Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Happy Birthday To Me
Okay; so every year I have bought myself a birthday present. Last few years it has been a box of REALLY good cigars. Last year I bought a box of Partagas Lonsdales from 1998 and a bundle of AVO 22's . Well this year I hemmed and hawed trying to decide what to get myself, well I finally ordered this past Monday a box of AVO Tesero LE 2008 and a box of AVO 787 Perfectos... Happy Birthday to me.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Rocky Patel Speaks Out On The Cigar Tax
Friday, July 20, 2007
Cigar Aficionados Want Tax Plan To Go Up In Smoke
cbs4.com - Cigar Aficionados Want Tax Plan To Go Up In Smoke: "Men, and women, who love a good cigar may go into stogie sticker shock if Congress has its way.
A measure making its way through the halls of Congress would not only raise the tax on cigarettes and cigars, it would raise the tax on some cigars through the roof.
Cigarettes, which account 95 percent of tobacco tax collections, are the main focus of the bill. Federal taxes on a pack would jump from 39-cents to $1.
As for cigars, currently the federal government levies a flat tax of 5-cents per cigar. If the proposed legislation passes, it would increase the tax up to $10 per cigar, depending on the price of the cigar. In some cases that would be an increase of up to 20 thousand percent.
Under measure being considered, a cigar would be taxed at 53-percent of its wholesale price. For example, if a cigar costs $5 now, under the new tax plan the price would increase by more than half - to just over $7.50. A cigar that costs $20 would be taxed $10 under the new plan.
The impact of cigar dealers, large and small, would be enormous.
'I have a thousand open boxes of cigars,' said Jorge Valdes of Sabor Havana Cigars in Doral. 'Put 20-thousand percent on top of each cigar and you tell me what that number is.'"
A measure making its way through the halls of Congress would not only raise the tax on cigarettes and cigars, it would raise the tax on some cigars through the roof.
Cigarettes, which account 95 percent of tobacco tax collections, are the main focus of the bill. Federal taxes on a pack would jump from 39-cents to $1.
As for cigars, currently the federal government levies a flat tax of 5-cents per cigar. If the proposed legislation passes, it would increase the tax up to $10 per cigar, depending on the price of the cigar. In some cases that would be an increase of up to 20 thousand percent.
Under measure being considered, a cigar would be taxed at 53-percent of its wholesale price. For example, if a cigar costs $5 now, under the new tax plan the price would increase by more than half - to just over $7.50. A cigar that costs $20 would be taxed $10 under the new plan.
The impact of cigar dealers, large and small, would be enormous.
'I have a thousand open boxes of cigars,' said Jorge Valdes of Sabor Havana Cigars in Doral. 'Put 20-thousand percent on top of each cigar and you tell me what that number is.'"
Labels: cigars, National Politics, News, tabacco
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
WTF- Cigarmakers in a panic
This is a MAJOR WTF: the government is really getting out of hand. I am wondering what is next. tax this tax that.
Business: Cigarmakers in a panic: "Eric Newman punches the numbers on his calculator and gapes at the results one more time.
It's no mathematical error: The federal government has proposed raising taxes on premium cigars, the kind Newman's family has been rolling for decades in Ybor City, by as much as 20,000 percent.
As part of an increase in tobacco taxes designed to pay for children's health insurance, the nickel-per-cigar tax that has ruled the industry could rise to as much as $10 per cigar.
'I'm not sure in the history of man, since our forefathers founded the country in 1776, that there's ever been a tax increase of 20,000 percent,' said Newman, who runs the Tampa business founded by grandfather Julius Caesar Newman. 'They had the Boston Tea Party for less than this.'"
More info at Cigar Afcionado
Business: Cigarmakers in a panic: "Eric Newman punches the numbers on his calculator and gapes at the results one more time.
It's no mathematical error: The federal government has proposed raising taxes on premium cigars, the kind Newman's family has been rolling for decades in Ybor City, by as much as 20,000 percent.
As part of an increase in tobacco taxes designed to pay for children's health insurance, the nickel-per-cigar tax that has ruled the industry could rise to as much as $10 per cigar.
'I'm not sure in the history of man, since our forefathers founded the country in 1776, that there's ever been a tax increase of 20,000 percent,' said Newman, who runs the Tampa business founded by grandfather Julius Caesar Newman. 'They had the Boston Tea Party for less than this.'"
More info at Cigar Afcionado
Labels: cigars, National Politics, News, tabacco, WTF
Monday, July 02, 2007
END OF THE DISCOUNTER?
CigarCyclopedia.com - Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedias of Cigars: "END OF THE DISCOUNTER?
Supreme Court reverses precedent on retail price fixing!
Los Angeles, July 2 – If you think the Supreme Court isn’t important, guess again.
In a decision which did not get as much play as those on school integration and campaign funding, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products vs. PSKS, Inc. dba Kay’s Kloset now makes it potentially legal for manufacturers – including cigar manufacturers – to set minimum retail prices for their products.
Announced on Thursday, June 28, the decision – by a 5-4 vote – overturned a 1911 decision in Dr. Miles Medical Co. vs. John D. Park & Sons Co., (220 U.S. 373) in which the Court held that it is illegal “for a manufacturer to agree with its distributor to set the minimum price the distributor can charge for the manufacturer’s goods.”
Instead of this immutable rule, Justice Kennedy prefers the “rule of reason” and wrote that:
• “Minimum resale price maintenance can stimulate interbrand competition – the competition between manufacturers selling different brands of the same type of product – by reducing intrabrand competition – the competition among retailers selling the same brand.”
• "A single manufacturer’s use of vertical price restraints tends to eliminate intrabrand price competition; this in turn encourages retailers to invest in tangible or intangible services or promotional efforts that aid the manufacturer’s position as against rival manufacturers. Resale price maintenance also has the potential to give consumers more options so that they can choose among low-price, low-service brands; high-price, high-service brands; and brands that fall inbetween.”
• “Absent vertical price restraints, the retail services that enhance interbrand competition might be underprovided. This is because discounting retailers can free ride on retailers who furnish services and then capture some of the increased demand those services generate.”
• “With price competition decreased, the manufacturer’s retailers compete among themselves over services.”
Supreme Court reverses precedent on retail price fixing!
Los Angeles, July 2 – If you think the Supreme Court isn’t important, guess again.
In a decision which did not get as much play as those on school integration and campaign funding, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision in Leegin Creative Leather Products vs. PSKS, Inc. dba Kay’s Kloset now makes it potentially legal for manufacturers – including cigar manufacturers – to set minimum retail prices for their products.
Announced on Thursday, June 28, the decision – by a 5-4 vote – overturned a 1911 decision in Dr. Miles Medical Co. vs. John D. Park & Sons Co., (220 U.S. 373) in which the Court held that it is illegal “for a manufacturer to agree with its distributor to set the minimum price the distributor can charge for the manufacturer’s goods.”
Instead of this immutable rule, Justice Kennedy prefers the “rule of reason” and wrote that:
• “Minimum resale price maintenance can stimulate interbrand competition – the competition between manufacturers selling different brands of the same type of product – by reducing intrabrand competition – the competition among retailers selling the same brand.”
• "A single manufacturer’s use of vertical price restraints tends to eliminate intrabrand price competition; this in turn encourages retailers to invest in tangible or intangible services or promotional efforts that aid the manufacturer’s position as against rival manufacturers. Resale price maintenance also has the potential to give consumers more options so that they can choose among low-price, low-service brands; high-price, high-service brands; and brands that fall inbetween.”
• “Absent vertical price restraints, the retail services that enhance interbrand competition might be underprovided. This is because discounting retailers can free ride on retailers who furnish services and then capture some of the increased demand those services generate.”
• “With price competition decreased, the manufacturer’s retailers compete among themselves over services.”
Labels: cigars, National Politics, News, tabacco
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Arturo Fuentes: Head of the Family
Arturo Fuentes: Head of the Family: "In our culture, hearing someone say “head of the family” often makes people think of Vito Corleone: images of Marlon Brando fill our head, our voices deepen and our stomachs pang with an unflinching desire to eat a cannoli… or twelve. “Head of the family“ reminds so many of us of The Godfather. This is, of course, unless we are cigar fans. Then, “head of the family” garners up a whole different image. Sorry Vito… er, Mr. Corleone, but, when it comes to tobacco, there is another family heads above you.
For lovers of the leaf, the title of “head of the family” belongs to Arturo Fuente; they are arguably the most famous cigar family in the entire world. If every tobacco grower in the world were kin, Arturo Fuente would be their patriarch.
To truly get to know the Arturo Fuente family, we must travel back to 1800 Cuba, to a time when tobacco growers were not only cultivating tobacco, but they were also cultivating a new way of life."
For lovers of the leaf, the title of “head of the family” belongs to Arturo Fuente; they are arguably the most famous cigar family in the entire world. If every tobacco grower in the world were kin, Arturo Fuente would be their patriarch.
To truly get to know the Arturo Fuente family, we must travel back to 1800 Cuba, to a time when tobacco growers were not only cultivating tobacco, but they were also cultivating a new way of life."
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
AVO’S LOUNGING EVERYWHERE!
CigarCyclopedia.com - Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedias of Cigars: "Los Angeles, June 6 – Avo Uvezian is everywhere, or at least it seems like it.
Having just passed his 81st birthday, Uvezian is getting ready to open his second “Avo Lounge” in the United States, this time at Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga, Tennessee on June 24.
A part of the massive Chattanooga Billiard Club and Conference Center, Burns opened in 1998 but now offers an inventory of more than 1,000 different cigars and some 100,000 cigars in total. In typical Avo fashion, the opening of the Avo Lounge will be marked with cigars, food, spirits and entertainment from Uvezian and his jazz trio.
The first Avo Lounge in the U.S. resides inside the Corona Cigar Company store in Lake Mary in central Florida, opened in 2005."
Thursday, April 05, 2007
WHAT IS HABANOS WORTH?
CigarCyclopedia.com - Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedias of Cigars: "Los Angeles, April 5 – With the continuing question of whether Altadis, S.A. will be sold, to who and for how much roiling the European financial markets, one of the central questions is “How much is the cigar business worth?”
And inside that query is the hard-to-figure query: “What is Habanos worth?”
The Times of London explored the question, starting with Javier Terres, the development director of Corporacion Habanos. “If the U.S. market opened tomorrow, it would triple the size of our global market. But right now we cannot sell a single cigar there.”
The Times story, written by Robin Pagnamenta, noted that the U.S. cigar market – largest in the world – is estimated at $1.8 billion and up to 220 million premium cigars annually. But there are issues, starting with the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.
“There are many legal questions over the rights to market Cuban brands in the United States,” wrote Pagnamenta. “Already, many premium cigars are sold in America under the same brand names but made with Dominican, Honduran or Nicaraguan tobacco because other companies, such as Swedish Match, own the U.S. rights to them.
“At the same time, there are still Cuban exiles living in the U.S. who claim ownership o"
And inside that query is the hard-to-figure query: “What is Habanos worth?”
The Times of London explored the question, starting with Javier Terres, the development director of Corporacion Habanos. “If the U.S. market opened tomorrow, it would triple the size of our global market. But right now we cannot sell a single cigar there.”
The Times story, written by Robin Pagnamenta, noted that the U.S. cigar market – largest in the world – is estimated at $1.8 billion and up to 220 million premium cigars annually. But there are issues, starting with the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba.
“There are many legal questions over the rights to market Cuban brands in the United States,” wrote Pagnamenta. “Already, many premium cigars are sold in America under the same brand names but made with Dominican, Honduran or Nicaraguan tobacco because other companies, such as Swedish Match, own the U.S. rights to them.
“At the same time, there are still Cuban exiles living in the U.S. who claim ownership o"
Friday, March 30, 2007
Counterfeiter convicted in Ft. Lauderdale:
CigarCyclopedia.com - Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedias of Cigars: "Counterfeiter convicted in Ft. Lauderdale:
Altadis U.S.A.’s continuing campaign against the sale of counterfeit cigars received a boost with the arrest of Allen Boyd, manager of the Carolina Cigar Company in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on February 7.
This week, Boyd entered a no contest plea to a third-degree felony charge resulting from the sale of counterfeit goods.
%%pagebreak%% The case was especially important to Altadis U.S.A., also headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale and another message to the trade about counterfeiting. The company, which has its own investigators developing leads for law enforcement, has run hard not only after street counterfeiters, but also retailers who sell such cigars, even if they also carry authentic Altadis U.S.A. products.
“In today’s competitive world, protecting brand names and trade designs is critical,” said Altadis U.S.A. Chief Executive Officer Theo Folz in a statement, “particularly those that have established a loyal following like Montecristo and our other famous brands.”"
Altadis U.S.A.’s continuing campaign against the sale of counterfeit cigars received a boost with the arrest of Allen Boyd, manager of the Carolina Cigar Company in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on February 7.
This week, Boyd entered a no contest plea to a third-degree felony charge resulting from the sale of counterfeit goods.
%%pagebreak%% The case was especially important to Altadis U.S.A., also headquartered in Ft. Lauderdale and another message to the trade about counterfeiting. The company, which has its own investigators developing leads for law enforcement, has run hard not only after street counterfeiters, but also retailers who sell such cigars, even if they also carry authentic Altadis U.S.A. products.
“In today’s competitive world, protecting brand names and trade designs is critical,” said Altadis U.S.A. Chief Executive Officer Theo Folz in a statement, “particularly those that have established a loyal following like Montecristo and our other famous brands.”"
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Cigars Versus Cigarettes: A Tobacco Showdown @ Blogcritics.org
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2007/03/25/074554.php: "When it comes to tobacco, smokers — sans the snowman and the Sherlock Holmes’ of the world — typically choose cigarettes or cigars. This results in a tobacco war between the two choices: in a scene straight out of West Side Story, one group claims cigarettes are better and one group counters, declaring the cigar’s superiority. Ashes fly, cigars cry on one another’s shoulders, cigarettes filter out, and items get burned.
To the cigar lover, the items that get burned are cigarettes. Cigar lovers believe their cigars are just better. True cigar lovers typically look at cigarettes with a sense of disdain. To them, a lover of tobacco who smokes a cigarette is like a lover of fine food eating things made in an Easy Bake Oven. Some cigarette lovers may disagree, believing that cigarettes are the best choice of smoke, but other cigarette lovers may simply be intimidated by cigars - scared of a Henry Clay or a La Aurora, they find comfort in a Benson and, of course, a Hedges.
It’s hard to blame these people. Cigars can appear scary, like a stick of tobacco lurking in a bedroom closet, waiting for night to fall. Yet, like so many things, the fear of cigars is unwarranted. People can crush cigars in an ashtray, on a sidewalk, or on a garbage can. For this reason, cigars should be more afraid of people than people are of them.
Once cigars are welcomed into the hearts of tobacco lovers, they will usually find they are not intimidating and are just the opposite. Besides providing luxury, cigars offer a handful of other satisfying avenues, avenues that cigarettes get lost going down. It is because of this that we will now list the top five reasons cigars are better than cigarettes. "
To the cigar lover, the items that get burned are cigarettes. Cigar lovers believe their cigars are just better. True cigar lovers typically look at cigarettes with a sense of disdain. To them, a lover of tobacco who smokes a cigarette is like a lover of fine food eating things made in an Easy Bake Oven. Some cigarette lovers may disagree, believing that cigarettes are the best choice of smoke, but other cigarette lovers may simply be intimidated by cigars - scared of a Henry Clay or a La Aurora, they find comfort in a Benson and, of course, a Hedges.
It’s hard to blame these people. Cigars can appear scary, like a stick of tobacco lurking in a bedroom closet, waiting for night to fall. Yet, like so many things, the fear of cigars is unwarranted. People can crush cigars in an ashtray, on a sidewalk, or on a garbage can. For this reason, cigars should be more afraid of people than people are of them.
Once cigars are welcomed into the hearts of tobacco lovers, they will usually find they are not intimidating and are just the opposite. Besides providing luxury, cigars offer a handful of other satisfying avenues, avenues that cigarettes get lost going down. It is because of this that we will now list the top five reasons cigars are better than cigarettes. "
Saturday, March 24, 2007
U.S. oil companies miss out on Cuban oil rush - March 19, 2007
U.S. oil companies miss out on Cuban oil rush - March 19, 2007: "(Fortune Magazine) -- Sometime later this year, less than 70 miles from Florida, a consortium of Spanish, Indian and Norwegian companies will likely start drilling for oil. It could mark the beginning of a Cuban oil rush - one that American oil companies won't be able to join, despite their proximity to the action.
And that has some U.S. oil industry executives and lobbyists seething, especially since the American Association of Petroleum Geologists calls the offshore Cuban oil deposits a 'significant find.'"
U.S. oil companies can't play in these waters, of course, barred as they are by sanctions prohibiting them from doing business with Cuba. But irked at the irony of sanctions designed to isolate Fidel Castro that isolate them instead, some in the oil industry are seeking to exempt U.S. oil compPublishanies from the 45-year-old embargo.
And that has some U.S. oil industry executives and lobbyists seething, especially since the American Association of Petroleum Geologists calls the offshore Cuban oil deposits a 'significant find.'"
U.S. oil companies can't play in these waters, of course, barred as they are by sanctions prohibiting them from doing business with Cuba. But irked at the irony of sanctions designed to isolate Fidel Castro that isolate them instead, some in the oil industry are seeking to exempt U.S. oil compPublishanies from the 45-year-old embargo.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Boehner's Favorite Smoke-Filled Room - The Sleuth
Boehner's Favorite Smoke-Filled Room - The Sleuth: "His own party's club won't let him light up, so House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has been sneaking over to the National Democratic Club to smoke. Ironic, and a tad scandalous -- considering Boehner sits on the board of the Capitol Hill Club, where Republican members of Congress do their boozing and schmoozing.
But the Capitol Hill Club, unlike the Democratic Club, never got an exemption to get around the District's new smoking ban. And Boehner and other members are no longer allowed to smoke in the House Speaker's Lobby, thanks to Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) new rules. So what else is a Republican to do when he's jonesing for a smoke?"
But the Capitol Hill Club, unlike the Democratic Club, never got an exemption to get around the District's new smoking ban. And Boehner and other members are no longer allowed to smoke in the House Speaker's Lobby, thanks to Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) new rules. So what else is a Republican to do when he's jonesing for a smoke?"
Labels: cigars, National Politics, tabacco
“IT’S ALMOST BECOMING A BETTER MARKET THAN DRUGS”
“IT’S ALMOST BECOMING A BETTER MARKET THAN DRUGS”
CigarCyclopedia.com - Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedias of Cigars: "Los Angeles, March 12 – U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and his fellow travelers who introduced the bill to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to control tobacco might want to consider the real impact of what they are doing.
Because if they think they will somehow be able – through legislation – to eliminate smoking in the U.S., they might want to talk to prison officials in California.
An explosive story from The Associated Press, reported last month, noted that in the aftermath of California’s total ban on tobacco in prisons in July 2005, packs of cigarettes are still available . . . at about $125 a pack!"
CigarCyclopedia.com - Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedias of Cigars: "Los Angeles, March 12 – U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and his fellow travelers who introduced the bill to allow the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to control tobacco might want to consider the real impact of what they are doing.
Because if they think they will somehow be able – through legislation – to eliminate smoking in the U.S., they might want to talk to prison officials in California.
An explosive story from The Associated Press, reported last month, noted that in the aftermath of California’s total ban on tobacco in prisons in July 2005, packs of cigarettes are still available . . . at about $125 a pack!"
