The Stogie Guys

On Saturday, Bill Spann’s tenure as chief executive officer of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) came to an end. Spann resigned his post with the Columbus, Georgia-based organization to spend more time with his family and take a job in his hometown of Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Spann’s two years at the helm of IPCPR witnessed a reversal in a decade-long decline in membership, as well as the two most successful trade shows in the association’s 82-year history. “We are grateful for Bill’s efforts on behalf of the premium cigar and pipe industry,” said IPCPR Board President Finnie Helmuth. “His dedication to the industry, successful trade shows, and new legislative staff in Washington all speak to his stewardship of IPCPR. We wish him and his family a bright future.”

Spann elaborated on his decision: “My staff and many of our members know that I have been apart from my family each week since I took this position in July 2011. We fully intended to move to Columbus, but unfortunately the town’s size did not afford my spouse the career opportunities she required. I have great respect for our dedicated Board of Directors, our Associate Member Advisory Board, and our loyal and dedicated retail members and staff, but after more than two years of nearly constant family separation, the time is right to move on.”

When Spann was hired as CEO, he replaced Joe Rowe, who headed up IPCPR for a decade. Spann’s previous experience included 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.

The IPCPR, perhaps best known for its annual trade show where cigar makers showcase their products for retailers and the media, is a nonprofit organization that represents the interests of tobacco retailers and their suppliers. It was founded in 1933.

–Patrick A

photo credit: IPCPR

A couple months after making history by sending the first cigars into space, Alec Bradley is once again making headlines. This time, though, the Florida-based company is drawing attention not for a unique publicity stunt, but for a crime.

Cigar Aficionado reported yesterday that burglars recently stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Alec Bradley’s humidified storage facility in Hollywood, Florida. The story of how they broke in and made off without getting caught sounds like the plot of a heist movie.

The burglars cut a hole through the roof of the building using a high-powered saw, said Alan Rubin, owner of Alec Bradley, and gained access to the humidified warehouse. Using forklifts, they moved cases of cigars out to a stolen truck and made away with the merchandise, worth approximately $300,000 at wholesale, or nearly $600,000 at the retail level.

The break-in occurred early on the morning of September 7, a Saturday. Rubin initially kept the incident quiet during the search for the criminals, who remain at large. “We didn’t want to say anything because of the investigation,” Rubin told Cigar Aficionado. He changed his mind, he said, when he heard of people in the northeast United States being approached with offers of buying Alec Bradley cigars at a steep discount.

StogieGuys.com has elected to help spread the news about this robbery because the criminals are still at large, and Rubin is calling on cigar consumers for help. If you are offered Alec Bradley cigars at a steep discount, or if you see Alec Bradley cigars for sale in bundles that are always sold in boxes (i.e., Prensado), please report it to the authorities. Stolen cigars included Prensado, Nica Puro, Black Market, and Alec Bradley Connecticut.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Alec Bradley

For the first time, Tesa cigars can now be purchased at a location other than Tesa’s shop in Chicago. Starting on Friday, Riverside Cigar Shop in Jeffersonville, Indiana, began carrying Tesa’s “ultra-boutique” cigars, and the tobacconist kicked off its new relationship with an event featuring Chris Kelly, owner of Tesa Cigars.

“I have had the pleasure of knowing Jeff Mouttet [owner of Riverside Cigar Shop] for several years now, and since he has heard about my cigars and factory, Jeff has been vocal and proactive about spreading the word, “ said Kelly in a press release. “Jeff has created a great environment for cigar smokers with a top-shelf selection of cigars, and I am proud to be able to have Riverside as our first authorized dealer.”

I recently exchanged text messages with Kelly about this development, inquiring if an even larger distribution of Tesa is in the works. He did not rule out the possibility of more tobacconists carrying Tesa in the future.

Since I discovered them several years ago, Tesa’s various blends have been among my favorite cigars on the market, and also some of the highest-rated cigars at StogieGuys.com. Riverside will be carrying several of (what I consider to be) Tesa’s best smokes, including Vintage Especial, 312, and Picadura King. All are made at Tesa’s small factory in Estelí. Until now, these smokes could only be procured via a personal visit to Tesa’s shop, or by placing an online order at Tesa’s website.

Self-described as “an Irish kid from the South Side of Chicago,” Chris Kelly is a young, atypical cigar maker who may be one of the most talented blenders in the industry. For a while now I’ve been saying Tesa is a company to watch given its tremendous quality of complex blends, consistency, and growth potential. Riverside Cigar Shop carrying Tesa is one small step towards realizing that potential.

–Patrick A

photo credit: Tesa

Christian Eiroa’s Fabricas Unidas has announced this month that it is starting a program to buy back used boxes from retailers. The program is part of the company’s initiative to reduce it’s environmental impact. The following special announcement (addressed to retailers) was published in a recent IPCPR email newsletter:

Beginning August 2013, we will start to buy back our reusable cigar boxes from our retailers. This is consistent with our BAYER Better Manufacturing Practices and Better Growing Practices initiatives to lower our impact on the environment. Our farms are already under these guidelines and the Aladino Factory is currently going through the certification process. This process assures you and your customers that all cigars have been made with tobacco that had zero impact on the environment and that the cigars have all been made under the same strict hygiene standards of food companies like Hershey’s and Heinz. Our next step is to focus on the cigar boxes.

As you can imagine, cigar boxes are one of the biggest offenders to our forests and, although we use woods that are friendlier and from controlled forests, the impact is undeniable. We are asking for your assistance to reduce our impact by 50%. Therefore, we are asking that you sell your boxes back to us for $1.00 per box. We also ask that you not ship us back any less than 20 reusable boxes each time. Reusable boxes can be defined as any box that is whole and it may just need to be repainted. In order to return the boxes, please contact your sales representative and they will get a call tag for you from our office. Once the boxes are received and inspected immediately, the box credit will be applied to your account.

Thank you very much for your cooperation and help us make our industry friendlier and less scrutinized.

Sincerely,

Christian Eiroa

The move is notable for a few reasons. First, it’s a visible action to recycle in an industry where recycling, to the extent it takes place, isn’t visible to consumers. (Unless you count mixed-filler cigars which “recycle” the cuttings from long-filler cigar making.)

Second, I’m interested to see the reaction that Fabricas Unidas gets from retailers who’s help they will need to make this happen, especially considering one dollar per box (credit towards their wholesale account) isn’t a ton considering the work necessary. Still, it has the potential to bring down the price of boxes (which can add quite a bit). The savings can then be passed on to both retailers and ultimately consumers.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Emerson’s Cigars

The non-partisan Tax Foundation has produced an interesting graphic showing what percentage of each states’ revenues comes from tobacco taxes. The data indicates higher tax rates don’t correlate to higher revenues for a particular state.

New Hampshire, with one of the lower tobacco tax rates, leads the country with 4.37% of state revenues being collected from tobacco taxes. New Hampshire has lower taxes than any of its regional neighbors: Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

Meanwhile, none of the top 10 states for cigarette taxes (New York, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Washington, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Arizona) are in the top 16 states when it comes to percentage of revenues produced by tobacco taxes.

Not surprisingly for those who follow these things, New Hampshire, with it’s low tax rates, has the lowest rate of cigarette smuggling in the country. New York, with the highest tax in the country, has the most cigarette smuggling.

Cigarettes are more of a pure commodity than cigars, but it’s worth noting higher taxes don’t necessarily mean higher revenues; they do mean more smuggling. These are important facts to raise if your state or locality is proposing to raise tobacco taxes (and cigarette tax rates are highly correlated to cigar tax rates).

The data also begs the question: If higher tobacco taxes don’t actually raise more revenues for the state, why raise tax rates? One possible answer is that politicians are trying to use taxes to control the actions of their citizens and make it unaffordable for adults to choose to smoke (though the data also suggests they are driving citizens to buy smuggled tobacco).

More fundamentally, the fact that tobacco taxes make up such a major part of so many state budgets should (but probably won’t) give anti-tobacco activists pause. After all, is it really wise for the state to be so dependent on tobacco taxes?

–Patrick S

photo credit: Tax Foundation

The battle for a space in a cigar shop’s humidor may be more competitive than most people realize. At a certain point, it’s simply impossible to add another blend or an additional size without removing another.

That battle for humidor space is what the annual cigar convention is all about. Cigar makers trying to convince retailers to add more of their products. Retailers trying to decide what will sell best.

Breaking out beyond the humidor is difficult for makers of premium cigars. Proper humidor care is a skill, and it’s not uncommon to see a humidor at a gas station full of dried-out cigars.

To address this, premium cigar makers have begun rolling out new, self-contained, humidified, single cigars. This is a growing trend that culminated at the recent International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show. If it’s successful, expect to see more.

General Cigar, Altadis, and Drew Estate have all rolled out sealed, single-cigar packs. And while most of the sort of cigar smokers who read this site will likely continue purchasing their cigars from cigar specialists, this is all about expanding the locations where premium cigars are sold. The packs claim to keep proper humidity for up to three years.

The idea is this: There are plenty of outlets (gas stations, convenience stores, etc.) where the occasional cigar smoker might pick up a cigar, but won’t because they don’t know if the cigar has been properly humidified. With a completely sealed and humidified bag, that person might pick up a few cigars for the golf course or his friend’s barbeque that he otherwise wouldn’t. Easy access and confidence in the cigar’s care could turn the once- or twice-a-year cigar smoker into someone who lights up more regularly.

Additionally, it can be a point of sale item for cigar shops. Humidor space is valuable and limited, but this way stores can carry additional cigars without having to remove any thing else from the humidor. Further, the cigar maker has a highly visible product that can serve as an advertisement for the entire brand.

General Cigar has rolled these out for their Macanudo, Punch, Partagas and Excalibur lines. Altadis has introduced Romeo y Julieta 1875, H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon, and Saint Luis Rey in “fresh-loc” sealed packaging (usually in a box). Drew Estate has its Acid infused line in “G-Fresh” packs, and discussed putting Undercrown in similar single-serve packs, but has decided against that for now.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Cigar World

Today we’re live at the 2013 International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Trade Show in Las Vegas. Expect many updates in the coming days and weeks, but while we’re here walking the floor and attending the event, the best way to keep up with all the news is following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. (We’ve included the Facebook and Twitter feeds below.)

Check back often for up-to-the-minute updates, photos, videos, and new information as we cover the IPCPR convention just like we have for over half a decade. If you have questions you want asked, in addition to leaving a comment on this post, you might also try reaching us on Twitter and Facebook.

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