Tobacco News

Let’s call tobacco smokers for what they are: addicts [“Let afficionados enjoy their stogies,” Opinion, Aug. 16].

This addiction has real consequences with more than 443,000 Americans (more than 18 percent of all deaths) who die each year due to smoking. Between 33 and 50 percent of all smokers will die an average of 15 years sooner than nonsmokers. Smoking also steals 10 years of physical functioning in old age, and causes more death and disability than any single disease. Ream more »

The menu at Dirty Ash’s Cigar Bar on 17th Street North features fine cigars, top shelf liquor and even hookah water pipes with flavored tobacco.

“There’s a lot of skepticism in the beginning, but when they do come in and try it, the experience, they like it, so you know they do come back,” said bartender LaRay Byrd.

The grand opening of the cigar bar coincided with a countywide push to crack down on smoking, but the owners say it hasn’t hurt business so far.
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Cigars International plans to open a smoke-friendly restaurant in the old Main Street Depot by the start of Musikfest on Friday.

Plans call for The Wooden Match, a 21-and-over restaurant with a large selection of bottled and draught craft beers. The initial menu calls for twists on pub fare like loaded french fries and reuben sandwiches with an eventual menu expansion. Ream more »

Cigar hobbyist’s, enthusiast’s, aficionado’s and admirer’s have an event coming in the 2011 Midwest Cigar Summit being held July 29-30 in the beer garden at Jimmy’s Bar. The event is free and open to the public.

There will be beer and spirit samplings, raffles, food and more. Cigars will also be available by vendors and manufacturers from around the United States, including STL Cigars and Midwest Cigar Connection.
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This week’s C-Suite interviewee was Ted Jackson, CEO and Founder of Ted’s Cigars, the producer of handmade, genuine cigars with integrity. Their infused cigars are flavored aromatically via the airtight glass tube they’re sealed in (other companies syringe flavoring agents into the cigars, not an acceptable method for premiums) and now they let you stamp your name on their tubes too. Ted’s Cigars offers co-branded or custom banded cigars for your company. Oh, how we love bespoke products!
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The last time you were at your local cigar lounge, you may have noticed that all the previously unmarked ashtrays now say Diamond Crown. Or that the Montecristo logo seems to appear on everything from matches to wall art. Bigger selection of Rocky Patel than you remember? It is very possible that your tobacconist has decided to brand his lounge. Branding can be as much a psychological approach to the market as it is an academic one, and applying it to the lounge dynamic is a recent trend in the industry that is giving cigar companies the chance to advertise and perpetuate their products by way of branded merchandise, promotional art, comprehensive cigar selections and, more abstractly, experience.
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Labor disruptions characterized the production of cigars in Tampa during the early 1900s. Many of the disputes between manufacturers and workers turned violent and resembled something you’d see in a Western film. Abductions, shootings, and lynching were just some of the plotlines that graced these production standoffs. One of these battles among the industry’s good, bad, and ugly reached an epic pinnacle in 1901, when a wage dispute between Cuesta-Rey and a local, predominately Cuban cigar workers’ union resulted in a violent strike that crippled the Tampa economy and led to kidnappings and deportations.
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More than one hundred researchers, museologists, collectors, journalists, and artists will participate in the Fourth International Symposium Habana-Habanos 2011 scheduled for the Cuban capital from Tuesday, July 5, through Thursday, July 7.

Zoe Nocedo, director of the Cigar Museum of Old Havana and president of the event’s organizing committee, told Prensa Latina news agency that participants will learn and share experiences on the history of the habano cigar, markets, brands, design of vitolas, marketing, and other aspects. Ream more »

C & C will be hand crafting cigar blends that follow their philosophy of providing consistent, high quality cigars at reasonable prices. People love to buy products that are better than the price they paid and stores love to sell to satisfied consumers. Everyone at C & C Cigars has a great passion for the cigar industry. “The C & C team knows you can’t tell someone that your product is a great value. Value is determined by the customer when he gets more than he paid for.”- Jeff Aronson
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David Scott, a professional tobacconist with Smokin’ Crew at 9 S. Wisconsin Street in Elkhorn, Wisconsin has qualified for membership in the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR).

With more than 2,000 members throughout the U.S. and 31 foreign countries, IPCPR is the leading non-profit industry organization representing retailers, manufacturers and distributors of hand-made cigars, Ream more »