The Stogie Guys

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations covering the cigar industry don’t take effect until August, but the impact on cigars is already apparent. The regulations, which have already prompted two lawsuits against the agency (a long-planned lawsuit by the CRA, IPCPR, and CAA was filed last week), threaten to stifle the introduction of new cigars, plus the continued sale of any cigar introduced after February 15, 2007.

With the annual IPCPR Trade Show set to start next week, cigar makers are already announcing new cigars at a record pace, with plenty more expected next week. The reason is clear, as cigars introduced after August 8 will have to wait for FDA pre-approval before being marketed or sold in the United States, while those on the market before that date can be sold for two years without needing pre-approval.

Exact details of the pre-approval process are still unknown, which only fuels the urgency of getting new products to market. Most industry sources hope cigars will be approved as “substantially equivalent” to a product on the market prior to the February 2007 date, but even that standard may be difficult and costly to establish.

According to the FDA’s final rule, the agency estimates it will take 300 hours for each Substantial Equivalence (SE) report, which works out to two months of time for one full-time employee. Industry sources believe the cost of each SE report would likely be even greater than the FDA’s estimate, possibly $100,000 or more.

Those estimates are per SE report, and the FDA requires pre-approval for every tobacco product. This would likely include every new cigar size and packaging combination. For example, if a cigar is sold in 10-count and 20-count boxes, each would need a separate approval. Presumably, so would samplers created by the manufacturer, and potentially even samplers created and sold by retailers.

Needless to say, those costs are prohibitive for small cigar brands for whom a large volume vitola may only sell tens of thousands of units in a year. By introducing lines now ahead of the August 8 deadline, those small manufacturers buy themselves 18 months before they have to decide whether to submit them to the FDA for approval.

By then, cigar makers will have a better picture of the costs and requirements of achieving FDA approval, so they can decide if seeking approval makes economic sense, or if they will be forced to withdraw cigars from the market by August 2018 (after which cigars introduced after February 2007 can no longer be sold unless they have begun seeking FDA approval).

Unfortunately, this means many of the new cigars being rushed out before the deadline are living on borrowed time. While the results of the lawsuits could change the FDA regulations, such lawsuits are always difficult to win. In the meantime, while there will be a lot of excitement over the next two weeks as numerous cigars are announced, the devastating effects of FDA regulation on the handmade cigar market are already showing.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Uncertainty. Apprehension. Determination.

These seem to sum up the feelings of some of the smaller players in the cigar world. Small players whose business will be greatly impacted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s new tobacco regulations. In statements both on and off the record, those who create and market boutique cigar expressed both anger and resolve to StogieGuys.com.

“You have to play the hand the best you can with what you have,” said Jeff Haugen, co-owner of Crux Cigars. “We’re going to have to adapt.”

While some were reluctant to openly discuss the potential impact or their plans, others were blunt.

“It’s a mess,” said Sandra Cobas, owner of the highly regarded cigar manufacturer El Titan de Bronze, located in Miami’s Little Havana since 1997. Cobas is confident she’ll be able to remain in business, but “it won’t be the same.”

Particularly troubling for her is the Feb. 15, 2007, grandfather date on which cigars had to be on the market to qualify for an exemption from regulation. While El Titan’s four lines should qualify, many of the smokes she produces for other brands will not. And that means her current level of eight to twelve employees will almost certainly shrink. “These are working people,” she said. “It’s very upsetting. Very upsetting.”

The economic impact will be widespread, she added, ticking off those impacted, from tobacco growers to box makers, cigar band lithographers to glue manufacturers.

“How about in Estelí? How about in the Dominican?” where cigar-making has boomed in recent years, she said. “They think they’ve got an immigration problem now? They don’t know what they’ll have.”

Mel Shah realizes his MBombay cigars will also face the full thrust of the regulations because they came to market only a couple years ago. Just what the FDA’s approval process will be, or how much it will cost, however, remains uncertain.

“Everything that we hear right now… it’s all speculation,” said Shah. “They’re going to charge this, they’re not going to charge this. The whole nine yards. There is nothing… in black and white as to how much it’s going to cost us. Once we have that, then it will be a more definitive strategy.”

Shah’s position as owner of both a cigar brand and a cigar shop (Fame Wine & Cigar Lounge in Palm Springs, California) provides a well-rounded perspective.

As a measure of what lies ahead, he noted that about 70 percent of the cigars on retailers’ shelves these days were introduced after 2007.

The FDA regulations, scheduled to go into effect this summer, offer a small window for cigars that aren’t grandfathered. Those on the market before Aug. 8 can remain on sale until Aug. 8, 2018, before having to apply for approval.

That’s led to conjecture that brand owners will rush cigars to market in order to take advantage. But Haugen, and others, said that’s not their plan.

“We’re certainly not going to knee-jerk any reactions of which way we’re going to move,” Haugen said, noting that all Crux lines are post-2007. “I’m not interested in just jamming a bunch of brands out there to get something going.”

One point of agreement was that, while it’s too soon to know the full impact, they will survive.

Most, in fact, echoed the sentiment of Ernesto Perez Carrillo in his response to the FDA: “We are here to stay.”

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

There is no getting around the fact that the final FDA rule released last week is a nightmare for premium handmade cigars.

Although premium cigars represent just 2.1% percent of all cigars smoked in the United States (according to the FDA, 300 million of the 14 billion total cigars sold), the vibrant creativity that has come to represent this small handmade portion of the cigar market will be hit with the overwhelming burden of complying with rules that require FDA approval for every cigar not on the market before February 15, 2007.

Within each brand, every size of that blend that was introduced after that date will have to apply for FDA approval, or be off the market, by August 2018. So literally thousands of blends would have to apply, something no one (including the FDA) expects to happen.

In its public statements regarding the rule and within the 499-page rule itself, the FDA repeatedly alludes to the need to regulate cigars to protect children. But a closer look shows the facts don’t support the claim. In fact, at least one of the statements the FDA told the public about this is demonstrably false.

FDA Misstates Current Law

In its press announcement of the new rule, the FDA made the following statement: “Before today, there was no federal law prohibiting retailers from selling e-cigarettes, hookah tobacco, or cigars to people under age 18.”

This claim struck me as odd, at least in respect to cigars, so I asked an FDA spokesman for clarification. Despite multiple emails back and forth, I never got a substantive answer to my question: Does the FDA know of anywhere in the U.S. where the sale of cigars to minors (under 18) was not already illegal?

At one point in the exchange, I was referred to the “CDC [Center for Disease Control] or a group like the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids,” which seemed strange given that the FDA had just designated itself the chief regulator of cigars.

Despite that, I asked both groups that the FDA referred me to. The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids confirmed that every state prohibits sales to minors (and that Alabama currently also prohibits sales to those age 19). The CDC spokesman made it even more clear that the FDA was wrong in its announcement that prior to these rules federal law did not prohibit sales of cigars to minors.

The CDC spokesman wrote the following back to me: “In response to your question about selling tobacco products to persons under the age of 18. The federal minimum age of sale for tobacco products is 18. States are free to make it higher, but not lower.”

In other words, the federal agency that the FDA referred me to directly contradicted the statement put out by the FDA. Of course, by then the FDA’s misstatement had already been repeated in numerous news accounts of the new regulation.

FDA Cites 29-Year-Old Adults as Evidence of Youth Usage

But the FDA’s deception on this issue doesn’t end there. Within the rules, especially in the justification for not exempting premium cigars, the FDA repeatedly conflates underage use of cigars with choices made by adults.

The final FDA rule repeatedly uses the phrase “youth and young adult(s),” 56 times to be exact, within the rule. So I asked the FDA how they defined young adults and “what would be the oldest a person could be and still be considered a ‘young adult’ by the FDA?”

I was told “young adults” and other references to age groups depended on the specific studies being cited. A look at those studies show that some used 25 while others used 29 as the upper limit for “young adults.”

So while the FDA is using the age-old justification that their rules are necessary “for the children,” the fact is they are citing studies about the choices made by 29-year-old adults, men and women who could have legally served in the U.S. military for over a decade, to do it.

New Rule Really About Restricting the Choices of Adults

At other times, the FDA drops the pretense of the regulations being about youth access all together. At one point in the rule (page 178), the FDA states that it agrees with the proposition that if premium cigars are exempt from the rule, “the current population of premium cigar users would be left unprotected, potentially decreasing the likelihood that they would quit.”

Further, in the FDA’s announcement, a quote from Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell specifically states that the aim of the rule goes far beyond children: “Today’s announcement is an important step in the fight for a tobacco-free generation.” So if anyone had any doubts that the FDA wants to totally eliminate tobacco, that statement by a cabinet-level appointee should erase them.

The irony is, even if the new rules were actually designed just to restrict use by minors, the grandfather date set by the legislation that empowered the FDA to regulate cigars means that, barring a sweeping act from Congress, there will always be pre-2007, non-FDA regulated tobacco products out there for lawbreaking minors to find ways to illegally acquire. Better enforcement of laws already on the books might fix that, but the regulations announced last week won’t.

Meanwhile, thousands of premium handmade cigars will be wiped off the market in just over two years, serving no purpose except to restrict the choices available to the adults who choose to enjoy them.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the final rule regulating cigars. We will have more coverage in tomorrow’s Friday Sampler and in the coming weeks but, for now, here are some key points about the impact of the 499-page rule on handmade cigars.

The FDA Rejected Pleas for an Exemption for Premium Cigars

In its initial proposed rule, the FDA offered two options for regulating cigars: option one (which covers all cigars), and option two (which exempts handmade cigars over $10). In its final rule, the FDA rejected option two, meaning a $12 handmade premium cigar will be treated exactly the same under the rule as “little cigars” that are manufactured on the same machines that produce cigarettes.

Date for Grandfathered Products Remains Unchanged

While the so-called Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTC)—the bill giving the FDA the power to regulate cigars—didn’t pass until June 2009, the legislation sets February 15, 2007 as the cutoff date for tobacco products to be grandfathered in as exempt from needing FDA approval before being sold or marketed in the United States. There were hopes that the FDA would modify that date, but they did not. As a result, products introduced past that date will be subjected to the FDA approval process. Cigars currently on the market will be treated differently from those introduced after the regulation officially takes effect.

Regulations Take Effect August 8

While the text of the rule was released today, it will not be officially published to the Federal Register until May 10, at which point a 60-day clock will start until the regulation officially goes into effect. Cigars introduced after August 8 will have to get FDA pre-approval before being marketed or distributed. Non-grandfathered (post-February 15, 2007) cigars on the market before August 8 can be sold until August 8, 2018, after which they must apply for FDA approval to remain on the market. Notably, the 2016 IPCPR Trade Show is set to take place in Las Vegas at the end of July, meaning it will effectively be the last chance cigar makers have to introduce new cigars before the August 8 date for pre-approval is required.

FDA Approval Process Still Murky

The need for FDA approval of new cigars is the biggest reason why industry experts predict the rule will devastate the handmade cigar industry, including 30,000 Americans who work in the industry and over 300,000 employees abroad. While subjecting all cigars to a pre-approval process where they must prove the new product is “substantially equivalent” to a grandfathered or approved product, the exact standards the FDA will use to make this determination, or exactly what scientific data would need to be included with the application, is far from clear. The FDA also doesn’t seem to address if it has the capacity to deal with new applications in a timely manner.

Rule Enacts Sample Ban, Mandated Warning Labels

Starting on August 8, distribution of samples will be prohibited, meaning cigar shop events where attendees get to try a new product free of charge will be prohibited. Full implementation of warning labels on cigars has also been mandated, with warnings “to appear on at least 30 percent of the two principal display panels of the package, and at least 20 percent of the area of advertisements.”

FDA Intends to Ban Flavored Cigars Next

In the finalized rule, the FDA states the following regarding demands by anti-tobacco lobbyists that it include a ban on flavored tobacco products: “To address concerns with the growing flavored cigar market and its impact on youth and young adult initiation with tobacco products, FDA is announcing here that it intends to issue in the future a proposed product standard that would prohibit characterizing flavors in all cigars, including cigarillos and little cigars.” To date the exact definition of a flavored cigar is unknown, and depending on the definition such a ban could include many premium handmade cigars not commonly identified as flavored.

Legal Challenges Are Inevitable

Barring an Act of Congress, only a federal court case can stop enforcement of this rule. Legal actions to executive orders generally come in the form of either a facial challenge to the rule, or an as applied challenge. A facial challenge could ask for an injunction to stop implementation of part of the rule or the entire rule, although the standard for getting one is very high. An “as applied” legal challenge would allege that the FDA violated either a federal law or the Constitution in how it applied the regulations to a specific party. With such a major expected impact, multiple federal lawsuits are likely.

The entire text of the 499-page rule can be found here.

–Patrick S

photo credits: Stogie Guys

If you read StogieGuys.com regularly, you’re aware of the danger the seemingly imminent FDA regulation of cigars poses. While we’re proud to have covered this issue in more depth and longer than any other media outlet, the FDA is hardly the only threat cigars face.

Taxes and smoking bans are two other prominent attacks on cigar rights, but even adding those doesn’t encompass the full scale of the multi-front attack on cigar freedom. To that end, here are three under-the-radar attacks on the freedom to smoke cigars.

Limitations on Shipping Cigars

Last year, FedEx announced they would no longer be allowing cigars to be shipped as of the beginning of 2016.  The company cited the “complex regulatory environment” as part of the reason for its decision to cease shipments. Although consumers are unlikely to notice the change since FedEx had been used mostly by manufacturers and distributors to ship cigars to retailers, the change is part of a larger trend that is cutting off legal business from using the necessary tools of commerce.

The same “regulatory environment” that led FedEx to stop shipments is likely to spread with UPS being the next likely target. FedEx faced a massive lawsuit from the state of New York for shipping untaxed cigarettes into the state, even though the company has no way of knowing the contents of the millions of packages it transports every day. UPS is currently facing a similar lawsuit. We’ve heard UPS has attempted to refuse to open accounts with new cigar businesses. While so far these are isolated incidents, if the shipment of cigars were left solely to the hands of the United States Postal Service, it would drive up the cost of business, not to mention leave legal cigar shipments entirely in the hands of a federal bureaucracy influenced more by the whims of politics than the motivation to satisfy customer’s needs.

Restricting Cigar Business Access to Banking and Credit Services

Starting in 2013, the Department of Justice began an initiative called Operation Choke Point with the goal of cutting off financial services to “high-risk businesses” for fraud. But critics have said Choke Point has been used to target many legal businesses deemed undesirable by the current administration, which includes tobacco retailers.

Multiple cigar retailers have already been dropped by their credit card processors or banks, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR). And a Department of Justice list, since taken down from its website, lists “tobacco sales” as one of the targeted businesses. Running a business without access to reputable banking and credit card services is impossible in today’s environment. Already, cigar retailers have had longstanding relationships severed, the effect of which is a hidden tax that drives up the cost of transactions involving completely legal cigar purchases.

Crackdown on Cigar Groups on Social Media

On Monday, multiple cigar groups on Facebook were shut down. The move was the result of sweeping action by Facebook that shuttered numerous private groups involving cigars, beer, whiskey, and other alcohol. Facebook is a private company and can allow or ban whatever it wants. But it isn’t a stretch to suspect something more is behind the move, especially considering there are any number of ugly and hateful things posted by users on the social media giant’s platform.

In many of those cigar and booze groups, sales and trades were taking place. Facebook’s terms of service note that activity involving tobacco and alcohol must be age-restricted and specific users are responsible for following all applicable laws. Even though surely many transactions were initiated in these groups that weren’t in full compliance with the law, the response wasn’t to ban specific users but to eliminate entire groups with thousands of users. Federal law generally protects internet companies from being held responsible for the postings of its users (otherwise Facebook, Twitter, or even any blog with a large number of comments could be sued out of existence). But likely either in anticipation of, or in direct response to, threats that it would be held responsible by authorities for any such activities, Facebook simply eliminated targeted groups.

–Patrick S

photo credit: YouTube.com

In a major realignment of its cigars, Davidoff is discontinuing 19 vitolas, including two complete lines, across what it calls its “Core Pillar.”

The cuts are likely to be followed by the announcement of new Davidoff releases.

The lines being eliminated are Puro d’Oro, an eight-vitola offering, and the three-vitola Maduro line that dates to 2008.

Also on the chopping block are No. 1 and No. 3 from the Davidoff Classic Series; Grand Cru No. 1 and No. 4; the No. 1 and No. 2 Aniversarios; and the Lonsdale and Lancero Millenium Blend vitolas.

Overall, the Core Pillar will consist of four lines offered in 20 formats after the cuts are completed. Factory production of the discontinued cigars will shut down at mid-year, though Davidoff retailers will continue to sell on-hand stock at regular prices.

Davidoff said there will be no changes to any of its blends.

The information came via email from the office of Orianne Labrick, Davidoff’s Global Brand Manager in Switzerland.

According to Davidoff, choosing the cigars to eliminate was a careful process. For example, while two Aniversarios were eliminated, the highly popular Aniversario No. 3 was retained.

Among the cigars being dropped were some that “felt a bit outdated,” with the changes providing “new opportunities to launch product innovations,” according to Davidoff.

Davidoff hinted that those innovations might include large ring-gauge smokes, as the company noted it plans to introduce “more modern cigar formats that were missing” from its existing portfolio. (The cuts involving Puro d’Oro and Aniversario were first reported by Halfwheel.)

This move comes amid a flurry of recent activity by Davidoff. The company unveiled a third retail shop in Manhattan, followed by its largest store, which opened earlier this year in Tampa. Other U.S. shops are planned.

Davidoff also recently added new vitolas to Nicaragua, and last year introduced Escurio, both of which it calls “Discovery” lines. The “Iconic” Winston Churchill line was revamped earlier, as was Davidoff’s Avo brand.

No changes are planned for the Discovery or Iconic lines.

Puro d’Oro was introduced to great fanfare in 2010. The Dominican puro, with its Yamasá wrapper developed by master blender Henke Kelner, was heavily advertised. The line also featured the fattest Davidoff, called Gordito (3.75 x 58), which was released about three years ago.

Some of the cigars being cut have been highly rated at StogieGuys.com. The Grand Cru No. 4, for example, was a five-stogie smoke two years ago.

–George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys

A couple weeks ago, on February 13, I asked Skip Martin of RoMa Craft Tobac to join me for lunch. We both happened to be in Austin for the weekend (I live in Chicago, he makes his home in Estelí, Nicaragua), and we both happen to enjoy over-eating BBQ.

Our get together—which ended up being almost a whole day—afforded me the opportunity to visit RoMa Craft Tobac’s new headquarters, as well as gather some interesting information about what many consider to be one of the world’s premier boutique tobacco outfits. So today I figured I’d share some highlights from our visit, as well as a few photos.

First off, anyone who follows Skip Martin on social media knows he loves to take pictures of his food almost as much as he loves eating. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to snap a pic of him taking a picture of our mountain of meat at Stiles Switch, a top-notch BBQ joint he recommended. If you have the opportunity, make sure to stop by. I’d especially recommend the beef rib and the jalapeño sausage.

After consuming mass quantities of meat, we took a 20-minute drive north to stop by an office park just off US-183. There, Skip and his business partner Mike Rosales are in the process of transforming a former industrial facility into RoMa Craft Tobac’s headquarters. This destination is expected to be more than just a location to receive shipments from Fabrica de Tabacos Nica Sueño and fulfill orders. The duo is also outfitting the 4,000-square-foot space with a craft beer bar and other cigar-friendly amenities so they can welcome interested tobacconists (by appointment), display their cigar lineup, and entertain.

Nica Sueño, the Estelí factory managed by Martin, is currently manufacturing 1.2 million cigars per year. Most of these cigars are sold to RoMa Craft, which is a separate company. These cigars will arrive in Austin already aged, boxed, and packaged, where they will be housed in a humidified storage room until they are shipped across the country.

Work at the headquarters is still underway, yet it’s certainly a welcoming space to enjoy a cigar or two right now—especially if Martin shares a little of his extensive craft beer collection (I think he said he had over 2,000 bottles on site). We had cigars at this conference table while sampling a few fine beers.

Speaking of beer, Skip assured me no visit to Austin would be complete without a stop at Jester King, a brewery about 40 minutes southwest of RoMa Craft. This place was well worth the drive for several reasons. First, the picturesque grounds struck me as more vineyard than brewery (think Texas hill country), with ample outdoor space to enjoy a cigar while taking in the view. Second, Jester King’s lineup of “wild ales” and “spontaneously fermented beers” is a joy to taste and learn about. And third, Jester King exchanges its rare beers with many other craft breweries, enabling visitors to purchase hard-to-find beers not only from Jester King’s stock, but from breweries all over the world.

While the RoMa Craft headquarters in Austin is not intended for retail or walk-ins, Skip says you should have the chance to check it out at one of the twice-yearly BBQ events he plans to throw starting this summer. These CroMagnon Culture gatherings—which will feature cigars, BBQ, and craft beer—will be ideal for those who want to learn about cigars without making the trip all the way to Nicaragua.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys