The Stogie Guys

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 541st in the series.

1) This week, two U.S. cities took major steps towards curtailing outdoor smoking. In Buffalo, New York, city officials on Tuesday voted to ban smoking in city parks. “Under the measure, traditional tobacco products and electronic cigarettes will be prohibited. Officials are expected to make designated areas for smoking in some parks,” reports the Associated Press. “The proposed law now heads to Mayor Byron Brown for approval.” Meanwhile, in Indianapolis, officials are considering expanding the city’s smoking ban—originally passed in 2005 and to cover bars, restaurants, shopping malls, and sports arenas—to criminalize smoking in parks. The penalty for lighting up would be $200. If these measures pass, Buffalo and Indianapolis would join a growing list of U.S. cities with an outdoor ban in public parks (the largest include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego).

2) Gov. Chris Christie has signed a bill raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco in New Jersey to 21. “The Garden State will become the third in the nation to limit tobacco sales to individuals 21 and up when the law takes effect November 1, at which point vendors caught selling cigarettes, tobacco products, and electronic smoking devices to customers will risk facing fines of up to $1,000,” reports The Washington Times. “California and Hawaii are the only two other states to prohibit tobacco product sales to individuals under 21.”

3) In Maine, the state legislature also approved a law raising the minimum age for purchasing tobacco from 18 to 21, but Governor Paul LePage vetoed the bill. “I’m not going to strap a gun to their shoulder and go fight a war if they can’t go buy cigarettes,” LePage said, explaining his veto. “I’ll tell you, this is just sinful, it is absolutely sinful, and I believe that at 18 they are mature enough to make a decision and I’m tired of living in a society where we social engineer our lives.” The bill passed the legislature in both houses with over two-thirds support, enough to override the veto.

4) From the Archives: In the dead of summer you may be looking for a cool, refreshing beverage. Nothing fits the bill quite like the tropical spirit that is rum. In this 2009 article, we offer up five suggestions for rum-based cocktails. Enjoy.

5) Deal of the Week: StogieGuys.com recommends Bespoke Post, a monthly collection of awesome items (think fine bar accessories, shaving kits, wine, workout gear, coffee kits, and more) delivered to your door for just $45. Currently available is “Toast,” a package that includes four cigars by H. Upmann and Romeo y Julieta, along with a cigar carrying pouch and a small desktop humidor. You can skip or purchase every month. Sign up in the next four days to receive the August shipment.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Flickr

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 525th in the series.

1) Support is growing for a smoking ban in Kentucky, one of the nation’s largest tobacco-producing states. More than seven in ten people support a statewide ban, according to recent phone survey of adults. As reported by the Philadelphia Tribune: “Across the country, 27 states plus the District of Columbia have passed workplace smoking bans, with many more local governments also adopting bans. In Kentucky, 25 local governments have some kind of smoking ban, covering nearly 33 percent of the state’s more than 4.3 million residents…” Kentucky is notable in that “more people smoke… per capita than anywhere else in the country.” These statistics probably say more about cigarettes than premium cigars, but they nonetheless weigh heavily in public policy considerations that could impact cigars.

2) This week, Cigar Aficionado’s annual charity cigar dinner, Night to Remember, raised $1.6 million for prostate cancer awareness and research. The event took place at The Pool, a New York City restaurant where smoking is not permitted; however, a post-dinner smoking tent was made available outside on Park Avenue. Guests included Ray Lewis (formerly of the NFL), John Salley (formerly of the NBA), financier Michael Milken, Rudy Giuliani, and Rush Limbaugh. Marvin Shanken—publisher and founder of M. Shanken Communications, which owns Cigar Aficionado—said, “I haven’t added it all up exactly, but over the years, we’ve raised $20 million to $30 million for prostate cancer,” with most of these charitable donations coming from the cigar, wine, spirits, and financial industries.

3) Want to smoke one of Sir Winston Churchill’s cigars? You can, but it will cost you. Also, he smoked half of it already. In May 1947, Sir Winston left half a victory cigar behind at a Paris airport, and now, via an auction, it can be yours. But be prepared to drop £2,500 (at least), according to one report.

4) Inside the Industry: Tabacalera El Artista released details about a limited edition Big Papi by David Ortiz humidor. Each is adorned with David Ortiz’s autograph and filled with Big Papi by David Ortiz cigars, part of the remaining original production run from 2013. The limited edition piece carries a retail price of $2,500. The cigars feature an Ecuadorian Habano claro wrapper, Criollo binder, and Dominican and Nicaraguan filler in a toro vitola.

5) From the Archives: With spring heralding lovely weather, there’s no better time to enjoy a cigar in the park. You’ll find more about enjoying these urban oases here.

6) Deal of the Week: Fans of Mi Querida will want to jump on this deal. Use this link and, with the purchase of a box, you land a free five-pack of the Mi Quirida Short Gordo Grande. Add promo code “GBP20D” to knock $20 off the total for an even better deal.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: Wikipedia

As we have since July 2006, each Friday we’ll post our sampling of cigar news and other items of interest from the week. Below is our latest, which is the 523rd in the series.

1) According to Caesar’s Entertainment officials, Harrah’s Casino & Hotel in downtown New Orleans—once a favorite hangout among IPCPR Trade Show attendees when the convention is held in The Big Easy—lost approximately $70 million in revenue in the two years following the city’s smoking ban, which took effect April 2015. As reported by the Times-Picayune: “Caesar’s Entertainment president and CEO Mark Frissora said… the ban makes it difficult to compete with venues in the surrounding area, because it only affects Orleans Parish. ‘It’s not fair because everyone else around us doesn’t have the smoking ban,’ Frissora argued. Caesar’s Entertainment president for the south region of the U.S., Dan Real, said the company’s first quarter in 2015 was its best in that property’s history, just before they were ‘hit’ by the ban.” The officials were reporting to the Riverboat Economic Development and Gaming Task Force on Tuesday. “The Northwest Louisiana and New Orleans locations have collectively contributed $2.3 billion to the state in gaming tax revenues. Those two locations also have contributed $52.3 million in other state and local tax fees and $344.5 million in salaries and wages between 2013 and 2016, according to the presentation given by the Caesar’s representatives.”

2) Davidoff has teamed up with six international chefs to create a new cigar line called Limited Chefs Edition, which will be available in April. “The Davidoff Chefs Edition is the equivalent to a culinary masterpiece,” reads a Davidoff press release. “Just like the perfect meal, it begins gently with complex layers of subtle flavors and builds up to a sublime and unforgettable crescendo.” The cigar will be presented in a Toro format with a Habano 2000 wrapper and an Ecuadorian Connecticut binder. The filler is a combination of San Vicente Mejorado Seco, San Vicente Mejorado Visus, Piloto Visus, and San Vicente Visus. Only 3,000 boxes will be made.

3) Medio Siglo—the first new Cohiba since the Siglo VI was introduced in 2002—is now widely available (though the cigar was actually introduced at last year’s Habanos Festival in Cuba). The cigar measures 4 inches long with a ring gauge of 52. Cigar Aficionado reports “it’s probably the most expensive regular-production petit robusto you’re going to find” since Medio Siglo is expected to retail for $14 in Cuba and about $33 in London.

4) Inside the Industry: Also new from Davidoff is a cigar exclusive to Famous Smoke Shop to celebrate the company’s 75th year in the business. The Davidoff Famous 75th Anniversary Cigar is one of several special editions made for Famous to commemorate this milestone. (Romeo y Julieta and Padrón have already announced, and others in the works). The toro (6 x 50) comes in boxes of 10, with cigars retailing for $22 each. Only 500 boxes were made. The blend includes filler from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua surrounded by a Mexican San Andrés Negro binder and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper.

5) From the Archives: What is meant by Cigar Texture? It’s not flavor, but you’ll notice it on your palate. Find out here.

6) Deal of the Week: Today only, here are 100 deals that include free shipping. Notable picks include the Drew Estate Sampler, Oliva Serie V, Mi Querida, HR Habano 2000, and Tatuaje Tatoo. Plus, at checkout, add promo code “APPRECIATE20” and you’ll save $20 off orders of $100 or more.

–The Stogie Guys

photo credit: New Orleans Online

The cigar smokers of Nebraska are coming together with national cigar organizations to fix the cigar bar issue in Nebraska. A new bill is moving forward that should address the state law that led a court to eliminate the exemption for cigar bars.

The Nebraska Supreme Court found the exemptions violated the state’s prohibition on special legislation, or laws that are not equally applied in pursuit of the law’s stated goal. The court found that since the law’s goal was to protect employees from secondhand smoke, there was no reason why it shouldn’t also “protect” cigar bar employees.

Now common sense says cigar bar employees are fully aware that they would be working around cigar smoke, plus their job won’t exist very long if a cigar bar can’t let patrons smoke. So it certainly will be a good thing when the Nebraska legislature amends their law so their intention to exempt cigar bars will survive any legal challenges.

Still, I can’t help but feeling that there are lessons to be learned from this episode.

While the result—banning smoking in cigar bars—may have seemed odd, the court wasn’t totally wrong when it said if the only goal of the ban was to protect employees from second hand smoke, then there is no reason for any exemptions. In fact, there’s a level of consistency to a blunt, across-the-board ban.

Once you’ve conceded the premise that government should be protecting workers from making their own decision about whether to work in a place that allows smoke, there isn’t a logical reason for that paternalism to stop when it comes to places whose business model is catering to cigar smokers. If restaurants and bars are included, why not cigar lounges? Why not cigar shops?

It’s important to make a principled stand against smoking bans. After all, they strip adults from making the choice to be around tobacco, which is after all a 100% legal product. If the owner of a furniture store wants to allow smoking, and consumers and workers choose to be there, that should be their right. If that sounds like a dumb idea to you, well that’s what the free market is for: to allow businesses to succeed or fail based on their ability to attract customers.

None of which is to say that exemptions for cigar shops, cigar bars, and other places aren’t important; those exemptions limit the damage done by smoking bans, which can destroy businesses and jobs. But when a smoking ban passes with certain exemptions, remember it isn’t a victory for cigar rights—just slightly less of a defeat.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Over the past year, the looming regulation of cigars by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has been front and center as the most pressing threat to cigar rights. And rightfully so. FDA regulation would likely drive up prices, stifle innovation and new blends, eliminate or limit promotions and advertisements for cigars, and mandate health risk warning labels.

But smoking bans still constitute a significant infringement on our freedom to enjoy a premium handmade cigar. And anti-tobacco zealots are always pushing for new bans while lobbying to make existing bans stricter. Recently, two stories caught my attention, one because the size of the state, the other because of the egregiousness of the proposal.

Texas Smoking Ban Back on the Table

With the issue gaining momentum for the new legislative session, some expect Texas, the second-largest state by population, to be the 29th U.S. state to pass a ban. A proposal has been introduced that would ban “at all indoor and outdoor workplaces, including restaurants and bars, with exemptions for outdoor restaurant or bar patios set aside for smokers,” according to NACS. “Also exempt would be tobacco bars opened prior to 2013.”

This isn’t the first time politicians and special interest groups have tried to pass a smoking ban in Texas. But advocates of the regulation seem confident this push will be successful, and they are no doubt relishing the possibility of a smoking ban in a large southern state that has traditionally been hesitant to the idea of government control of business.

Virginia County Considering Outdoor Ban

While Virginia has been under a statewide indoor ban since 2009 that criminalizes smoking in restaurants, bars, and other workplaces, officials in Fairfax County—an affluent suburb of Washington—are eyeing tougher restrictions. Gerry Hyland, a Democrat on the county’s Board of Supervisors, wants to ban smoking on all outdoor public property, including parks.

No stranger to anti-tobacco measures, Hyland, according to the Washington Examiner, “had been pushing similar legislation since November that would have banned smoking by current county employees and permitted the county to consider job applicants’ use of tobacco products when hiring them.” That proposal was shot down for being a bit too radical.

Once thought ridiculous, outdoor smoking bans are becoming more prominent, the foremost example being New York City’s criminalization of smoking in parks. And one has to wonder if the idea of prohibiting tobacco use among employees will catch on with public (and maybe also private) employers.

–Patrick A

photo credit: N/A

Yesterday, voters in North Dakota and Missouri decided on ballot questions that will impact cigar rights in those states. While Missouri voters rejected the anti-tobacco “Prop B,” voters in North Dakota approved Measure 4.

North Dakota’s Measure 4, a statewide smoking ban to criminalize indoor smoking in virtually all “public” places including cigar shops, overwhelmingly passed 66% to 34%. The law calls for violators of the restrictive ban to be fined $50, and for a bar proprietor who allowed smoking in spite of the ban to have his or her liquor and tobacco sales licenses revoked. Arguments made by cigar smokers and the hospitality industry that the blanket smoking ban would infringe on property rights, harm small businesses, and unfairly restrict personal choices to smoke were not enough to overcome intense lobbying by anti-tobacco groups.

Prop. B in Missouri would have increased the state tax on cigars by 15% if passed, but the move appears to have failed by a slim margin. The latest numbers show “no” with 50.8% and “yes” with 40.2%, with a 42,000 vote difference out of nearly 2.7 million votes cast.

Any revenue from the tax increase was to be earmarked in equal proportions for education and smoking cessation programs, but critics point out that politicians regularly and easily raid such funds, so there was no guarantee of any net funding increase in the designated areas. Further, some people cautioned that raising the tobacco tax would just drive cigarette sales to neighboring states, and presumably would drive cigar sales to online retailers.

It’s not clear if the margin of defeat for Proposition B is enough to avoid a lengthy recount process. In early June voters in California narrowly rejected a 73% tobacco tax increase but, due to an extended recount and certification process, the result wasn’t finalized until a little over a month ago.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

Back in 2003 when New York City passed a smoking ban in all bars and restaurants, critics said it was only the beginning of the new expanded nanny state powers. Despite such pleas while the law was being debated and enacted, few non-smokers joined the battle against the smoking ban, leaving the battle to tobacco-using adults, bar owners worried about their businesses, property rights advocates, and retailers and manufacturers in the tobacco business.

Now, nine years later, a look at the many laws in New York shows that smoking was just the beginning. In the time since then, a ban on selling food cooked with trans fats has gone into effect, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has also gone after sugar-rich sodas. Bloomberg has pushed for reduced salt in prepared foods and the city council even proposed a complete ban on restaurants cooking with salt. And now the New York Post reports Bloomberg has his nanny-state sites set on alcohol.

In other words, smokers were just the beginning of the paternalistic crusade that now impacts everyone who eats food cooked with salt or trans fats, smokes in bars, drinks soda, or wants a glass of wine or a beer. If Mayor Bloomberg gets his way, good luck getting a rum and coke, or a margarita with salt, let alone a fine cigar to enjoy with them.

It’s an important lesson to remember the next time a non-smoker says that, although they don’t think the government should stop a bar owner from allowing smoking on their property, they still won’t oppose the smoking ban because they don’t like the smell of smoke on their clothes after a night out.

When they tell you that (as I’ve been told many times), remind them that smoking bans are not the end, but just the beginning. Remind them that once you start encouraging government to restrict people’s choices in the name of “public health” it will inevitably be used to restrict their choices. New York’s smoking ban was once an anomaly, but since it’s become the model for countless smoking bans elsewhere.

Fat, salt, sugar, tobacco, alcohol…they are all targets of the nanny state, and sooner or later everyone will be affected. Just ask the citizens of New York City.

–Patrick S

photo credit: Flickr