The Stogie Guys

With the IPCPR Las Vegas convention on the horizon, it’s natural to think about new cigar releases and company announcements (which Patrick S will be detailing tomorrow). I’m afraid, however, I can’t help but look to the future with a little trepidation.

In recent years, we’ve been blessed with many great cigars, the emergence of top-tier blenders, and some extraordinary limited edition smokes. But we’ve also begun to experience inconsistency, brand proliferation that seems to defy common sense, and lots of just plain duds.

It’s hard not to wonder if all the growth has, once again, pushed the need for the high-quality, well-aged tobacco that’s necessary for excellent cigars beyond availability. I know growers have expanded quite a bit in recent years, with Nicaragua probably the most notable example. And just think of the countries you often hear about now that were virtually non-starters in the production of cigar tobacco just a few years ago: Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Italy…

But growing tobacco isn’t the same as growing good tobacco. (I’ve had a couple of cigar makers tell me that it’s extremely easy to get tobacco these days, but competition for high-quality leaf is tougher than it’s ever been.) Then there are the requirements for aging and curing, processes that can’t be hurried without harming the outcome.

Consistency is also a critical factor for cigars. Smokers expect their sticks, with a few exceptions, to taste and perform more or less the same from box to box, year to year. It isn’t really like wine or high-end coffee, where the grapes and beans—and the results—are evaluated crop by crop. The demand for cigar repetition is more akin to liquor. In addition to a cigar’s taste, we expect to experience the same quality construction, draw, application of the cap, burn, etc., each time we light up.

When you consider all these factors—and look at the endless number of new cigars hitting the market—I think it’s hard not to feel some pessimism.

While it is possible, of course, to create an almost infinite number of blends, I don’t believe it’s possible to make so many consistently and to also make them good and distinctive as well. Consequently, I think we’ve all had the unpleasant experience of finding a new cigar that’s terrific, only to be roundly disappointed when you then bought a box. Or when you tried others by the same blender or manufacturer with poor results.

So, though I’m eager to learn about new cigars unveiled at IPCPR, I hope at least some of those in the industry will address the vital underlying issues of quality and consistency. That could give cigar smokers at least a little glance into what lies ahead.

–George E

photo credit: IPCPR

This may be a golden age for cigar smokers, but it’s likely to be a tough time for your local tobacconist. If there’s a common refrain I’ve heard lately from shop owners in my area, it’s this: “Guys who used to buy boxes are now buying five or six.”

Data seems to support the anecdotal evidence. Imports of premium sticks appear to be down this year from pretty impressive levels in 2007, according to the always authoritative CigarCyclopedia.com.

Selling cigars, even in the best of times, isn’t really a road to riches. Most of those who do—though there certainly are exceptions—are strongly motivated by a love of cigars and the cigar culture. But, as they say, love don’t pay the bills.

Perhaps buoyed by Tampa’s cigar history and a general vacation atmosphere, the area where I live is blessed with an abundance of cigar shops. There are probably a dozen or so legitimate cigar shops of various stripes and sizes within a 30-minute drive of my home. I can’t help but wonder how many I’ll still be able to visit a year or two from now.

If you’re fortunate enough to have high-quality shops nearby, don’t forget what your patronage means to them and how much they mean to you. No one should need reminding that with ever-increasing smoking restrictions, cigar shops are among our only remaining refuges.

As times get tough, we all look for ways to save money. There’s no doubt that you can do that by shopping on the Internet. And I’m not suggesting you give it up. For some of you, it’s the only access you have to get many of the boutique and harder-to-find sticks. Truth be told, many of the major online cigar retailers also maintain shops, so it’s sometimes difficult to even draw a distinction.

What I am suggesting is that you bear in mind how much local cigar shops mean and remember that in an unsteady economy they need your patronage more than ever. Don’t be guilty of Oscar Wilde’s complaint about those who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

–George E

photo credit: Flickr

Cigar Aficionado recently released a series of videos on their website about the process they use to review the dozens of cigars that are rated in every issue of the magazine. The problem is, under New York State law, every review is probably illegal.

You see, cigars are usually smoked in their New York offices. They say they make a point of always smoking their cigars in the same place to ensure that the environment isn’t affecting the ratings.

This is a problem because the New York State Clean Indoor Air Act (Public Health Law, Article 13-E) “prohibits smoking in virtually all workplaces.” Unlike an exemption-filled New York City law, the state law does include a few exemptions (including for “retail tobacco businesses” and “cigar bars”), but none that would seem to exempt a magazine’s office (unless the pages of CA are actually printed on paper made from tobacco, which would make the magazine a tobacco retailer).

So, unfortunately, the facts are clear: Technically Cigar Aficionado is likely violating the New York State law. But as you might guess, my purpose in making this observation isn’t to get the magazine in trouble, but to show just how absurd anti-smoking laws are.

The employees of Cigar Aficionado, many of whom are the ones doing the “illegal” smoking, clearly didn’t decide to work there to be in a smoke-free environment. In fact, the writers were chosen for their expertise in cigars, and Cigar Aficionado‘s employees all knew that they would be working in a smoke-filled environment. After all, the word “cigar” is right on the front door.

In other words, there is no victim if and when Cigar Aficionado violates New York State’s smoking ban. Except that having a ridiculous, victimless law on the books diminishes public respect for laws in general. There won’t be—and shouldn’t be—anyone beating down Cigar Aficionado‘s doors to demand that they stop smoking.

Here at StogieGuys.com, we regularly focus on smoking bans in bars, cigar lounges, and cigar parties, but workplace smoking bans are just as wrong. Surely most employers would, as they rightfully should be able to, ban smoking in the workplace.

And that fact goes to show just how unnecessary and unfair workplace smoking bans are. Instead of letting freedom of choice work by allowing most places to ban smoking voluntarily, one-size-fits-all smoking bans are now affecting places where no reasonable person would ever suggest that smoking should be banned.

Now let’s all light up a cigar in honor of violating unjust cigar bans everywhere!

–Patrick S

[Editor’s Note: The article has been updated to reflect the complicated nature of Byzantine anti-tobacco laws and to distinguish between the New York State and New York City smoking bans. Additionally, we have contacted Cigar Aficionado for comment.]

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Recently, I read two columns on smoking. The first, by Joseph Brown in the Tampa Tribune, explored and excoriated Tobacco Free Florida for its advertisement that claims 38,000 Americans die annually from secondhand smoke—1,000 more than the number killed in auto accidents.

The second, by Jane Brody in the New York Times, dealt with the difficulties of quitting cigarette smoking. And it was a statistic she presented that made me think about a vast difference in cigar and cigarette smokers. According to data she cited, 70 percent of cigarette smokers say they want to quit and many, many of those who try to stop fail rather quickly as a result of circumstances.

Think about that for a minute. Nearly three-quarters of those who smoke cigarettes want to stop. How many premium cigar smokers do you know who want to quit?

I’d guess the number is zero. When someone wants to quit smoking cigars they just stop. And they don’t start again unless they consciously decide they want to. (Oh, I’m sure there are people who smoke machine-made cigars and “little cigars” who inhale and are addicted to the nicotine. If you looked hard enough, you could probably find someone who inhales premiums and is hooked on the nicotine, too. But I’m talking about the other 99.9 percent of us.)

With so much anti-tobacco effort devoted to stopping under-age smoking so that young people won’t become addicted, it seems worthwhile to point out that cigars don’t present that problem. Cigar smokers light up because they want to, not because they need to.

–George E

photo credit: Flickr

Last week Baltimore city officials announced their intention to ban the sale of individual cigars. The ban exempts tobacconists and cigars that cost over two dollars each, so Rocky Patels, CAOs, Montecristos, and the like are exempt. No need to fear, right?

Wrong. The ban, which targets cheap machine-made smokes, may exempt the types of cigars we review here at StogieGuys.com (except on April Fools Day), but it still is an ominous power grab all cigar smokers should take note of.

Since all tobacco products are already illegal for anyone under the age of 18, the ban is simply an elitist attempt to target cheap cigars that are mostly smoked by young inner-city adults (who city officials seem to think are too stupid to be able to decide whether to smoke cigars). Or, as Jacob Grier observes, “In other words, upper class people can responsibly choose to smoke a cigar, but poor people need to have choices taken away from them.”

Like most prohibitions – last time I checked drugs were also illegal in Baltimore, but readily available – this ban is destined to fail. Enterprising individuals will be able to buy these cigars by the box and then illegally sell them on the street to anyone willing to buy them, including children. And any health benefits are likely to be undone when, instead of smoking cigars, people will turn to more addictive and unhealthy cigarettes.

For those of us who enjoy premium cigars, the worst part of the ban is the precedent that it would set. The City Health Commissioner ominously calls the ban “a small but important step forward.”

The bureaucrat’s quote begs the question: What exactly is this a small step forward towards? The answer can only be one thing: further bans on tobacco products.

Anti-tobacco activists know that a complete ban of cigars or cigarettes would face huge opposition. But a ban on products used primarily by most disenfranchised of citizens can slip through with little resistence. Consider what would happen if a major city, like Baltimore, announced its intention to ban all tobacco products. The news would be in headlines all around the country, and smokers would revolt and only support politicians who opposed the prohibition.

Instead, if the Baltimore ban becomes law, tobacco prohibitionists will have established that in the name of “public health” adults can have their choices limited. Who knows? Maybe next time all cigars or cigarettes will be on the chopping block.

If cigar enthusiasts want to continue to be able to choose to smoke cigars, they need to oppose all attempts to ban tobacco products. Today they come for cheap machine-made cigars, tomorrow it may be our beloved Rocky Patels, CAOs and Montecristos.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

With today’s celebration of Memorial Day to honor those who died in our nation’s service, I have a proposal: As cigar smokers, let’s extend the recognition of service to a week-long effort to provide cigars for the troops overseas, particularly those in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If you win cigars this week, donate them. If you’re planning to send a bomb to a friend or cigar board acquaintance, give the cigars to service men and women instead. If you receive a bomb, pass it along to the men and women in uniform who can’t go out and buy cigars but would truly enjoy the opportunity to smoke one. Stop by a local B&M to see what sort of operation it has for sending cigars to the troops (many shops do) and make a contribution. Check the programs several manufacturers have to give cigars to the troops when you make a purchase.

Choose whatever way you’d like to contribute. Just think how great it would be if everyone who reads this made just a small contribution and got a friend or two to do the same.

I first wrote about making cigar contributions back in November. Then, as now, I said such generosity has nothing to do with support or opposition for the war in Iraq or any governmental policy. It’s simply a good and decent thing to do for the cigar-loving men and women in uniform.

So, make this Memorial Day one to remember – for you and for our heroes overseas. Cigars, after all, are among the most requested items by the troops, and they have earned a well-deserved break.

–George E

photo credit: Flickr

[Editors’ Note: The following is a guest commentary from Chris Verhoeven, a Washington, DC-based friend of StogieGuys.com who successfully overcame a bout with tobacco beetles.]

With summer just around the corner, this is a good time to read up on how to keep your cigars safe. And of all the things that can happen to your cigars, perhaps nothing scares the average aficionado more than beetles. These little critters can make quick work out of some of your favorite – and God forbid – most expensive sticks. But fear not; there is hope. Your best defense against beetles is knowledge, so read up and soak it all in.

I was recently attacked by beetles, so I’ve done as much reading as possible in an effort to save myself future heartache. This commentary is intended to pass along lessons from my research with hopes that you can keep your goodies beetle-free.

Most people won’t notice they have a beetle problem until too late – when they see beetles running around or holes in a wrapper leaf. But the process starts long before, when cigars are exposed to temperatures of around 80 degrees or more for an extended period of time. You see, all cigars have the potential to have beetle eggs in them. It’s a sad fact of life that most are laid on tobacco leaves before they are harvested. High temperatures activate the eggs, which then go through the larva, pupa, and beetle stages. All this takes anywhere from 10 to 12 weeks, with the adult beetle stage only comprising the last 14 days or so.

Therefore, if you see beetles, they have been eating your cigars for a good eight weeks and you’ll probably experience some losses. The best way to identify a ruined stick is to hold it up and tap on it. If a fine, black sand-like substance falls out the foot, the cigar has fallen victim. This black sand is the excrement left by the various stages of the beetles eating your cigar. That said, however, please keep in mind that no black sand does not ensure the cigar is safe. There are a number of reasons the excrement would not fall, such as blockage or a delay in hatching.

It is worth noting that beetle excrement has the ability to make your sticks stink when smoked, as well as taste bitterer. I noticed no difference in taste when I smoked an infected stick, but heard a quick snap and crackle as I burnt through the larva inside.

Defeating the Enemy

In order to kill the various stages of the beetle, you need to freeze all of your cigars. Simply double bag (in Ziploc freezer bags) every stick and suck out as much air as you can, then follow this schedule: one day in the fridge, three days in the freezer, one day in the fridge again, and then one day at room temperature before putting them back in your humi.

This process slowly works your cigars up to being frozen to minimize potential damage by becoming so cold and dry while killing anything living inside them. Keep in mind, though, that there is no definitive answer on whether freezing kills inactivated eggs. Freezing, therefore, does not give you the ability to ignore your humidor’s temperature in the future.

For those of you with larger humidors where freezing several hundred sticks would be a daunting task, rest assured there is still hope. Beetles aren’t dumb. If there’s food around, they’ll generally stay put. That said, in my experience, I have no reason to believe that a tightly sealed cigar box in your humidor that has been infected could be breached. Ziploc bags are also a good defense against spreading, although beetles have been known to chew through cellophane.

So, with summer fast approaching, my advice is to keep a watchful eye on your smokes. Several days of shipping in the heat could very easily meet the criteria for activation. Be vigilant, know your enemy, have Ziploc bags handy, and good luck.

–Chris Verhoeven

photo credit: Stogie Guys