers, “What is your biggest cigar pet peeve?” Smoking bans and/or tobacco taxes came in tops with 37% of the vote, followed by expensive cigars with poor construction (31%), a band that tears the wrapper (15%), inconsistency within a brand or blend (14%), and insufficient information on manufacturer websites (3%). Be sure to weigh in on this month’s question by voting in the sidebar to the right. And feel free to contact us if you’ve got a suggestion for a future month’s poll.

4) Inside the Industry: Undercrown, a new Drew Estate line that we first reported on over a year ago, is set to be released in five sizes at the trade show later this month. Also set for the show, Gran Habano will release “Zulu Zulu” (originally a private blend for George Rico) featuring an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper and Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. Meanwhile, General Cigar has announced that the name of its new CAO line will be “OSA Sol” (OSA stands for Olancho, San Agustin, where the blend’s wrapper is grown). (more…)

We’re pleased to announce a new contributor to StogieGuys.com: Mark Carlos McGinty, author of the award-winning novel The Cigar Maker. “Mark M” adds unique expertise to our site, focusing on the rich history of the cigar industry and examining the intricacies of the cigar industry today.

Regular readers will recall that Mark has contributed to the site a few times already. In May, he wrote an article on the complex legal issues that will arise when the Cuban embargo finally ends. More recently, he wrote about the history of the Cuesta-Rey brand and the two revolutionaries who started it in the 1890s. (Both articles are well worth reading, if you haven’t already seen them.) As Mark’s bio notes, cigars and Cuban culture run in his family:

Mark Carlos McGinty is a descendant of Cuban cigar makers and the award-winning author of The Cigar Maker. You can read an excerpt of his book here. His work has appeared in Maybourne Magazine, Cigar City Magazine, Yahoo! Entertainment, and La Gaceta. Mark grew up in Minnesota but spent a good part of his childhood with his Cuban relatives in West Tampa eating ropa vieja and Cuban sandwiches, drinking café con leche and fresh-squeezed orange juice from his grandfather’s tree. His great-aunt rolled cigars for Arturo Fuente so, of course, his favorite cigar is the Arturo Fuente Flor Fina 8-5-8.

Mark spent seven years writing The Cigar Maker, a time when he ate a lot of Cuban food and smoked way too many cigars. Most of those seven years were spent researching the history of Cuba, Tampa, and the cigar industry during the period of 1850–1910. A labor of love with dozens of family anecdotes woven into the story, The Cigar Maker was a finalist at the Indie Excellence Book Awards in 2011, won the Bronze Medal at the Independent Publisher Awards, and was a finalist for ForeWord Magazine’s 2010 Book of the Year. Visit the book’s official website to learn more: www.TheCigarMaker.net.

Mark’s first novel, Elvis and the Blue Moon Conspiracy (Beaver’s Pond Press, 2003), won an Eric Hoffer Book Award Honorable Mention for General Fiction. He graduated from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and obtained his master’s degree from Xavier University in Cincinnati. Mark lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughter and pays close attention to the Minnesota Twins, a subject that could one day warrant its own book.

Please welcome Mark to the site in the comments below. And as a bonus, we’ll select one commenter to win a signed copy of The Cigar Maker.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Stogie Guys