The Stogie Guys

On Saturday, legendary Hall of Fame basketball coach Red Auerbach passed away at 89. Auerbach coached the Boston Celtics to nine NBA Championships before leading them to another seven as an executive with the team:

Arnold “Red” Auerbach, 89, in failing health the last few years, died of a heart attack Saturday in Washington, D.C., which he made his home.

Auerbach was part of the NBA from its inception in 1946. He coached 11 Hall of Famers and set the standard for coaches and personnel directors with his keen eye for talent. He won a record-tying nine titles as coach, including eight in a row from 1958-59 through 1965-66.

“He was always intensely focused on the game, the game, the game and the respect people have to have for the game,” NBA Commissioner David Stern said.

Much to the chagrin of his opponents, Auerbach would always light a “victory cigar” after Celtics wins, sometimes even before the game ended when a Celtics victory was assured. Indeed, he has been described as the inventor of the victory cigar.

Whether or not that’s true, he certainly was the best known proponent of the celebration and a man who would have no use for the smoking bans of today. According to basketball commentator Dick Vitale, Auerbach was once asked what would happen if he tried to light up his trademark smoke in an NBA arena today. Auerbach responded, “Who would try and stop me?”

Describing Auerbach’s tastes in cigars, fellow Celtics coach and cigar smoker Rick Pitino said that Auerbach never had much use for expensive cigars: “He would always smoke the cheapest, foulest-smelling cigars you could buy. I swear, he’d never spend more than three bucks for one.”

For more on Auerbach’s accomplishments, see this timeline of his remarkable life. Also, you can read what fellow Celtics and other NBA legends had to say about his passing in this article.

–Patrick S

A survey to be released today finds that nearly half of Americans would support a complete federal prohibition on cigarettes. The poll, conducted by Zogby International and commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance, sampled 1,200 Americans.

According to the survey, 45 percent said “they would support federal legislation making cigarettes illegal in five to ten years.” According to Zogby’s website, such a sample size would generate a margin of error less than +/- 3 percent.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of DPA, issued the following statement about the survey’s shocking results:

The number of Americans who support criminalizing cigarette smokers is shocking. The question is not if cigarette smoking is dangerous and leads to premature death – as surely, it is and does. The question is how to best address cigarette smoking as a public health problem. Based on history and current policies, we know that prohibition often leads to devastating consequences.

The full Zogby poll will be available at www.DrugPolicy.org following an 11:30 AM teleconference.

Stogie Guys Analysis

Traditionally, anti-tobacco activists have “justified” restrictions on smoking on the basis of protecting third parties from “second hand smoke,” even if that means misleading the public and exaggerating such harms. In one recent instance, a Minnesota anti-smoking group laughably claimed in a press release that “Just 30 seconds of exposure can make coronary artery function of nonsmokers indistinguishable from smokers.”

Yet this study shows that anti-smoking zealots may be dangerously close to having the public support for their real, though rarely publicly-stated, goal of complete tobacco prohibition. This goal is evident when smoking bans don’t even have exemptions for cigar bars and retailers.

Also, cigar smokers should take little solace in the fact that the survey only specifically mentions “cigarettes.” Because of the massive lobbying power of cigarette companies compared to cigar companies, there should be little doubt that any federal legislation banning cigarettes that could actually pass Congress would also include cigars and pipes, just as local and state level bans have.

Hopefully this study serves as a wake up call for cigar smokers to stand up with cigarette smokers for individual choice and personal responsibility. If not, anti-smoking Nazis could force smoking into “tobacco speakeasies” and the criminal underworld, like alcohol during prohibition.

–Patrick S

Back in May, we reported that Florida-based Altadis U.S.A. – the country’s largest manufacturer of cigars – declared war on the counterfeit stogie trade and how a subsequent crackdown of law enforcement officials in Miami seized over $20 million in fake cigars, wrappers, and packaging. What we didn’t tell you (because we didn’t know) is that Altadis funded, at least in part, the investigation that led to the seizure.

The Miami Herald recently reported that Altadis “paid tens of thousands of dollars to fund part of an undercover Miami-Dade Police probe of five suspects charged with trafficking in counterfeit cigars.” According to court records, the company – which manufactures, among others, the Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, and H. Upmann brands – footed a $17,750 bill for undercover “buys,” hired an informant, and also paid for hauling and storage costs leading up to trial.

Because police departments traditionally fund their own investigations, this revelation calls into question the legitimacy of Altadis’ allegations against the alleged fake counterfeiters. But, given the nature of the case, it also challenges the legitimacy of the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.

In court papers, Altadis claims it holds the exclusive license for the U.S. trademarks for the famous Cuban cigar brands Montecristo, H. Upmann, Por Larranaga, Romeo y Julieta, Saint Luis Rey, and Trinidad. Altadis holds those rights because its parent company, based in Spain, bought them from Cuba’s exiled cigar-baron families decades after Castro’s revolution in 1959.

StogieGuys.com will be watching this case closely, and we’ll keep you updated on all major developments and their implications for the cigar world. Until then, it wouldn’t hurt to revisit our post on spotting a fake.

–Patrick A

It’s no secret that most major metropolitan areas in the U.S. have fallen victim to smoking bans over the past few years. New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago – just to name a few – all succumbed to the tyranny of the majority by prohibiting private business owners from offering smoke-friendly facilities to consenting adults.

Regular StogieGuys.com readers certainly know how we feel about these oppressive statutes.

Needless to say, watching anti-smoking zealots’ totalitarianism sweep the nation like the plague is enough to make a smoker/freedom-fighter enraged. But what really makes me sick is that same tyranny may soon surmount my hometown – beautiful Westmont, Illinois.

Although “The Progressive Village” has yet to take an official stance, last month city bureaucrats held a smoking ban hearing for local business owners and concerned citizens. Fellow western Chicago suburbs Hinsdale and Burr Ridge have already passed smoking bans, and Downers Grove and Woodridge are currently considering similar laws.

An article in Friday’s Westmont Progress highlighted one man’s personal vendetta against possible anti-smoking legislation. Bob Airdo, owner of Vincitori, recently installed a high tech air purification system in the Italian restaurant to “make the dining experience enjoyable for everyone.”

What a novel approach. Unlike unconstitutional blanket laws prohibiting adult behavior, Airdo’s strategy ensures smokers and nonsmokers alike will be able to enjoy the fine cuisine while taking in live jazz.

Air purification systems installed in the restaurant’s ceiling are designed to kill or capture unhealthy smoke. Unlike smoke-eater machines, which just capture visible smoke, Michael Holmes, technical director of Quality Filter Services Inc., said air purification systems trap tobacco smoke, and chemically alter cancer-causing gasses associated with it into harmless vapor.

I should make it clear that I’m not calling on the village to force private businesses to install air purification systems. That would be as damaging to Westmont’s resurgent economy as a smoking ban.

All I’m saying is that the free market works perfectly: Let business owners decide what amenities to offer, and customers can reward or punish them with their money. That way, we can leave senseless smoking bans for dumps like Hinsdale.

–Patrick A

The paternalistic busy-bodies who are pushing smoking bans can now claim two of their more unlikely victims:

James Bond
In an interview with Parade Magazine, Daniel Craig, the current 007 and star of Casino Royale, expressed his frustration with the movie’s producers for prohibiting Bond from smoking cigars in the film “in order not to send a bad message to young fans.” Noting the obvious hypocrisy, Craig quipped:

“But here’s the reality, I can blow off someone’s head at close range and splatter blood, but I can’t light a good Cuban.”

In the 2002 Bond flick, Die Another Day, 007 actor Pierce Brosnan smokes Cuban cigars in multiple scenes.

Previously, we’ve covered anti-smoking zealots’ successful efforts to censor the cigar out of Winston Churchill’s mouth and to remove smoking from Ben and Jerry cartoons.

The French
Meanwhile, France – unitil recently a relatively smoker-friendly country – is bracing for a paternalistic smoking ban. The AFP reports:

After five months of consultations with doctors, tobacconists and trade unions, the 30-member committee decided in favour of a blanket ban on public smoking from September 2007 at the latest — though it held open a possible delay till summer 2008 for some establishments.

Smokers could only indulge their habit in “hermetically-sealed areas, furnished with air extraction systems and subject to extremely rigorous health norms,” according to a report which was to be formally adopted later Tuesday.

The report also advised the government to resort to a decree to enact the ban, rather than a law — which it warned could prove cumbersome in the months leading up to April’s presidential election.

Moves to prohibit public smoking in France reflect the changing mood across Europe — where several countries led by Ireland have introduced similar measures — as well as the growing propsect [sic] of litigation by victims of passive smoking.

With France falling to the anti-smoking Nazis, it’s once again an opportune time to note the striking similarity between Hitler’s smoking policy and the policies advocated for by today’s health fascists.

–Patrick S

[After winning two free tickets to be the StogieGuys.com special correspondent to Saturday’s Cigar Artisans 2006 event, George Edmonson sent us the following report.]

TAMPA – Two and a half hours of cigar heaven.

People handing out cigars, waiters stopping with trays of beef Wellington and chicken empanada, bartenders ready to serve chilled wine and beer.

And smoking was not just permitted, it was encouraged. CAO’s Golds, for instance, were already clipped and then toasted as you picked one up. You got a card that entitled you to another stick when you returned with the butt.

Yes, the Thompson Cigar Co.’s Cigar Artisans 2006 event Saturday evening at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was one cigar-friendly party.

Whether they were newbies like Mario Drake, who took up cigars just a couple of months ago, or veterans like Al Remp, who’s been in the business longer than many of those present have been alive, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

“It’s like trick or treat,” someone remarked as our group worked its way to the Cusano table to exchange coupons for a Corojo and one of its best-sellers, the C-18.

As the lucky representative for The Stogie Guys – as shown by my new Stogie Guys cap – I’d call it pure treat. After all, how many other times am I going to get a chance to chat with cigar royalty like Rocky Patel and Felipe Gregorio, watch a Puros Indios roller at work, or just enjoy being in a room with hundreds of other happy cigar enthusiasts – and get free cigars?

(OK, so as a guest I wasn’t allowed to enter the drawing for a Harley-Davidson or the fancy poker table. You couldn’t smoke with all that wind in your face and I’m a lousy card player, anyway.)

One surprise was meeting Greg Hoffman, who works in public relations for Thompson and was key in developing the company’s Cigar Blog 101. It turns out that Hoffman and I both worked at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the 1990s before he returned to his hometown and got involved in the world of cigars.

I learned from several makers that those of us who worry about the dreaded cigar beetles could be worrying too much. While they all acknowledged it as a potential disaster – “the kiss of death,” said one – they also said all manufacturers take steps to prevent it.

Charlie Torano said fumigation is commonplace throughout the industry. “We also freeze cigars at minus 25 degrees,” he added, part of a process that lasts five days.

Several manufacturers also agreed that there can be value in smokers aging their cigars, but some of their comments sounded as if they believe that you can make too much of that, too.

“Definitely,” Gregorio said enthusiastically, when asked if his cigars are ready to smoke right out of the box. The benefits of aging, he explained, vary greatly among different cigars and often are not dramatic. He recommended aging boxes rather than mixing cigars.

Rex Snyder, the Ashton sales rep manning that booth, said the Fuente tobacco they use is well-aged already. But, he added, cigars can benefit from humidor time after purchase, which Snyder said he does.

Surrounded by smokers, it’s easy to feel like another boom is underway. Charlie Torano said he sees signs of it in increased competition among cigar makers for the best tobacco. Keeping the supply up with demand can be a problem.

But he doesn’t think it’ll end up like the previous boom, with lots of lousy cigars rushed to market. Most of the unworthy makers are out of the business, he said, “and I think we’ve learned our lesson.”

CAO’s Aylin Ozgener, who was kept in a nearly constant stream of conversation with smokers at the booth, said tobacco supply is a key factor when the company is deciding whether to proceed with a new blend. If the necessary tobaccos are available in limited quantities, they have to decide whether it’s worth putting out a limited edition.

That’s what happened with the new Vision. “We hesitated on that for a while,” Ozgener said. And when CAO decided to go ahead, she said, they let customers know that production will be limited.

Now, here’s a tip: Want to smoke like Rocky? Grab a 6 inches by 52 ring gauge stogie. That’s his preferred vitola for smoking, as well as for blending.

“It’s just the right size,” he said.

Who could argue with that?

–George Edmonson

Since they are illegal, reliable estimates demonstrate about 90 percent of Cuban cigars found in the United States are counterfeit. But the problem of fake Cuban cigars also extends to countries without embargos on products manufactured under the communist regime.

The latest mass seizure of Cuban counterfeits occurred in Paris, where customs agents seized over 35,000 fake Cubans valued at approximately $464,000. The shipment originated in Panama and was due for Hong Kong.

A Custom Service statement said the counterfeits were “difficult to detect” and were included with many authentic items. For more on detecting counterfeit cigars, read our guide to spotting fake Cubans.

Reports of counterfeit Cuban cigars are not new, but according to the Customs Service, the Paris seizure is part of a new trend in France. StogieGuys.com speculates, however, that it is more likely that the smuggling of counterfeits is not a new phenomenon in France, but rather that officials have only just become aware of the problem.

Since May 2006, French customs agents have intercepted four shipments of fake Cubans in France. Prior to May 2, no counterfeit cigars had ever been seized in the country.

(Compiled with Deutsche Press Reports.)

–Patrick S