Tobacco News

Several tobacco categories have already come under the microscope of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the general consensus seems to be that cigars’ turn is coming. Insiders caution that the cigar industry needs to come together as a whole now, before the FDA acts.
“The politics of tobacco is the politics of diversion. We are too easy of a target. We set ourselves up for that because we never fought back,” said Glynn Loope, executive director of Cigar Rights of America (CRA). Ream more »

Government regulators and their enablers in Congress, always on the prowl to target industries for ever-more oppressive regulations and higher taxes, are now focusing on the venerable “good cigar” eloquently extolled by Rudyard Kipling and many other connoisseurs of a “good smoke.”

Since the mid-1960s, tobacco has been one of the big-government nannies’ favorite targets. While anti-tobacconists have scored only sporadic victories in the courts over the past few decades, that is partly due to the fact that until 2009, when Congress passed the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act,” tobacco was not lawfully regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Ream more »

Maryland health advocates are lauding Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposal to increase the state’s cigar tax, but critics say such an increase would create another financial burden for consumers and business owners.

Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, proposed a state budget Wednesday that would raise the 15-percent excise tax on cigars, smokeless tobacco and other noncigarette tobacco items — a group collectively known as other tobacco products (OTP) — to 70 percent. Ream more »

If you think the economy is tough in Europe and the United States, consider Cuba, where the average monthly salary is a piddling $20. True, $20 goes further in Cuba than it does in a lot of other countries, but it’s still a meager sum and not remotely enough to survive on.
With so little income from legitimate business, many businessmen are forced to turn to the black market just to keep a roof over their heads and feed their families. The worst part is that there is no solution in sight to the extreme impoverishment which fuels this underground economy. Ream more »

THE federal government is seeking feedback on its plans for plain packaging of products other than cigarettes, including cigars and loose-leaf tobacco.
Labor is proposing to amend its tobacco plain-packaging regulations when parliament resumes in February to include additional specifications for non-cigarette items.

“We must challenge perceptions that cigars are in any way more glamorous, or a less harmful alternative, to cigarettes,” Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said.
Ream more »

If there’s such a thing as an essential Brooklyn film, it might well be “Smoke.” The 1995 drama, co-directed by Wayne Wang and Park Slope novelist Paul Auster, was filmed mostly around the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West, and is vibrant with neighborhood personality.
Inside the Brooklyn Cigar Co., Augie Wren (Harvey Keitel) engages a diverse and loquacious clientele, acting as a pivot around which other narratives revolve, primarily one involving melancholy neighborhood writer Paul Benjamin (William Hurt) and his relationship with a teenage street kid (Harold Perrineau Jr.) whom he takes under his wing. Ream more »

For lovers of fine cigars, Belicoso Cigar Lounge in Orland Park has been a smoky oasis in an otherwise smoke-free village.

But the village and the shop’s owner are locked in a legal dispute in federal court, with Orland Park yanking Belicoso’s business license and the owner claiming ethnic discrimination.

Attorneys for both sides were in court Tuesday, with the shop seeking a temporary restraining order to stave off the license revocation. The judge indicated that she will issue a ruling at a later date, said Nabih Ayad, Belicoso’s lawyer. Ream more »

Nat Sherman cigars have been sold via catalogues and discounters, but the New York City retailer is about to launch a new brick-and-mortar version of its cigar brand. The cigar is called Nat Sherman Timeless Collection, a four-size line that will go on sale in a couple weeks.

Nat Sherman Timeless is being made by Manufactura de Tabacos S.A. (MATASA) in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Ream more »

Havana, Cuba, Dec 2.- Cuban machine made cigar Guantanamera will come out with a new image that highlights Cuban cultural traditions looking for greater promotion in the international market.

Mario Arcila Gonzalez, the marketing specialist of the enterprise commercializing the Cuban product, Empresa Internacional Cubana de Tabacos S.A. (ICT), told ACN Guantanamera cigars are made using high technology and that they comply with international standards.
Ream more »

While many of his classmates at Freehold Township High School were deciding where they wanted to go after graduation, Jim Moretti III said he knew that more than anything else he wanted to start his own business.

With the help of his parents, that dream was realized eight years ago when they opened Lite-Em Up Cigars in a small shop on the southbound side of Route 9. Having gained an interest in cigars at an early age, Moretti said getting into the business was an easy decision for him and his father. Ream more »