On October 18, 2007, my wife and two kids were enjoying a meal around the kitchen table like it was any other Thursday. I, on the other hand, was glued to CSPAN-LIVE counting votes and praying that the handmade cigar industry would survive. The moment was surreal: whether it knew it or not, my federal government was threatening to destroy my business, an industry rooted in tradition and passion, and the simple joy of smoking a great cigar. On October 18, 2007, my wife and two kids were enjoying a meal around the kitchen table like it was any other Thursday. I, on the other hand, was glued to CSPAN-LIVE counting votes and praying that the handmade cigar industry would survive. The moment was surreal: whether it knew it or not, my federal government was threatening to destroy my business, an industry rooted in tradition and passion, and the simple joy of smoking a great cigar.
The measure being voted on was an attempted override of the President’s veto of a bill called SCHIP (States Children Health Insurance Program), a state-based health insurance program for children of families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.
The proposed expansion of this federal program was funded, in part, by a draconian increase on the excise tax of handmade cigars. The tax would increase from the then-current maximum of $0.05 per cigar to an inconceivably astronomical maximum of $10.00 per cigar. Yes, you read that correctly—that's a 20,000% increase! If the veto were overridden, the handmade cigar industry would likely collapse. Estimates by industry experts projected that production would be cut by at least 50%, and that many small- to medium-sized manufacturers and distributors would likely go out of business. In addition, retail tobacconists across the country would likely close in large numbers.
By the end of the family meal, the veto override failed by just 15 votes. Out of almost 435 votes, we “won” the vote by just 15. While the handmade cigar industry survived this Pearl Harbor-style attack by our own federal government, the government has been waging war on us ever since. The cigar industry was accustomed to fighting legislative battles at the state and municipal level. We were not remotely prepared for the onslaught from the federal government. The SCHIP bill was eventually pushed back until the Obama administration took over in 2009. Just a few weeks after inauguration of the President, SCHIP became law with a cap of $0.41 per cigar. While it was much more favorable than the original $10.00 cap, the cigar industry nevertheless sustained a 700% tax increase. To put this in perspective, under the previous regime, if a distributor had 100,000 cigars in inventory, it would have to pay the federal government a $5,000 floor tax ($0.05 per cigar) to store the cigars in its warehouse. Under the new SCHIP, the distributor now had to pay the federal government $41,000 ($0.41 per cigar) to store those same cigars. For those of us making a living in the industry, SCHIP changed everything. While it is not my intention to get political in this article, it is only fair to say that I am from the conservative end of the spectrum. However, as we in the cigar industry became more engaged in the federal lobbying effort, it became clear that we needed friends from both sides of the aisle. As some of my colleagues can attest, warming up to this concept was no easy feat for me.
One such bipartisan outreach came when a group of conservative Cuban-Americans met with Representative Charlie Rangel (D), the then-Chairman of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee, at a home in Coral Gables, Florida. Offering him our support so that he could assist us with our federal tax challenges was completely alien to me, and Representative Rangel was quite blunt. He told us that our taxes would be going up no matter what we did. If we got organized as an industry, he said, we may be able to keep the tax at a livable rate. In our political culture today, “lobbying” or “lobbyists” are routinely painted as the primary source of all evil in Washington. Time and again we hear politicians of both parties deride lobbyists or “special interests.” Newsflash: Representatives and Senators need lobbyists to educate them on the impact of their decisions. I will never forget the initial reaction of various politicians when the $10.00 SCHIP tax was first proposed. The politicians thought that only rich people smoked handmade cigars. They literally said that cigar smokers could afford to pay $10.00 extra for a handmade cigar. They were beyond ignorant about our industry. Their portrayal of cigar smokers was an old and tired stereotype. It became abundantly clear that a massive educational process (a/k/a lobbying) would be needed at the federal level. When the SCHIP dust settled in early 2009, it felt like the handmade cigar industry had narrowly escaped its demise. However, shame on us for not being ready; just four years earlier, at the end of 2004, the federal government had telegraphed its views on cigars and its willingness to tax us unfairly with the "Tobacco Quota Buyout."
Since the days of FDR’s New Deal, the federal government had enforced a tobacco production quota in the United States in order to raise the price of tobacco above the market level. The government's arbitrary “support price” was maintained by allocating production quotas among individual farms based proportionately on their history of producing tobacco. In other words, they artificially limited the supply by increasing the price. Fast forward to the 21st century and the sales of U.S.-grown tobacco had declined sharply. Thus, a decision was made to end the quota system in 2005. In so doing, the government decided to compensate the quota holders to the tune of $10 billion over ten years. Guess where the money comes from? Answer: Assessments (a/k/a taxes) on manufacturers and importers of tobacco products marketed in the U.S., including handmade cigars. As if that were not bad enough, here’s the real kicker: none of us in the handmade cigar business ever used or benefited from the tobacco grown in the United States!
Both SCHIP and the Tobacco Quota Buyout included federal taxes on handmade premium cigars and we had absolutely nothing to do with the issues being addressed in the legislation. Children’s health is not affected by handmade cigars, and children don’t smoke handmade cigars. When is the last time you caught your teenager or young child smoking a stogie? It doesn’t happen. Regardless of the anti-tobacco propaganda, we in the handmade cigar business do not target or appeal to children, nor do we tolerate any underage smoking. SCHIP is up for renewal at the end of 2013. Thus, we are gearing up for another existential tax fight in 2013. The Tobacco Quota Buyout is consistently allocating a larger share of the yearly payments to the cigar category which in turn raises our taxes. On a yearly basis, we are fighting massive tobacco tax increases at the state level. New York is now at 75% of the wholesale price, Minnesota is at 70%, and Colorado is at 40%, just to name a few. For those of us who enjoy a good cigar, Taxmaggedon (to borrow a phrase) is real and can crush our industry. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting and doing business in several countries outside the U.S. When you travel to places like Canada, the U.K., and Australia, you catch a glimpse of what the cigar industry could look like in this country. Each of those countries has exorbitant tax rates on cigars. In Canada, for instance, one of our cigars that sells for $7.00 in Florida (a non-tobacco tax State) will sell anywhere from $15-$18.00 in Canada. Cigars in these high-tax countries are enjoyed only by the very well-off, and even they are particular about how often they can smoke such a high-priced product.
Taxes are not nearly the only threat to our industry. We have the federal regulatory threat of the FDA as well as myriad state and municipal smoking bans throughout the country. However, taxing handmade cigars at a punitive level has the potential to destroy our industry overnight. Four years ago, 15 votes was the difference between life and death for the cigar industry. How long can we survive on this razor’s edge? I’m lucky enough to be the fourth generation of my family in the handmade cigar industry. Today, I have a fourteen year old son and an eleven year old daughter who would like to work with their father in this industry that I love. I’m sure many of you look forward to the day when your son or daughter becomes an adult and can share a special moment with you enjoying a good cigar. To make sure this happens, we have to fight for what we are passionate about.
I hope that all cigar smokers will unite with us in the industry and take the fight wherever it’s needed. In the meantime, Make Time to Burn. *MORE
Informed cigar smokers often want to know what tobaccos are in their favorite blends, but as Charlie Toraño argues, you're basically asking cigar makers to reveal their trade secrets. What's more, even knowing country of origin, seed, and priming of all the tobaccos in a blend, you still know less than you think about the blend. Charlie asks: is an oversupply of information limiting your cigar experience? Two years ago I decided to take the plunge and bought a fishing boat. My son and I had always enjoyed fishing off piers and lakes, but as he got older, I decided to buy a boat to go after some bigger game fish in the waters off of Southeast Florida. Our primary target was sailfish. As soon as sailfish season hit at the beginning of our so-called South Florida winter, we were ready to go. For some of you seasoned anglers, you know that “goggle eyes” are one of the best live baits to attract bigger fish. We found a local bait guy that would sell the goggle eyes right off his boat close to our inlet. I’ll never forget our first transaction as we took delivery of our dozen goggs. As I’m putting the bait into our live well, my son (12 years old at the time) innocently asks “where do you find the bait?” My buddies on the boat instantly burst out in laughter and the bait guy sarcastically answered that he finds bait in the ocean. Without knowing it, my son was asking the bait captain to reveal his trade secrets. The look on this guy’s face made it clear that no one had ever dared ask him such a question. After apologizing for my son’s in-artful question, it occurred to me that I’m asked to reveal our trade secrets just about every single day in the cigar business and, what’s worse, I happily comply. You can look at our website (shameless plug – torano.com), our marketing materials, media interviews, you name it; from every conceivable roof top, I, and almost all of my colleagues in the cigar business, are more than eager to loudly proclaim our trade secret cigar blends. After more than 15 years working in the cigar business, I believe this practice of sharing our blends is not only bad from the industry’s standpoint, but I believe that you, the cigar smoker, are unwittingly being cheated and hurt by this same information. Webster’s Dictionary has a great definition of the term blending. It says that blending is meant “to produce a harmonious effect.” In cigars, we strive to produce a harmonious smoke by taking different cigar leaves (wrappers, binders and fillers) that combine to create a unique smoking experience. The first, and arguably the most important part of distinguishing one brand from another, is the combination of leaves chosen in the blend. While the possible choices of tobacco leaves are not endless, they might as well be. Just think about the possible choices of filler tobacco from just one specific farm in Nicaragua. A tobacco plant can have anywhere from 6-8 primings. Each of these primings in the same plant will taste different. The lower primings will be thinner tobacco with less flavor and strength, and the upper primings will yield thicker tobacco with stronger and bolder flavors. In addition to differences within the same plant in the same farm, you also have different tastes between different farms in the same growing region. When you consider that each tobacco farm in the same region of the same country can yield different tastes, you can have dozens of slight variations of taste in just one region. Multiply these regions and farms throughout several countries and you get the gist of the vast amount of choices available. Thus, by any reasonable measure, the selection of each leaf made by each cigar blender should be a cigar maker’s best-kept secret. Which brings us to the core of the issue: why do you, the cigar smoker, want to know the blends and why do we tell you? Let’s start with the latter first. We, the cigar makers, tell you the blends because in truth we know we are actually revealing very little about what actually makes the cigar special. We are not telling you what farms we are growing in or buying the tobacco from; we are not detailing the primings we use of the various tobaccos; we are not revealing how we ferment the tobacco when we get it from the curing barns; we are not detailing the source of the water used in the fermentation process; we are not describing the aging process, the sorting, the aroma in the factory, the quality control etc. . . . . In sum, we are not telling you very much at all. To test my theory, let’s say I wanted to make a cigar like the Padron 1964 Series. What manufacturer wouldn’t want to have this great-selling blend? Here’s what the publications say: Wrapper: Nicaragua; Binder: Nicaragua; Filler: Nicaragua. Some go so far as to say the filler is from all three regions in Nicaragua (Esteli, Jalapa, and Condega). Very helpful so far. Can I make a cigar just like the Padron 1964 Series? The answer is a resounding NO! They have their own farms, their own methods, their own style. This is as it should be. It’s not about the so-called published blend. It’s all about the intangibles of each factory and brand that are important. So, the real question for you, the cigar smoker, is why do you want to know the blend? I understand that you want to know, at least generally, what you’re smoking. You want to feel informed and decisive about what you like and what you don’t like. However, I believe you are being cheated by the published blends when you decide that you don’t like certain types of tobacco and you base your opinion, in large part, on the published blends and the experience you may have had with a certain brand. In other words, instead of just deciding that you don’t like a particular brand/blend, you generalize the experience and decide, for example, that you don’t like any Cameroon blend. In my not-so-humble opinion, you're limiting yourself in this way. Instead, be willing to try different cigar brands even if they have tobacco that you believe you don’t like. As someone who has worked on countless private label blends over the years, there were many times when I didn’t tell the distributor the blend that we configured for them. I would simply tell them to smoke the cigars without any preconceived notions of the blend, experience the flavors, and tell us what they thought. Eventually, I would share what we had used in the blend. Time and time again our private label clients were blown away with a particular style of leaf we used because they thought they didn’t like that type of tobacco. Similarly, with our own Torano blends, we usually narrow a particular brand to two or three blends that we like. Then we blind test ourselves because we can also be influenced by knowing the blend. A quick story about blind tasting: My good friend Tim Ozgener (formerly of CAO) and I made a presentation in our Honduran factory to a well-known journalist in the cigar industry. We took some sample tobacco from all the different regions and countries that we had in our factory and laid them out on a big conference table. It looked like the United Nations of Tobacco. We made some small cigars (4 x 38s) that had wrapper, binder and filler all of the same region and country. For example, we had tobacco from Jamastran, Honduras and the 4 x 38 was pure Jamastran with no blend of any other tobacco. I remember that I had a brutal cold and could not smoke that day. Thus, I was the one presenting the journalist and Tim with the cigars to blind test. They were ranking the cigars in a best to worse and trying to guess the origin of the smoke. Trust me, these two guys know tobacco and have very good palates. But in the end, the results were surprising to all of us. The preconceived notions of what they and we thought would be the favorites, turned out to be very different when tasted blind. I’m not suggesting you go into a cigar retailer and blindly pick your cigar. No matter how hard we try, we are all influenced by a variety of factors as we make our consumer choices. I’m simply imploring (big word) you to have an open palate when it comes to trying new cigar blends, and for the love of Man, don’t ask your wife where she...*MORE
(From Cigar Rights of America)NEW YORK -- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced new legislation, the "Tobacco Product Display Restriction" bill, which would make New York City the first in the nation to keep tobacco products out of sight in retail stores.
Under the new legislation, sellers would be required to keep tobacco products out of sight, except during a purchase by an adult consumer or during restocking: tobacco products would be required to be kept in cabinets, drawers, under the counter, behind a curtain or in any other concealed location. The bill does not impact advertising for sellers.
A second bill, "Sensible Tobacco Enforcement," is comprised of policies that will combat illegal cigarette smuggling, said Bloomberg.The Sensible Tobacco Enforcement bill increases penalties for retailers who evade tobacco taxes or sell tobacco without a license; prohibits retailers from redeeming coupons or honoring other price discounts for tobacco products; creates a minimum price for cigarettes and little cigars, at $10.50 per pack; requires that cheap cigars and cigarillos be sold in packages of at least four, and little cigars be sold in packages of at least 20.Cigars that cost more than $3 each are exempt from the packaging rule.It also gives the Department of Finance the authority to seal premises of tobacco sellers that have had repeated violations of the law.The bills will be introduced at the request of the mayor by Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo, chair of the Health Committee, on Wednesday.Watch for details on CSPnet.com and in CSP Daily News.# # #
* Reprinted from CSPnet.com. View original article here.*MORE
Fairfield, VA -- Cigar Rights of America announced this week a dramatic new measure in the effort to combat federal regulation of cigars. CRA has not just been working the halls of Congress since legislation was filed to protect cigars from potentially threatening regulations by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. The organization has also been engaging in a brand of shuttle diplomacy among the primary cigar producing nations of Latin America.Last week, following several months of meetings and groundwork, a joint letter was issued by the Ambassadors to the United States for Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Facilitated by Cigar Rights of America, the staff of each embassy has been kept apprised of the legislation filed in 2011 to protect cigars from FDA oversight, which finished 2012 with 221 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, and fourteen in the U.S. Senate. The bills are currently being resubmitted for the 113th Congress.
While previous joint letters have been sent to the members of the House and Senate committees for foreign affairs by the Honduran and Dominican Republic ambassadors, this is the first joint statement of all three, and sent directly to the Obama Administration.
Signed by Ambassador to the U.S. for Honduras Jorge Ramon Hernandez-Alcerro, Ambassador to the U.S. for the Dominican Republic Anibal de Castro, and Ambassador to the U.S. for Nicaragua Francisco Campbell, the letter highlights the economic significance of the premium cigar industry to each of their respective nations, and why the government of the United States should not promote regulations that can pose threats to the industry.
The letter states, “If history is any precedent, some of the regulations that could be imposed by the agency would prove disastrous to the centuries old cigar industry that provides over 350,000 jobs among our three nations, and represents millions of dollars in export revenue. No regulatory measure should threaten such jobs, and hence raise the specter of political and economic consequences within our region.”
The letter further notes that premium cigars were neither a target nor the intent of Congress, when it passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The ambassadors point out that the legislation pending in Congress, as well as letters sent from Members of the House and Senate to the FDA, “serves to echo our deep concern about the direction and intentions of FDA.”
On December 21, 2012, moments after Congress left Washington for the holiday, the Administration released its “Unified Regulatory Agenda” for 2013. Within that release was a page from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that again noted the intent to deem other products [cigars, among them] subject to regulation. The ambassadors stated on this point, “We are deeply concerned with the FDA’s admission in their December 21 publication that these regulations are ‘likely to have international trade and investment effects.’
To convey their message of concern to the Obama Administration, the joint letter from the ambassadors was sent to high ranking officials at the State Department, White House, and the FDA, among them, the joint statement was sent directly to the Commissioner of the FDA Dr. Margaret Hamburg, and the director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products, Dr. Lawrence Deyton.
The joint statement also conveys the role of cigars with American jobs. The ambassadors state, “FDA regulation of premium cigars would harm many of the small business owners in the United States that derive their livelihoods from these prestigious products.”
CRA Executive Director Glynn Loope stated, “This is an important milestone in our collective effort to ward off the heavy hand of the federal bureaucracy from regulating cigars. On behalf of CRA and each of our consumer, retail tobacconist and manufacturer members, we commend this act by the Ambassadors to the United States for Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Their message to the State Department, FDA and channels at The White House proclaim, as only they can, that this industry is built upon generations of art, history and skill, and no act of this government, should threaten such a foundation to each of their respective national economies.”
Loope continued, “We sincerely thank the embassies and their staff for the joint letter and statement on this issue. Each of their embassies in Washington, DC have welcomed us, hosted meetings, coordinated discussions, remained attuned to this issue both at the legislative and administrative levels, and worked collaboratively for the good of their regional economy, as well as for the passion for cigars shared by millions of American consumers, thousands of small businesses, and the manufacturers of these amazing cigars.”# # #*MORE
By J. Glynn Loope, Exec. Dir. | Cigar Rights of America
With the clamor and flow of awards for the movie ‘Lincoln,’ it seemed appropriate to draw from words of the former President, that link to our modern era, and the effort to protect cigars from the onslaught of local, state and federal legislation.
Lincoln noted, “It has been my experience that those with no vices have few virtues. They just haven’t lived enough to have enough true virtues. For living, truly living, means encountering vices which you hold so dearly, that you never leave them.” All too often, cigars get lumped into categories under the political microscope, whether it’s gaming, alcohol, or just about any other fun under attack by those who our friend Cigar Dave would call, The Pleasure Police. Over the course of the last four years, we have often found ourselves politically aligned with other special interests that were under attack, but had a relationship to cigars. We have joined in support of gaming associations, bar and tavern leagues, beverage councils, spirits distributors, all who carry out legal functions, working to satisfy our thirst (and aroma) for some good times with friends. There is an issue brewing in Kansas that would have national implications and that could also bring together common interests. Kansas Senate Bill 45 is legislation backed by the National Rifle Association that as they call it, “is a common sense reform that would help preserve the rights of taxpayers to ensure that public funds are not used to pursue a political agenda against legal products.” The legislation goes to the heart (and I don’t mean ‘association’) of preventing taxpayer funds from being used for expensive advertising campaigns “that demonize perfectly legal products,” whether it’s guns and ammunition – or cigars.
Now, in four years of CRA, this is about the first time we can recall that the American Cancer Society is called into action, against the National Rifle Association, because an NRA backed bill, has implications for how the American Cancer Society promotes the use of public dollars, for their anti-tobacco/cigars agenda.
So the Cancer Society comes out against Kansas Senate Bill 45. We agree with the NRA. In fact, Cigar Rights of America was among the first in the nation to highlight how federal tax dollars, through the ‘economic stimulus’ allocations, was being used for anti-tobacco/cigar political action by agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control, which subsequently was called down by the Inspector General of the US Department of Health & Human Services for grants to promote smoking bans and related anti-cigar measures. There ought to be a more stringent federal version of Kansas Senate Bill 45.
Such legislation is also being discussed in Arizona. Imagine if such legislation existed in New York City when those decayed body parts posters were beside the cash register in premium cigar shops, or in places like Missouri, West Virginia, Mississippi and others that are being “lobbied” with public dollars by [public] health departments to advocate smoking bans and increased taxes on cigars.
That’s why this Kansas legislation is a model for not only the brethren at the NRA, but an issue that transcends into our future ability to enjoy great cigars.
Contact your members of the Kansas legislature. Tell them to support SB 45. Then let’s take this bill ‘on the road,’ to your state capitol.
* * *Kentucky legislative committee advances statewide smoking ban!
On February 7, under the cloak of virtual secrecy, the Kentucky House of Representatives Health and Welfare Committee advanced HB 190, which is nothing short of a prohibitionist style legislative maneuver to ban smoking – potentially even in cigar shops. It has to be stopped.
CRA stands with Kentucky Senate President Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg who states, ‘Government shouldn’t tell businesses they cannot regulate smoking on their own property.’ That’s, the message.
The next stop for the bill in the Kentucky House Rules Committee.
Tell them to VOTE NO ON HB 190!
Click Here to Contact Your Representatives.###*MORE
(Cigar Rights of America)Cottage Grove, Minnesota has just over 35,000 residents, and touts a strong quality of life and pro-business climate. Their web site states that they are “Where pride and prosperity meet.” Sounds like Americana, at its best. In our view, it is also a place to be emulated by local governments across the nation.This week, the Cottage Grove City Council voted unanimously to reject a smoking ban in their city parks. With the proposed ordinance, the only exceptions would have been for private functions, and on their municipal River Oaks Golf course. Council member Dave Thiede is quoted as saying it would have been “a policy with no teeth.” We couldn’t agree more. Council was also worried about the policy implications for situations like backyard bonfires and cookouts. The proposed park smoking ban was also endorsed by the city’s parks and environment commissions.
Oh my, local elected officials using such logic! How we would like to have the Cottage Grove City Council approach in Austin to Atlanta, from Los Angeles County, to New York City.
CRA commends Cottage Grover City Council members Mayor Myron Bailey, Derrick Lehrke, Jen Peterson, Justin Olsen, and David Thiede.
Public park smoking bans are among the most challenging to tackle. However, based upon this action is Cottage Grove and the recent sweeping smoking ban rejection in Johnson County, Indiana, we thought we should reprint the words of Dr. Michael Siegel, Professor of Community Health Sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health – and no friend of tobacco. Dr. Siegel issued this op-ed piece in the New York Times, upon the adoption of the NYC outdoor smoking restrictions advocated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The title says it all – “A Smoking Ban Too Far.”
Please circulate this link, if your local government is considering a public park smoking ban: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/opinion/06siegel.html* * **MORE
Source: Cigar Rights of AmericaCigar Rights of America commends the Board of Commissioners for Johnson County, Indiana, just south of Indianapolis, as they voted this week to repeal a comprehensive smoking ban. The unique part of the story is they repealed it, before it took effect.
They adopted the smoking ban policy unanimously in November, and they voted unanimously to repeal the measure. Oh, the beauty of democracy. Commissioner Troy DeHart noted that when the policy was originally entertained by the Board, there was no opposition. However, when press accounts spread, the complaints started to flow in. The smoking ban policy would have banned smoking in all bars, restaurants, hotels, outdoor areas, and even private clubs. That, is more draconian than the statewide compromise smoking ban, adopted last year by the Indiana legislature.Commissioner DeHart had second thoughts, as he rescinded his prior vote he noted, “I felt like we really infringed upon what the country was founded on. It’s not an issue of not smoking or smoking, it’s a loss of freedom. I humbly said it more than once that I felt like I made a mistake. I will stick to my guns. I made that mistake.”
We forgive you Commissioner DeHart, and wish more local and state officials would do the same soul searching you did, and reverse the trampling of personal liberty and confiscation of private property rights, to reverse such policies.
This story raises another interesting question: How many smoking bans have been passed because there was no vocal opposition? If a few bar owners, like Zach Kyle of The Blind Pig Bar in Greenwood, Indiana can speak up and work to reverse such actions, imagine what we can do across this nation. Mr. Kyle noted about the Johnson County, Indiana Board vote, “It was the right decision to leave small business owners alone.”
It’s a case study for every local government smoking ban in the nation. It’s a story we intend to repeat, across the United States.
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Source: Cigar Rights of AmericaWashington, DC -- For cigar enthusiasts, Richard Carmona presents the latest threat against your freedom to enjoy cigars. His election would likely result in increased cigar regulation, smoking restrictions, and taxes - NOT just for Arizonans, but for cigar aficionados ALL ACROSS THE UNITED STATES.
As Surgeon General from 2002 -2006, Carmona led a crusade against tobacco and went so far as to support an all-out ban on tobacco products. Furthermore, in 2006, Carmona issued a 727 page report against secondhand smoke that was found to contain junk science and cherry-picked data, famously declaring, "The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard."
To be sure, a vote for Carmona is a vote against your rights. If you enjoy cigars, (or know anyone who does), the choice is clear: On Election Day vote Jeff Flake for Senate.NOTE: This message reflects the opinion of Cigar Rights of America.*MORE
An insight into the art of cigars
By AUSTIN SMITH, Opinion Columnist(Source: Cigar Rights of America)
Anybody who has known me for longer than a few minutes can tell you that I am an enthusiastic cigar smoker. It is something that many people identify me with and it is one of my favorite pastimes.
But this love for cigars does not stem from the nicotine or the tobacco leaves, and this article is not written in an attempt to deny the potential health risks of tobacco usage. Rather, this is an attempt to show that a cigar is so much more than what most people consider it to be. When alone, a cigar is a way to reflect and collect one's thoughts. Many aficionados are content to sit by themselves with no other stimulus and consider issues in life, be them trivial or profound. The slow roll of the smoke and the lingering flavor is a way to slow down and remember that life, like the brown leaves, is burning away and should be cherished for all the work and effort that comprises it.
Marcus Aurelius wrote in his “Meditations” that a man should be able to retreat within himself when he feels the need to escape the world, for a man cannot always convalesce to a beach or mountain home to become isolated, but he has always with him his own mind and conscience.
In this, a man should be able to withdraw into his thoughts and his own soul to escape and remove himself from the overwhelming world in which he has so little control. I believe in this sentiment, and have come to find that cigars are a method through which I am able to smoothly transport to that place of mental serenity, as if striking a match equates to turning the ignition and beginning a cerebral retreat.
As unusual or un-Christian as it may sound, many of my most heartfelt prayers and penitent moments with God have come at the butt of a Man O' War or Rocky Patel.
One is hard pressed to come off a cigar feeling less content with the happenings of life than before they began it, and based on multiple conversations with others I am sure to not be the only person who feels this way.
The social cigar is another great thing and is valuable in its own ways. I firmly believe, and have witnessed repeatedly, that a cigar can bring out of even the immature man conversations of depth and understanding. One would be very hard pressed to find an instance of a group sitting to enjoy a smoke in which the ensuing conversation was of purely trivial topics, or where regret for having given both time and cigar to the persons involved was greater than the appreciation for the conversation and company.
My closest friends and I consistently indulge in discussions pertaining to life, death, humanity, relationships and philosophies amongst the smoke. This simple roll of combustible leaves is often a catalyst for respect and connection between human beings, even in an instance of getting to know a new person for the first time.
Many consistent cigar smokers openly offer their own cigars to others, even when hardly knowing them; for the time spent in their enjoyment is always well received. It is not difficult to be grateful for all that was brought by the cigar you let somebody else smoke.
It is a thing that is associated often with degrees of manliness and sophistication. Cigars do bring these things about in an individual, but not necessarily for the reasons people often assume.
Yes, a cigar can give presence to a modest man on aesthetics alone. But the act of smoking a cigar, especially with others, deepens relationships and subtly develops a sense of character that is reflected in the one who partakes.
And while it may seem strange to think of a female cigar aficionada, they do exist and are just as welcome (if not more so) into any given group of smoking men for their rarity of company as well as perspective. It is for this that I think people see the character of it, even though it is not often recognized as such.
Whatever the case, I continue to keep cigars as a part of my life because they help reinforce meditations, thoughts, prayers and the most valued of friendships. I cannot imagine what my personality would be like without the effects that cigars have covertly melded into it. The secondary and tertiary effects on lifestyle and mental health are very much real, and are nearly impossible to deny by anybody who has experienced them firsthand.* Mr. Smith is a student at the University of Northern Iowa.
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Missouri and North Dakota Cigar EnthusiastsMust Rally for the Cause of Cigar Liberty on November 6
By J. Glynn Loope, Exec. Dir. | Cigar Rights of America
As everyone knows, and many wish it was over, it's election season. Although the focus is the Presidential race for The White House, there is another characteristic of the democratic process that is significant to everyone with a passion for a great cigar – the ‘referendum.' The referendum, on the surface, would seem to be among the most unique of American political institutions. It's your chance to voice your opinion, to cast your vote for or against a given issue, and to set the course for a particular local or state matter. But how did it get on the ballot in the first place, and why?
This is where referendums become an instrument of politics, instead of a well-intentioned action to give you a greater voice in government. All too often, the referendum is in front of you because some collection of politicians didn't want to make a difficult decision, and they're passing it off – onto you.
California is famous for this, explaining much of their political malaise. This year, the Proposition 29 measure in California was a case in point. Let ‘the people' decide if tobacco taxes should increase, for a state-funded cancer research program, in a state already on the brink of economic collapse, and subsequently cause taxes on cigars to go up to 54% of the wholesale cost. It was only after the details of the proposal were known, that the measure was narrowly defeated.
It happens all too often at the local level. A smoking ban was passed in Springfield , Missouri due to ‘citizens' obtaining enough signatures on a petition to force a public referendum on a prohibitionist style smoking ban. The same happened on a statewide smoking ban in South Dakota , and an Alabama state senator, who has been unsuccessful in getting the legislature to pass a statewide smoking ban, is trying to promote a bill to get a ban, by use of a referendum.
This year, two referendums are on the ballot that will affect those that enjoy great cigars. There is a statewide smoking ban – including in cigar shops - on the ballot in North Dakota . CRA will be spreading the word through shop owners like Todd Pryor of Great Plains Smoke Shop that this referendum is an affront to small business, property rights and the patrons his shop serves.
In addition, there is a statewide tobacco tax increase on the ballot with a Missouri referendum, known as “Proposition B.” The Missouri referendum would increase the tax on cigars by 15%, to an OTP rate of 25%. CRA stands with state legislators like Missouri State Senator Jim Lembke of St. Louis , who opposes the tobacco tax increase.
Neither Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, or Republican challenger for the Governor's Office Dave Spence support the tobacco tax increase.
Both referendums need to be soundly defeated, but it is a very challenging task. It's simple math, which is why our opponents like referendums. There are more of them, than us.
They have not accepted that notion that cigar smokers, cigar shop owners and even the manufacturers of great cigars, just want to be left alone. They can not come to accept that if you don't want to enjoy the aroma of a cigar, stay away; don't come into the bar, lounge or shop that allows us to gather, in peace. They also have trouble understanding that adding taxes to items such as cigars, simply drives the consumer to spend their dollars elsewhere, hurting the very programs they are trying to fund.
But the true blame lies with those that even allow needless referendums on measures such as smoking bans and tax increases. City councils and state legislatures were elected for a reason - to make the tough decisions on governing, public policy and meeting the needs of the budget. Not to pass those decisions along to you and me, and thousands of voters, for the sake of appeasing a vocal constituency, using the referendum that is capable of removing that cigar from our hand, or pricing it out of reach.
If you're in Missouri or North Dakota, rally your cigar brethren for the November 6 election to defeat these measures. If you're not, look out. You could be next.
So the next time you hear about a referendum being plotted that affects the enjoyment of your favorite cigar, go to the council or committee meeting. Voice your opposition to taking “the easy way out.” Tell them to have the courage to stand up for property rights, small business, and personal choices. Tell them it's a waste of public dollars to even have that referendum, because of their inability to make the tough choice, versus the ‘politically correct' choice.
Tell them you'll remember, on their election day.
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WASHINGTON. D.C. -- Cigar Rights of America welcomes Senator Dean Heller (R) of Nevada as the 14th member of the United States Senate to join as a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 1461.
Dion Giollito, owner of Illusione Cigars and the FUMARE cigar shop of Reno, noted on behalf of the Nevada Cigar Association, “We are very proud to have Senator Heller join all three members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada on the legislation that can work to prevent FDA from seizing control of cigars. Without this legislation, FDA regulations would threaten the livelihood of thousands of cigar shop owners and employees throughout America -- jeopardizing the very existence of this industry as we know it. The federal government has higher priorities, and we certainly hope Senator Heller and Representatives Amodei, Heck and Berkley can work with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed, D-Nevada to advance this legislation. Having Senator Heller and each of our Representatives on the same legislation certainly speaks to the virtue of this effort.”
Click the links below to view the full bill text and the list of all co-sponsors:(House) H.R. 1639(Senate) S. 1461* * **MORE
Washington, DC -- We have noted on numerous occasions that Cigar Nation is more unified than ever, in the effort to ward off the heavy hand of the federal government, as we strive to keep the U.S. Food & Drug Administration from invading this passion we share.
Just as H.R. 1639 hit 219 co-sponsors from the membership of the U.S. House of Representatives, and S. 1461 obtained 13 co-sponsors in the United States Senate – with more soon to come from both Chambers – the two political parties began their national nominating conventions.
CRA was there, and history was made. For the first time, a unified message to Democrats and Republicans alike came through – leave premium cigars alone. There are other national priorities. Honest. And they listened.
First, the effort began in Tampa at the Republican National Convention. Of all the cities that the RNC could have selected, the sun, moon and stars aligned for the selection of “ Cigar City .” The J.C. Newman cigar factory was opened, staff and machines were rolling out cigars, and the message was being trumpeted, “Leave cigars alone.”
Guests learned first hand what cigars mean to the culture, history and economy or not just Tampa, but the nation. Eric and Bobby Newman opened their factory as never before, and were joined by industry leaders from A. Fuente Cigar Company, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Davidoff, Corona Cigar Company, as well as the surrounding retail tobacconists of Tampa , as all helped tell the story of cigars. Our allies at General Cigar were maintaining the cigar tent in “ Liberty Plaza ,” highlighting further the role of cigars in politics and times of great camaraderie.
Then, it was off the Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention. Existing and prospective co-sponsors heard from area retail tobacconists such as IPCPR Legislative Committee Chairman Craig Cass and from manufacturers such as Rocky Patel as to why cigars should be protected from burdensome regulations that could decimate this historic and culturally grounded industry.
They told the story of how cigars are only sold and enjoyed by discerning adults, as a passion of moderation, and celebration. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate heard of how cigars are different, and hence should not be subjected to regulations that could cripple community cigar shops from Tampa to Charlotte , from Los Angeles to Boston and points in between.
It was moments like this that we felt and knew why CRA was created. We've all learned first hand, when the story is told, more likely than not, we get a positive response. That's why a working majority of Congress is on our side. It has been because your voice is being heard through the nearly 200,000 petitions to Congress and over 30,000 to The White House.
But now it is time to take it a step further. In the coming weeks, we will be issuing a CRA Voter Guide, so that you know who has stood strong for your passion of cigars. You need to reward them with you support, resources, and most of all – your vote.
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By Charlie Toraño | Toraño Cigar FamilyI GREW UP IN THE TOBACCO BUSINESS, but I never thought I'd spend a day working in this industry. In the 1970s and 80s the cigar industry was literally dying. As the older generation was passing on, there were no new cigar smokers entering the market. Thus, my father told me to educate myself and to not even think about working with him. Fortunately, all of this changed when in the early 1990s the cigar boom hit and younger men began to enjoy the pleasures of cigar smoking. This gave me the opportunity to work with my father and to be a part of this great industry.Today, I have a 13 year old son, Carlos J. Toraño, whose goal in life is to work alongside his father in the cigar business. My dilemma is whether to encourage him or to tell him what my father told me when I was a kid; namely, to not trust that the industry will be here in the next decade. My reasons for concern are different from my father's. My concern, as it should be for all who love smoking cigars, is simple. Will the government succeed in crushing our business through taxes and the FDA regulation or will we rise up to meet and defeat this challenge? Today, the handmade premium cigar industry is united in its effort to carve out a federal definition of premium cigars that will exempt it from FDA jurisdiction. It is impossible to understate the risk to the industry if the FDA takes regulatory control of cigars. An extreme, yet real example of the many regulations that the FDA may employ, is a federal law being proposed in Australia which calls for “Plain Packaging” on all tobacco products, including cigars. The new rule would require all tobacco products to be placed in olive green packs, ban the inclusion of company brand or logo, but yet the package would still contain graphic health warnings. These types of brutal regulations are part of a global effort that will reach our shores through the FDA unless we stop it.
Given the politics of our cause, it's easy and frankly rational to get discouraged and surrender. But I'm reminded of my father's and grandfather's generation that were exiled from their native Cuba and had to start a brand new cigar industry from scratch. They lost their farms and cigar factories, but they started anew in the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua, among other countries. They did not surrender. We will not surrender. I encourage all of you to support the legislation that is introduced in the House and Senate by signing the petition at cra.org.
While not all of you may have a son that wants to get into the cigar business, I'm sure you have sons and daughters that you look forward to sharing a cigar with in the future. Get involved and let's make it happen.* * *
Dan Carr, President of General Cigar, had this to say on the FDA fight:
Do you think CRA & IPCPR are doing a good job fighting the FDA?
We work closely with both the CRA and IPCPR to protect the rights of cigar smokers and to preserve the industry. Because the prospective FDA legislation poses a serious threat to the premium cigar industry, we have made our resources available to both organizations. As such, our dedicated federal and state lobbying teams are working to bolster the IPCPR and CRA's efforts in helping ensure passage of H.R.1639 and S.1461.
Do you think CRA and IPCPR will be successful in getting the bills passed given the current political climate, with the Occupy Wall Street movement growing, etc.?
While it is difficult to predict with certitude whether any piece of legislation will pass, we are confident that HR 1639 is a strong bill legislators will support and vote in favor of.
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Keep the fight going, and please feel free to leave a comment below, especially if you're a cigar manufacturer.(_[ca]__{{{~*MORE
Many Voices are Advancing H.R. 1639 and S. 1461
By J. Glynn LoopeExecutive Director | Cigar Rights of America
The classic line so far in the fight to keep the US Food & Drug Administration from regulating cigars has come from Dennis Stephens, a lobbyist from the IPCPR consulting firm K & L Gates in Washington, DC. We walked into a Congressman’s office and the Chief of Staff said, “What’s this meeting about?” Dennis replied, “It’s about freedom. You’re okay with freedom. Aren’t you?”
That sums up this battle as succinctly as we can. It’s about freedom - Freedom from regulation, freedom of speech, freedom for commerce, and freedom to enjoy a legal product. You would think that would be an easy message to sell. Not always.There is, however, a new day dawning for cigar politics as a result of the legislation to exempt premium cigars from federal regulatory oversight. A new political infrastructure is being built, contacts are being made through each Congressional office, the cause is being heard, and coalitions are being built. One of the most significant occurrences taking place, though, is the sense of teamwork for the task at hand. This new era in cigar politics has, as of this writing, resulted in 81 members of the United States Congress signing on as a patron to H.R. 1639. These Representatives hail from 24 states, with Florida leading the way with sixteen members signed on, followed by North Carolina, Michigan, California, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Ohio, and Virginia. Of special note is the State of Kansas where each member of their Congressional delegation has agreed to sponsor the legislation.
Now, US Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio of Florida introduced S. 1461 since the August recess, and US Senator Patrick Toomey of Pennsylvania has agreed to sponsor as well. There is now a mad dash to get other Senators to patron this critical piece of legislation.
The amazing part of this story is what it took to get the legislation to this point. The commitment of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association has been outstanding, with their resources being brought to bear by engaging advocacy and legal counsel, in addition to the volunteerism of their board and legislative committee. With new CEO Bill Spann in the trenches with us in Washington, DC, collaboration between retail tobacconist, manufacturer and consumer is apparent in our briefings.
The CRA Board of Directors pounded the pavement of the Capitol during its August board meeting in Washington, DC, resulting in key overtures to members of Congress from Kentucky, Illinois, and California.
From the manufacturing community, Rocky Patel, Litto Gomez, Jorge Padron, Manuel Quesada of Matasa, Eric and Bobby Newman of JC Newman/Fuente-Newman, and Marvin Samel of Drew Estate have walked the halls of Congress for the effort. Robbie Levin of Ashton, Nick Perdomo, Dan Carr of General Cigar, Dion Giolito of Illusione Cigars, Christian Eiroa of Camacho Cigars have worked the phones, emails, meetings and their own networks to advance this legislation. At quarterback has been Jeff Borysiewicz who now serves as Chairman of the Board for Cigar Rights of America and Gary Pesh as former President of IPCPR, and also on the CRA Board.
These efforts have allowed the cigar community to meet personally with the Majority Leader and Minority Leader of the United States Senate, Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives, and over 100 Congressional Offices, just since April of this year.
Is that a team, or what?! Then, there is you.
You, the passionate cigar enthusiast are the most important piece of the puzzle. Since CRA launched its on-line petition, we can now say [quite literally] that tens of thousands of you have responded in telling your members of the House and Senate, “Tell the FDA: Keep your hands off of my Cigars!” Your emails go directly to your member of Congress, and each member of the appropriate committees that can advance this legislation.
We can now say that the sponsors of these two bills span the political spectrum from the most liberal to the most conservative in voting record and political philosophy – but they are agreeing on protecting your ability to enjoy a cigar with as little government interference as possible.
We can assure you, our enemies are working this legislation too. Over 40 medical and allied health groups have already come out against the bills. We hope that depicts what we’re up against.
There is still a ways to go, and time is of the essence, so please sign the FDA petition at cra.org and make your voice heard. This is a team effort, and you’re the cornerstone of this moment in cigar political history.
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By Tom Ufer | Tampa Bay Examiner
I'd like to welcome Tom Ufer, who writes a daily column as the Tampa Cigar Examiner. This is the first of a four-part series on the FDA that Cigar Advisor will be running over the next four weeks by different contributors. - G.K.
In 2009, the United States government passed the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act”. This law is primarily aimed at cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, but the FDA reserved the right to revisit the subject of cigars.
The FDA did just that on three separate occasions; April 26, 2010, December 20, 2010, and July 7, 2011. On those dates, the FDA publicly posted their intentions to regulate cigars in the Federal Register.
While the FDA’s intentions have not been made clear, common beliefs indicate that the FDA could enforce a ban on walk in humidors, self serve cigar displays and mail order cigar sales. Flavored cigars, events where free samples of cigars are handed out and cigar related marketing merchandise may also be banned. The FDA could place limits on cigar advertisements and nicotine levels. They could also require that new cigar blends be submitted for testing and approval before being released. This process could cripple the smaller boutique manufacturers and force them out of business.
The FDA may require graphic warning labels for all cigar packaging, similar to what has been mandated for all cigarette packaging by 2012. Lastly, the FDA could impose a tax on cigars to pay for all of these new regulations.
Fortunately for the cigar industry, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have drafted two bills; H.R. 1639 and S. 1461, known as the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act.
I wrote to Senator Bill Nelson regarding S.1461 and this was his response to me:
“Cigar manufacturing has been a major industry in Florida for generations, producing thousands of jobs and over a billion dollars in economic activity. Small businesses, such as local cigar manufacturers, are vital to a sustainable economic recovery. That is why I recently introduced, along with Senator Marco Rubio, the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2011 (S.1461). This bipartisan bill would ensure Florida's premium cigar makers are not unduly burdened by additional Federal regulations.”
I also wrote to Congressman Gus Bilirakis and he said in part:
“H.R. 1639, sponsored by Representative Bill Posey, seeks to amend Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to re-examine the role of the Food and Drug Administration in its oversight of tobacco products, and furthermore protect small businesses involved in the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of cigars. I have signed onto this bill as a cosponsor because I believe in protecting jobs and small businesses from excessive government regulation”
If you are a cigar smoker, you need to write to your government officials. Tell them how you feel about the proposed FDA regulations and ask them to support H.R. 1639 and S. 1461.
Also, if you have not done so already, join the Cigar Rights of America and support our freedoms as cigar smokers.
* * *To read more of Tom's columns visit his page at Examiner.com.*MORE
New edition boasts a rich, complex character and "edgy" packaging design
DANIA, FL – What do you think of when you hear the term "Black Market?" Something "forbidden" perhaps? Though they may look like something that entered the country under the radar, Alec Bradley's Black Market cigars, which debuted at this year's IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas to encouraging praise, the new line extension is anything but taboo.
Handmade in Danli, Honduras the Alec Bradley Black Market cigars boasts a blend of Honduran Jamastran and Panamanian longfillers, Sumatra binder, and a Jalapa-grown Nicaraguan wrapper cured to a dark, shimmering patina. Cigar lovers can expect a medium-bodied, yet full-flavored smoke with stunning complexity and a head-turning aroma. Presented in rustic-looking, gray crate-style boxes, Black Market takes Alec Bradley's packaging to new heights. The eye-catching boxes are well-built enough to serve as humidors, and will very likely be sought by collectors. Even the bands are atypical. Rather than using the traditional band at the neck of the cigar, the cigars are wrapped in paper sleeves that cover only the bottom half of each vitola. Once the sleeve is removed a band is revealed positioned in the middle of the cigar.
"We've always wanted to do things that were more edgy," said Alec Bradley Cigars president, Alan Rubin." Starting with our triangular-shaped Trilogy cigars, to our extra-wide body Maxx line, to our personalized Family Blend cigars, the Black Market fits right in that groove from the blend to the box."
Alec Bradley Black Market cigars are offered in the following sizes:Robusto - 5¼ x 52Toro - 6 x 50Churchill - 7 x 50Torpedo - 6 1/8 x 54Gordo - 6 x 60
The cigars will retail between $7.40 and $8.00 per cigar, and are expected to arrive on cigar store shelves by mid September.
For more information on Alec Bradley Black Market cigars visit the Alec Bradley Cigars Fan page.* * **MORE
Pinellas Park, FL -- For the third time, a limited edition Zino cigar is making its way to local tobacconists. In its burgundy-colored box with gold logo, the Zino "Embassy Selection" 2011 is a real eye-catcher, making it a very special gift. The cigar, an imposing Robusto format, is limited to 3,000 boxes of 10 worldwide.
The filler consists of various Ligero tobaccos that lend it a powerful aroma. The dark, supple wrapper leaf, made of the Selection 702, gives the hearty blend a fascinating balance and ensures a multi-faceted smoking experience for lovers of full-flavored luxury cigars. The Zino “Embassy Selection” 2011 is available from selected specialist tobacconists as of September 1st.Here's the 411:Zino "Embassy Selection 2011 - Limited Edition RobustoSize: 5" x 52Filler: All Dominican grown Criollo Ligero, Piloto Ligero, plus San Vicente Ligero from two different growing regionsBinder: Dominican CriolloWrapper: Ecuadorian Special Sun Grown Selection 702MSRP:$10.30 per cigar / $103.00 (wooden box of 10)* * **MORE
(Blue Ridge, VA) -- Cigar Rights of America is committed to providing members and cigar enthusiasts across America with the tools and resources needed to help fight for our freedom to enjoy premium cigars.As part of this commitment, CRA is proud to announce the launch of the all new CRA Legislative Action Center.
This FREE web-based resource is your direct connection to Congress and your representatives. Further it combines state-of-the-art technology to ensure your voice is heard and your message is delivered. Some key resources provided in the CRA Legislative Action Center include:
Personalized list of your representativesLegislation confronting cigar enthusiastsTracking of House and Senate billsAbility to contact your representativesAbility to contact the media to share your opinionForm letters (which you can edit and personalize)An explanation of Capitol Hill basicsAnd much more!
Don't delay! Visit the CRA Legislative Action Center today and take action.* * **MORE
S. 1461 will work with H.R. 1639 To Protect your Passion for a Great Cigar
Before you read this announcement from CRA, I can't stress enough how very important it is that YOU, cigar smokers, bloggers, retailers, etc., take this very seriously and do your part in getting H.R.1639 and S.1461 passed. Please don't procrastinate as time is of the essence. - G.K.By Glynn Loope, Exec. Dir. | Cigar Rights of America
Amidst all of the chaos in Washington, DC this week, a quiet but amazingly significant action took place that goes to the heart of insuring your ability to have a great cigar, and that will work to protect the production, distribution, selling and enjoyment of cigars across the nation.Two members of the United States Senate proved this week that as broken as Congress can seem, there is still the ability to protect freedom from activist federal bureaucrats that want to instill a new era of prohibition in America – the prohibition of tobacco products, and specifically cigars. Two U.S. Senators proved that bi-partisan cooperation can work for this passion we share, much less work to protect a significant cornerstone to the economic foundation of their State of Florida. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, D-FL, and US Senator Marco Rubio, R-FL came together and introduced S. 1461 as the companion bill to H.R. 1639, so that the Senate legislative process can now consider the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act .
They know what this industry not only means to Florida, but to America. They know that small family owned professional tobacconists from Boston to Seattle are part of the community fabric, represent thousands of jobs, for a product not addictive, nor marketed to children, and enjoyed for leisure by adults. In other words, not any of the reasons Congress passed and the President signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Regulating cigars simply goes beyond any legislative intent. H.R. 1639 and now S. 1461 clarify that point.
This week, the CRA Board of Directors and staff met in Washington, DC, and subsequently made calls on members of Congress in an effort to advance this legislation. In cooperation with industry allies such as the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, progress is being made against those dedicated to the prohibition of tobacco.
It's Time to Thank Them for Their LeadershipWe want to extend a sincere word of thanks to U.S. Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio for this action, and we hope you will join us in expressing that appreciation. Please call, email or drop a note to these two US Senators for this act of leadership on your behalf. We can assure you, our opposition will be making their feelings known. Let them know, they did the right thing for the cigar enthusiasts of America.
Please call the offices of your members of the United States Senate, and ask them to join S. 1461 as a Sponsor!
NEW SPONSORS FOR H.R. 1639 in the U.S. House of RepresentativesThere was progress on the other side of the U.S. Capitol, as well. H.R. 1639 now has 43 sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, with Congressmen Sanford Bishop. Howard Coble, and Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, Dennis Cardoza of California, and Tim Ryan of Ohio joining with many of their colleagues in standing up for liberty.
They join the ranks of not only their fellow members of Congress as sponsors of H.R. 1639, but specifically join the bi-partisan leadership of Congressman Bill Posey and Congresswoman Kathy Castor. Republicans and Democrats are coming together on this issue, and we need to recognize it with our appreciation.
Please join your brethren cigar enthusiasts in thanking these members of the United State Congress for this act of leadership, on your behalf.What you can do: Sign the FDA petition supporting H.R. 1639.Cut and paste the CRA link to our petition, and spread it among your own network of cigar club members, fellow cigar enthusiasts, and for cigar shop owners, place on your web site and in your promotional emails, so that we can reach all of Cigar Nation.Call your member of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Tell them to send FDA a message, “Leave My Cigars Alone!" Ask your member of Congress and the U.S. Senate to sign-on as a sponsor of H.R. 1639 or S. 1461.
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O P I N I O NBy Robert "The Rev" MeynThe Rev will probably step on some toes this week, but in my secret life as a health care strategic planner, I plan courses of action for fairly large enterprises trying to navigate the laws of a highly regulated industry. My experience as a strategist has led me to believe that pro-cigar smoking groups are making a serious tactical error in opposing the seemingly ever-present attacks on our right to enjoy premium hand-rolled cigars, a totally 100% natural product free of additives and made of only one ingredient, tobacco. That error: aligning with cigarette smokers in the anti-smoking fight. To correct this flaw in strategy, The Rev thinks it's time to kick our cigarette-smoking brethren to the curb and CLEARLY delineate CIGAR smokers from cigarette smokers because the two could not be more different.
It’s not news to any of us that the right to smoke both cigars and cigarettes is under constant attack. Anyone with a web-browser can read page after page of such efforts by anti-smoking groups intent on making ALL smoking illegal essentially everywhere. New York City has gone so far as to ban smoking in almost all outdoor places, while many other states (not to mention New York, again), have passed laws that can restrict smoking a cigar INSIDE your own home. The anti-smoking lobby has one goal - make ALL smoking illegal. Groups like Cigar Rights of America have waged energetic and often successful counter-attacks to the attempts to ban smoking, but I don’t feel as if cigar smoking advocates have done a good strategic job of delineating the niche market cigar smokers from that of the exponentially more abundant cigarette smokers. At first blush, it seems sensible for the cigar and cigarette advocates to combine forces and fight the good fight together. But teaming together may be a long-term strategic mistake. And the longer cigar advocacy groups stay closely affiliated with the cigarette smokers, the more difficult their counter-attack will be to preserve cigar smoking.Don’t think cigar smoking and cigarette smoking are different and need to be clearly delineated? Here’s a real-life example of how preserving the right to smoke bites me in the butt every time. In New Orleans where I live, I frequent a bar that still allows you to smoke inside, but it's restricted to CIGARETTES. If The Rev even so much as reaches for his leather case to reveal a cigar, the bartenders practically fly over the bar to tell me I can’t smoke cigars inside and that I’d have to go outside to the patio. Luckily, unlike most bars, a patio is right outside the bar so I can still get drinks and smoke my beloved cigars. So even if our good friends at the CRA join with the cigarette advocates and preserve "the right to smoke," pragmatically it doesn’t help The Rev one bit, because I still get kicked outside to sweat my ass off in the 98-degree summer while the cigarette smokers cloud up the inside of the bar in air conditioned comfort. My rights are only sort of preserved.
Cigar smoking couldn’t be more different than cigarette smoking both in product and in end user. As a whole, cigar smokers are among the most conscientious group of folks you’d ever want to meet. They don’t want to stifle your dinner in a restaurant. They don’t want to pollute your drinks in a bar. They don’t want to spoil your walk in the park. They certainly don’t want to see children get cancer. They don’t smoke a box of cigars a day. Moreover, they aren’t so addicted to cigars that they have to run out of their workplace multiple times a day to get a nicotine fix. But to be fair, I don't believe most cigarette smokers, want any of the aforementioned things either, nor do all cigarette smokers smoke a carton of cigarettes a day.
Even so, cigar smokers better be careful with the political company they keep, like the tobacco lobby, because most non-smokers don’t know the differences in the respective "habits" (if you will) that are so obvious to us cigar smokers. Cigar advocates need to CLEARLY delineate the differences and create an identity for the cigar smoker that is distinct and distant from the image of the cigarette smoker, or should the anti-smoking lobby get their wish of banning ALL smoking, we will be thrown out with the bath water. In other words, our only hope is to create an identity so distinct from cigarette smokers that we are insulated from any restrictions that befall their lobby.
Cigar smokers just want the right to have someplace to enjoy cigars with fellow aficionados to experience the camaraderie and good conversation that inevitably happens when a group of cigar smokers settle in for a herf and a few drinks. Anti-smoking groups are insidious and will continue their fight until smoking is banned forever. The farther away cigar smokers can distance themselves from cigarette smokers politically, philosophically, and strategically, the better our chances of having our rights preserved long after cigarettes are inevitably banned. If cigar smokers stay strategically in bed with the cigarette smokers, I feel we are also doomed to their fate.
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Operation ‘Cigar Liberty’ NEEDS YOU
By Glynn J. Loope, Exec. Dir. CRA
As we wrote last week on how the “opposition was at work” trying to undermine H.R. 1639 that would prevent the U.S. Food & Drug Administration from regulating cigars, we were talking about the joint letter from the American Cancer Society “Cancer Action Network,” American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, in their letter to Congress that was full of their traditional propaganda. Little did we know...
There was another group at work this week against our interests. In fact, it was just yesterday– the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. They did it again. In the July 7 Federal Register, FDA restated its authority to issue regulations deeming “other tobacco products” to be subject to their domain [when the legislative intent was cigarettes and smokeless products.] They further stated “The scope of the proposed rule deeming cigars to be subject to FDA's jurisdiction that was previously included in the Unified Agenda is being broadened to encompass products that meet the statutory definition of tobacco product.” They now assert their (new) timetable for such regulations as October of this year.You see, they want it all. They want to control, regulate, and make no mistake, have it as difficult as imaginable to enjoy perfectly legal tobacco products – including that cigar you'll be enjoying to launch the weekend, tonight.
But Congress is listening, and we need to seize the moment as legislators are tired of bureaucrats regulating the everyday lives of Americans, and literally choking the nation's economy with new rules that hinder growth. It's just like our friends at The Daily Caller said today regarding the Environmental Protection Agency, “EPA Saves Us From Job Growth.” In that same vein, FDA wants to threaten thousands of jobs associated with the national and international passion for a great cigar. With each passing week H.R. 1639 gains momentum in Washington, DC, as the list of sponsors has grown to thirty members of the US House of Representatives. New to the sponsor list includes: Representatives Sam Graves of Missouri and Lynn Jenkins of Kansas.
If your Member of Congress is a sponsor, call with your appreciation!
With House Resolution 1639 filed in the U.S. House of Representatives, under the banner of the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act, we now have an opportunity to protect this passion we share.
What you can do:
Sign the FDA petition supporting H.R. 1639
Call your member of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Tell them to send FDA a message, “Leave My Cigars Alone!”
Ask your member of Congress to sign-on as a sponsor of H.R. 1639.
[Note: We are working with industry allies to get a companion bill filed in the U.S. Senate. We will keep you informed of progress on that front.]
Thank you for your support.*MORE
If a State passes a tobacco tax increase on cigars and no one is there to fight it, does it make a sound? The answer is no. It surreptitiously sneaks through, and the next thing you know, cigar smokers have a lot more room in the their wallets. At least that's how it used to be until Cigar Rights of America came along. Although they often work in partnership with the IPCPR and The Cigar Association of America, CRA, like The Tea Party, is a grass roots organization with a VERY LOUD voice. Although CRA's motto is "Fighting For The Freedom To Enjoy Premium Cigars," they could easily share the Tea Party motto: "Taxed Enough Already!"
Based in Fairfax, Virginia and spearheaded by Executive Director, Glynn J. Loope and Membership Director Brian Berman, the CRA has amassed an extensive nationwide following with a Board of Directors that reads like a Who's Who in the Premium Cigar Industry.
"CRA started in August 2008 as a 5-citiy tour (called the CRA Freedom Tour)," says Berman, "and today CRA has members in all 50 states. CRA has engaged in over 100 cigar-related battles and recently received a European Cigar Journal Trophy for our outstanding efforts." The organization is involved with more than just taxes, too. According to its mission statement: CRA is a consumer-based, non-profit public advocacy organization that works at the local, state, and federal level of government to protect the freedoms of cigar enthusiasts.
Together, with our constituency of nationwide members, we focus our fight for freedom in these core areas:
Oppose Restrictive Smoking Bans
Government Regulation of Cigars
Oppose Taxation of Cigars
Policy Measures Relating to Cigars
Just as The Tea Party was influential in electing Republicans to the House and Senate in the November 2010 elections, Cigar Rights of America has been successful at getting a number of States to make exceptions for casinos, restaurants and/or bars, curtail the amount of tobacco tax increases, or keep tax increases from passing entirely. They don't always win every fight, but they sure know how to shake things up. Beginning in May of last year, they launched a campaign program called "Smoke The Vote 2010 Grassroots Network."
According to the Smoke The Vote press release,"This will be the first national effort to truly impact elections on November 2, 2010, from the cigar enthusiast perspective. It’s a process. We may not change every seat we wish, but it starts – now."
Activism is as American as apple pie and baseball. Were it not for the dedication of CRA to pounce on these state-to-state issues and help cigar smokers all over the country maintain their right to continue enjoying cigars, things would be a lot tougher out there. The proof can be seen in their 2010 CRA Report Card.
"We are actually in the process of updating and need to add a lot more 'wins,'" added Mr. Berman.
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Baton Rouge, LA | PRWEB
Louisiana lawmakers are looking to offset a serious state budget deficit by increasing tobacco taxes again, this time by up to 50 percent or more across the board. "Somebody should tell them it doesn’t work that way," says the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.
The House Ways and Means Committee of the Louisiana State Legislature is considering H.B. 63, legislation that would nearly triple the excise tax on cigarettes. The excise tax on small and large cigars as well as smokeless and pipe tobacco would be raised by up to 50 percent.
“Higher taxes on tobacco products will only drive whatever business is left into the hands of Internet, out-of-state, mail order merchants and criminals who do not pay taxes to Louisiana and do not employ Louisiana’s citizens. They do not have the same stake in our communities that we do with our family-owned businesses and neighborhood employees,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR. McCalla said that customers would obtain their cigarettes and other tobacco products in, say, Mississippi which has significantly lower tobacco taxes.
“By driving smokers to purchase their cigarettes across state lines or through untaxed or lower-tax venues such as Native American territories and the Internet, H.B. 63 will hurt local businesses and absolutely fail to raise the anticipated revenues,” he said. The IPCPR maintains that raising excise taxes does not produce projected revenue.
“Of the 57 excise tax increases that states implemented between 2003 and 2007, only 16 met or exceeded revenue targets. New Jersey, for example, increased its cigarette tax in 2006 and instead of gaining a projected $30 million in revenue, the state lost more than $22 million,” McCalla said.
The regressive nature of excise taxes was also cited by McCalla.
“Excise taxes disproportionately impact the poor and those living on fixed incomes according to the Congressional Budget Office which has said that cigarette excise taxes are the most regressive of all. With millions of families and businesses in Louisiana struggling to make ends meet, lawmakers should be cutting taxes rather than raising taxes on their constituents,” he said.
McCalla urged Louisiana residents to contact their state representatives and tell them to cut wasteful, non-essential spending instead of raising taxes which won’t produce the anticipated offsetting revenues.* * **MORE
From: Cigar Rights of AmericaThis is to remind our members, that in 2007 when California Senator Mark DeSaulnier was a member of the State Assembly, he sponsored an identical piece of legislation that was passed by the Assembly and Senate, and was stopped by Governor Schwarzenegger with his veto pen. It could happen again, and we don't have "The Governator" to stop it...we have Governor Jerry Brown.
We remind our national membership, that what can happen in California, can happen in your community. National models for anti-smoking legislation spread, especially after it gets traction in a place like California.
Let's keep up the pressure to stop this effort to ban smoking in cigar shops, private clubs and related venues! Schwarzengger's Veto Letter - 2007
BILL NUMBER: AB 1467VETOED DATE: 10/14/2007To the Members of the California State Assembly:I am returning Assembly Bill 1467 without my signature.This bill would remove a limited number of exemptions found in current law that permit smoking in specified bars, warehouses, hotel lobbies, meeting and banquet rooms, and businesses without employees.California has led the nation in effective smoking control activities, achieving the second lowest rate of smoking among adults in the nation. The cessation of smoking is a component of my plan to encourage Californian's to lead a healthy lifestyle and thereby reduce health care costs. While more needs to be done to reduce smoking rates, I do not agree that placing further restrictions on business owners is the correct approach. Instead, California can further reduce smoking rates in other ways, such as increasing access to cessation services offered through the highly effective California Smokers' Helpline.Sincerely,Arnold Schwarzenegger
* * *H.B. 575, as a sweeping “close all exemptions” smoking ban, has been referred to the California Senate Appropriations Committee, which we hope will recognize the adverse economic impact this legislation will have for small businesses across California.
The next hearing on this bill is Monday, May 2. We will the specific time and location when available from the committee.
The CRA petition is now being switched to the membership of the California Senate Appropriations Committee, so you can “hit it” again. Help us send a message that this expanded smoking ban is bad for business, and is a direct attack on property rights for cigar enthusiasts in California.
ACTION STEPS:
Step 1. Please contact your member of the California Assembly and Senate (California Residents Only) and tell them to SAY NO to Senate Bill 575.
Step 2. Please sign the CRA Petition (All CRA Members).# # #*MORE
By Glynn Loope | CRAIn the form of one of the worst pieces of legislation of its kind currently pending in the nation, California State Senator Mark DeSaulniers, D-Walnut Creek, and Assembly Member and Chairman of the Majority Caucus, Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, have just introduced a sweeping piece of tobacco prohibitionist legislation that seeks to close every existing exemption to enjoying perfectly legal tobacco products in the State of California.
As Senator DeSaulniers takes the lead in introducing Senate Bill 575 it is imperative that every passionate cigar enthusiast and retail tobacconist engage themselves in this legislative battle.
Senate Bill 575 would ban smoking in all retail tobacco businesses, private clubs, hotel lobbies, bars, taverns, banquet rooms, warehouse facilities, and employee break rooms.
And we don't have former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to protect us now with the power of the veto pen. UPDATE! Senate Bill 575 has been assigned to the California Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations.
Make no mistake, this is a very real threat to your passion for fine cigars. It not only affects the entire state of California, but sets a horrid precedent for the entire nation. Senate Bill 575 threatens your freedom to enjoy a cigar at your local retail tobacconist and is a direct threat to the livelihood of professional tobacconists across California -- and could spread across the entire nation.
It is time to draw a line in the sand on this type of legislation, and with California being a benchmark state for such legislation, this prohibitionist style of law making needs a direct and passionate response from all in Cigar Nation.ACTION FOR CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS1. Please contact your member of the California Assembly and Senate (search by zip code) and tell them to SAY NO to Senate Bill 575.2. Please sign the CRA Petition.
ACTION FOR NON-CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS1. Please sign the CRA Petition.
In his own words, Senator DeSaulniers wants to eliminate your freedom and ability to enjoy cigars.Read Senator DeSaulniers Statement* * **MORE
By Brian Berman | Cigar Rights Of AmericaNew York City, New York – Yesterday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani accepted an honorary Lifetime Membership from Cigar Rights of America, a national advocacy organization for cigar enthusiasts across America.
Mayor Giuliani, a noted patron of cigar shops in New York City and across the nation, is one of the most noted cigar personalities in the nation, having been on the cover of Cigar Aficionado. Cigar Rights of American made the announcement and presented Mayor Giuliani his Lifetime Membership plaque in the acclaimed Grand Havana Room in New York City. The presentation was made by CRA Executive Director, J. Glynn and Ron Melendi, president of the New York Tobacconist’s Association.
Loope stated, “It is our honor to present this recognition to “America’s Mayor,” whereas Mayor Giuliani has provided so much leadership for New York City during his tenure as Mayor during the period that he was concentrating on reducing crime, improving the standard of living for the residents of New York City, and then during the ultimate time of crises during 9/11.
Loope continued, “When you think of Mayor Giuliani, the word ‘leadership’ is what comes to mind. His passion for a great cigar is also a hallmark trait, and we appreciate his support for the great cigar shops of New York. But he doesn’t stop there. While I was recently in Little Havana in Miami, I think every cigar factory and shop in town had a picture with Rudy Giuliani. He has literally taken his passion for a great cigar across America, and for that, CRA thanks him.”
Melendi, speaking for the New York Tobacconist’s Association stated, “Mayor Giuliani is such a noted personality in each of our shops, always taking time to speak to our patrons, inquire about the latest cigars, or pausing to discuss the issues of the day. His support for our industry, for our businesses, and leadership for our community is appreciated beyond words. His is most deserving of this recognition from Cigar Rights of America.”In closing, Mayor Giuliani stated, “I am proud to be a Lifetime Member of Cigar Rights of America, as an organization that advocates common sense approaches to policies that are close to those that enjoy a great cigar. They facilitate conversation. They bring people from all walks of life together. That’s important, and if that’s important to you, you should join Cigar Rights of America. Taxes and regulation of anything to excess is not the approach any level of government should take for legal products, services or pursuits, and that includes cigars. That’s what CRA defends.”
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A colleague recently sent me a copy of an ad that Litto Gomez of La Flor Dominicana ran in a very high profile cigar magazine and asked me to share it. It wasn't your typical premium cigar ad. It wasn't even an ad for Señor Gomez's cigars. It was just what the title says, a message; a very important one at that, and one certainly worth passing along.- GK
“Every single one of the foods or substances you see here may end up killing you…if you abuse them.But, if we take them with moderation, they are harmless and make our lives really enjoyable.For some draconian reasons, our law makers have singled out cigars, why? If we let them cut away with it, they will continue to take away our life. As adults we have the right to choose our lifestyle. As I recall, it was called freedom, and that’s what makes America the best country in the world.If you don’t smoke and think that this does not concern you…think again, because one day, after they are done with cigars, a fat congressman while munching on his french fries will write a bill that will tax your favorite food.We should not let them legislate our lifestyle.It’s time to stop them.I am Litto Gomez.This is my personal opinion. I am a concerned citizen that believes in freedom of choice. I teach this to my children.”
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FAIRFAX, VA - This week, Cigar Rights of America unveiled the latest instrument in our arsenal to fight back the cigar prohibitionist policies that are spreading across this nation.
By using a new on-line electronic petition, we will now be able to facilitate direct communication between you, and every elected official in America. For any given issue, and this week it's the proposed outdoor smoking ban in New York City, we will present to you the petition, which will allow our protest of this proposal to go to each member of City Council. This initiative will especially come into play for the 2011 legislative season. In January, state legislatures will go into session across America. There will be tax, regulatory and smoking ban issues nationwide, and this new electronic petition format will allow our voices to be heard from Sacramento to Boston. We will be developing your links to local governments, state legislatures, and members of Congress. It's time that they heard "our side of the story," and for them to know, Cigar Voters are watching. The CRA web site will continuously be updated with the latest issues, linked to the corresponding petition. Use it, and let your voice be heard.Click here to read and sign the New York City Outdoor Smoking Ban Petition* * **MORE
Richmond, VA—On July 14, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of General Cigar in the latest round of litigation in the Cohiba® trademark case, affirming that General Cigar is the rightful owner of the Cohiba trademark in the U.S.
According to Dan Carr, chief operating officer of General Cigar, “The Second Circuit court’s ruling upholds what we have always believed since we first filed a U.S. application to register the COHIBA trademark in 1978: that General Cigar is the rightful owner of Cohiba in the U.S. We continue to remain confident that our exclusive right to the Cohiba cigar brand in the U.S. will be upheld even if Cubatabaco attempts further legal efforts to challenge these rights.” The appeals court concluded that Cuban-government-owned Cubatabaco’s argument that a change in a law justified re-opening this case was “without merit” and restored the U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling in 2005 in favor of General Cigar over Cubatabaco.
In various court opinions beginning in late 2008 and into early 2010, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that there were changes to New York State Unfair Competition law that provided Cubatabaco the basis to re-open this case. Yesterday’s Appeals Court decision overturned the lower court’s rulings.Cubatabaco first filed suit against General Cigar in 1997, claiming rights to the Cohiba name in the United States under U.S. law, although Cubatabaco had failed to take any legal action against General Cigar for nearly 20 years.* * **MORE
30% Cigar Tax Proposal Defeated!Pennsylvania senators voted against Governor Ed Rendell's 2010-11 budget proposal to levy a whopping 30% tax on cigars (Other Tobacco Products) in an effort to plug the Commonwealth's budget shortfall.This was Governor Ed Rendell's second attempt at proposing a first-ever tax on premium handmade cigars for the Keystone State.Pennsylvania is one of only two states that does not tax cigars, with Florida being the other. CRA would like to thank in large part Pennsylvania's senators and leadership and all the CRA members who took time to contact Governor Rendell and other members of the Commonwealth's leadership to express your opposition to levying any tax on cigars.This important victory comes within less than 24 hours after our victory in Springfield, Missouri where a proposed smoking ban was defeated due to the overwhelming response of local business owners and CRA members!* * *Also see this related article: Pennsylvania's budget agreement is 'not without pain,' Gov. Ed Rendell says*MORE
By Tony Tortorici (IPCPR)
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania – Gov. Ed Rendell's budget for Pennsylvania’s 2009-2010 fiscal year that begins in two weeks will be looking in part to increased and new taxes on cigarette and cigar smokers for increased tax revenues which the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association says will never come.
Rendell’s budget proposal would increase cigarette taxes by 10 cents per pack and impose new taxes on other tobacco products, including cigars, snuff and pipe tobacco. “The exact amounts of increased and new taxes, if any, are yet to be determined and will continue to be a moving target while lawmakers figure out what they think they can get away with,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR.
“Regardless, no tax increase is a good tax increase, especially on tobacco products, because smokers will find ways to get around those higher taxes. As in other states that raise their tobacco taxes, the net result will be that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania actually will get lower revenues than they got before because some smokers will quit and many others will go out of state or look to the Internet or bootlegged products to get around paying the higher taxes,” McCalla said.
“As hungry as the state is for additional revenues, they have to realize that these proposed tax increases would hurt businesses and state residents and visitors more than help raise tax revenues,” said McCalla who also pointed out that 70 Pennsylvania-based tobacconists of the more than 2,000 IPCPR members do not represent ‘Big Tobacco.’
“Premium cigars and pipe tobaccos are made and sold primarily by small, family-owned businesses that have been hand-crafting and retailing their products for generations. These premium cigars and tobaccos are then sold by largely mom-and-pop operators who employ local citizens, serve their neighbors, and pay federal, state and local sales and payroll taxes,” McCalla said.
“In the final analysis, it would be our citizens and visitors who would be hurt and have to pay the additional taxes just to enjoy an occasional premium cigar or bowlful of pipe tobacco, as they might enjoy a single-malt scotch whiskey or a bottle of good wine,” said McCalla.
McCalla urged Pennsylvania voters to contact their state legislators and voice their opposition to any new or increased state taxes.
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By Frank Herrera
Editor, CigarLaw.com
A few years ago, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling that received very little popular press. In the case of Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc. d.b.a. Kay's Kloset...Kay's Shoes, [551 U.S. 877 (2007)], the Supremes made it easier for manufacturers of luxury goods to set minimum resale prices by overturning the 90 year old rule that made minimum resale price agreements illegal "per se." Now, Post-Leegin, manufacturers (mostly of luxury goods such as cigars) are at less risk to set minimum prices that retailers (or other distributors and resellers) may charge for their products. The ruling does not mean that manufacturers have an unfettered right to require minimum prices to a distributor or a retailer. In fact, the Court stated that some "vertical price restraints" may have anticompetitive effects which would deem them illegal under the "rule of reason."
The business justification for the manufacturer's pricing policy in this case is consistent with business goals of many cigar makers and producers of other luxury goods that benefit from a retailer's skill and training as a tobacconist. In fact, certain online retailers that are well-known and respected authorized resellers will also benefit for a number of reasons. First, as discussed more fully below, top tier online retailers may be benefit in the same ways that traditional brick and mortar tobacconist may benefit from minimum pricing policies.
By way of background, the practicality of this case came to mind recently during a discussion with several retailers (both B&M and online). The online retailer enlightened me to the fact that there are an increasing number of online discounters who are not authorized retailers of cigar brands. These online sites pop up and disappear under various names and offer incredible discounts on certain cigars. They are generally started and run by non-tobacconist that have little, if any, professional or personal relationships with cigar companies. All they are concerned with is pushing ill-kept cigars or discontinued lines without any concern for the consumer's palate or eventual distaste. Because of the deep discounts offered by these websites, legitimate traditional brick and mortar stores, and authorized online retailers (both discounters and non-discounters) cannot effectively compete. True tobacconists care about their relationships with manufacturers and serving cigar consumers such that they will have return business for many years to come. Worse still, the general public does not understand why these non-authorized retailers can offer such deep discounts and may attribute their bad experiences with non-authorized retailers to all online retailers. This is unfortunate, because many of today's best brick and mortar tobacconists also have a thriving online presence. In evaluating the economic literature developed since that per se rule was adopted almost a hundred years ago, the Court acknowledged principles well-known to purveyors of premium cigars and other luxury goods. Minimum price maintenance enhances brand value, allows suppliers to minimize intrabrand competition, and allows retailers sufficient margins to invest capital to create high quality buying experiences through fine showrooms, product demonstrations and knowledgeable sales staff. The Court also recognized that vertical agreements setting minimum resale prices create temptations for unlawful behavior such as creation of manufacturer or retailer cartels that decrease output or reduce competition to increase price. Yet despite the economic dangers, the Court held that a rule of reason analysis provided ample ammunition for courts to eliminate anticompetitive uses of resale price maintenance from the marketplace. The Court's rationale is also applied to online retailers. While counter-intuitive to some, online retailers (many of which are owned and operated by brick and mortar tobacconists) could benefit from the increased margins to reinvest capital to create higher quality online buying experiences, hiring additional highly trained tobacconist, or otherwise increase a brand's strength in the marketplace. Thus, apart from the benefits to retailers, manufacturers now have another arrow in their legal quiver to fight against non-authorized sales of their products. Since non-authorized cigar discounters can destroy a brand's strength in the market place, controlled discounting by authorized retailers, distributors, and other resellers can help control a brand's identity and in some instances increase brand awareness and satisfaction.
In changing the 90 year old law, the Supremes also reasoned that some minimum resale price maintenance could stimulate competition between manufacturers. For instance, one example that the Court provided was that consumers would have more choices among low-price, low-service brands, high-price, high service brands, and the many brands that might fall somewhere in the middle. In the context of cigar reselling, under the rule of reason, it is reasonable to assume that cigar companies that focus on the low end market will continue to prosper by establishing a low price; in other words, service product with less competition from better known (and generally more expensive brands). Manufacturers that spend more time and resources to create a higher quality product can now demand that their products be sold at a minimum price that reflects the extra expense. In doing so, the higher minimum price will set them apart from lesser priced and thus lesser quality products. This will send a clear message to consumers that the higher retail price reflects quality. Manufacturers and retailers could still agree to the occasional price discount for whatever market reason is appropriate. Consumers would recognize that the discount is minimal, or otherwise limited in time and authorized by the manufacturer. In the context of today's marketplace, discounting is good if it is conducted in a manner wherein the brand's strength and identity is protected. The flexibility of the "rule of reason" should be embraced since it rejects the per se rule and allows manufacturers to better control the environment in which their brand is sold. Rather than fear this, retailers, distributors and other resellers should work with manufacturers to maximize the selling experience for consumers while insuring that customer satisfaction and profit margins remain robust for all involved. There is nothing in the Supreme Court's decision that prohibits discounting. Rather, the rule acknowledges that manufacturers and retailers can agree to certain minimum pricing agreements which ensure that both will benefit and that consumers will have ample selections of competing products at differing price points. (_[ca]__{{{
About the authorFrank Herrera is the editor of Cigarlaw.com a blog about trademark disputes in the cigar industry. He started the blog with the intention of educating cigar consumers, retailers, manufacturers, and everyone else about this fascinating area of law. The blog receives hits from around the world. Mr. Herrera is the Chairman of the Intellectual Property and Internet law group at Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer, P.A. He represents many small boutique cigar manufacturers with their intellectual property matters and other corporate matters.*MORE
IPCPR
March 19, 2010 - In 2009 the Oklahoma State Legislature approved Senate Bill 608. The legislation focused on cigarettes, tightening regulations related to distribution, licensing, and other provisions regarding tobacco taxes. One provision of SB608 of great concern to the IPCPR and the Cigar Association of America (CAA) alludes to the fact that retailers may no longer be allowed to purchase cigars and other non-cigarette premium tobaccos from out-of-state vendors and manufacturers and directly shipped to their shops. I say "allude" for that provision within the bill is not clearly stated.
As the bill progressed through the legislature, we were assured the bill intent was not to prohibit retail members from acting as their own wholesalers, purchasing from out-of-state vendors. Unfortunately, the approved bill's language is convoluted regarding that point.
As the legislature has adjourned for the year, we cannot amend the current statute. The IPCPR, working with one of its Oklahoma City retailers, and the CAA are working with the Department of Revenue and other key parties to find a viable, legal solution to allow retailers to continue as usual, acting as their own wholesalers until the problem may be addressed from a legislative angle.
The new regulations were set to take effect January 1, but have not yet been implemented by the Department of Revenue, demonstrating they too may have concerns.
We will keep you posted on our progress to a solution.
- Chris McCalla, Legislative Director, IPCPR*MORE
Cigar Rights of America
After a lengthy process of negotiations and deliberations, the Los Angeles City Council approved a new outdoor smoking policy for the City of Los Angeles, California. The approved policy will now be sent to the Mayor's office, who is expected to sign the legislation that was introduced by City Council Member Grieg Smith some 18-months ago. The ordinance goes into effect 30–days after signature by the Mayor. Initially, there will be a one-year grace period which will allow business owners who allow or cater to cigar enthusiasts, an opportunity to adjust their business operations as well as educate customers on the new policy. Once the one-year period is over, there could be citations issued by City code enforcement officials for individuals and business owners who violate the policy. Maximum fines for violating any of the new provisions would be $250, as provided by state law.
The new policy will:
ban smoking at outdoor dining areas of restaurants and within 10 feet of the area
ban smoking in a food court or within 10-feet of that area
ban smoking within a forty foot radius of a business, such as a food kiosk, food cart or mobile food truck that regularly sells or provides food or drinks but has no dedicated outdoor dining area
"From the day this motion was introduced, Cigar Rights of America (CRA) and their members, took the lead and directed policy strategy that ultimately led to significant modifications of the original ordinance motion", said Victor Franco, Jr., Lobbyist for Ek & Ek Public Advocacy , who coordinated strategy and worked the issue day-to-day for CRA. "As soon as CRA brought us on-board, we went to work meeting directly with City Council Members and staff".
While there is disappointment that Los Angeles City has enacted an outdoor smoking ban, the new ordinance does include several exemptions that were won by the CRA. Those exemptions include:
Bars as well as Cigar Lounges are exempted from the policy
Private, non-public events are exempt
Restaurants that move to a lounge or bar experience via their City permit - particularly in the late evening hours - are exempt from the policy once patrons are required to be 18 or older
Partnering with Ek & Ek to work this issue at all levels of LA City Government, CRA staff, including Los Angeles-based Brian Berman (CRA's Director of Membership) and other CRA members had one-on-one meetings with LA City Council Members.
"While we understand the council's need to act on this issue, we wanted to make sure that council members understood how this is an infringement of personal freedom – not to mention the devastating business impacts and implications on retail and restaurant owners across Los Angeles City," said Berman. "The cigar experience is precisely that, an experience. While a cigarette smoker may feel the need or urge to take a drag on a cigarette at any time during the day, cigar enthusiasts typically plan the event as an experience with fine wine, some Cognac, or after a nice dinner with friends," Berman added after being asked by a City Council Member to differentiate a cigar enthusiast vs. a cigarette smoker.
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IPCPR
Columbus, GA -- This week's report by the World Health Organization regarding global tobacco use drew the ire of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers, a U.S. based not-for-profit trade association of tobacconists. The anti-smoking report was issued in Istanbul, Turkey by WHO, a 'specialized agency' of the United Nations. The agency receives more funding from the private sector than it does from the UN. Private sector funding of WHO includes pharmaceutical interests, including those that manufacture and sell smoking cessation products and benefit from anti-smoking efforts. WHO does not reveal its funding sources on its website.
"The WHO report is totally without credibility and is filled with wild, unsupportable claims," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR which represents some 2,000 small businesses that make, distribute or sell premium cigars, pipes, premium tobacco and related accoutrements.
"For us to take on WHO is like David taking on Goliath. We're not 'big tobacco' and our mom-and-pop retail members are just small businesses selling legal products that adults enjoy like fine wine or top-shelf Scotch whiskey," McCalla said, "but we cannot stand by while WHO makes outlandish and outrageous claims that are an affront to the intelligence of all thinking people," he said.
McCalla chose not to repeat the controversial WHO claims so as not to give them further coverage. However, he explained that they had to do with alleged health issues related to smoking and secondhand smoke.
"They say there are no safe levels of secondhand smoke, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration says otherwise," McCalla explained. "OSHA has, indeed, set safe levels for secondhand smoke and those levels are 25,000 times higher than are found in bars and restaurants."
Among contributors to WHO is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which, despite its support for WHO's work with preventing and treating malaria, has been criticized by top WHO staffers for not allowing its funding to be more broadly spent.
"It's all about money and power. WHO should stick to its work monitoring and treating infectious diseases. They certainly don't know what they are talking about with regards to tobacco against which they suffer from terminal biases.
"What would you expect from an organization that refuses to hire people who smoke?" said McCalla.
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IPCPR
Columbus, GA – The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association came out swinging today by challenging news reports regarding the labeling switch of some roll-your-own tobacco brands to pipe tobacco by their manufacturers and claims that pipe tobaccos, which have been flavored for more than five centuries, are designed to appeal to minors. "The anti-smoking forces once again are getting their underwear in a twist by reaching for straws in their attempts to besmirch our mom-and-pop members," said Gary Pesh, president of the IPCPR. Pesh also is owner of a chain of retail tobacco stores in Virginia. "We the retailers didn't make the marketing switch and we never market to or sell any kind of tobacco products to children."
The Associated Press and other news sources have reported that some small producers have relabeled their RYO products as pipe tobacco to avoid having consumers pay newly increased tobacco taxes at the much higher RYO level.
Among other increases on tobacco products, the new RYO taxes jumped 2,000 percent per pound. RYO tobacco sales have plummeted while pipe tobacco sales are on the rise. Pesh believes it is due, in small part, to the label switch but mostly because many consumers who roll their own cigarettes are simply using pipe tobacco, which, because of lower taxes, is less expensive than RYO tobacco.
"The IPCPR is comprised of some 2,000 tobacconists, largely small, neighborhood businesses that maintain very high standards of ethics and professionalism. We didn't support these tax increases but, now that they are here, we abide by the letter of the law," Pesh said.
Pesh is particularly concerned with the well-funded anti-tobacco organizations claiming in the reports that his organization's membership sells any kind of tobacco products to children, including flavored pipe tobacco.
"Pipe tobacco is marketed strictly to adults – as are all of the tobacco products we sell. It's against the law to sell tobacco to minors. Period. As for pipe tobacco, it has been infused with a wide range of flavors to enhance and provide variety in its taste and aroma for the adult pipe smoker since the 1500s," he said.
The new tax increases on tobacco products went into effect earlier this year to fund SCHIP, the government's expanded children's health insurance program.
"These tobacco taxes are never going to be enough to pay for SCHIP. If more people smoked, they might be enough, but we all know that smoking overall is on the decline, largely due to these very same increased taxes. In a way, the government is throwing out the baby with the bath water by over taxing tobacco," said Pesh.
As for the news reports, Pesh emphasized that pipe tobacco and RYO tobacco are different products for different uses; that pipe tobacco has been flavored for five hundred years and has never been marketed to children; and that the IPCPR fully supports children's healthcare but believes it should be funded by sources other than tobacco.
"Taxes aimed at modifying behavior have a way of backfiring. And the last thing we need is for government to further intrude on our businesses and personal lives," he said.
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For more information about tobacco tax issues in your state, please visit www.ipcpr.org.*MORE
By Chris McCalla, Legislative Dir. (IPCPR)
Only Cigarettes, Smokeless, and Cigarette Rolling Tobacco Products to be Initially Regulated
The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association filed its public comment with the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Nov. 4. This public comment details the demographics of our members' businesses and the differences between premium cigars and other tobacco products, among other statements. As the FDA develops its regulations as directed by the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (H.R. 1256), recently approved by Congress and signed into law by the president, the IPCPR felt it important to state its position in relation to this statute and reaffirm to the FDA that cigars were not intended for regulation by Congress.
To view the IPCPR public comment, please click here and then click on the attachment link.
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For more information on tobacco legislation in your state, please visit www.ipcpr.org.*MORE
This morning I was forwarded an email from Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America (www.cigarassociation.org) to all CAA member companies, regarding the Pennsylvania tax on small cigars. To help galvanize this effort, I thought I'd pass it along: As we have reported, Pennsylvania will begin taxing little cigars at 8 cents each beginning November 1. The state defines a little cigar as those weighing 4 lbs. or less per 1,000. The legislation has raised many questions.Below is a message from Gerry Kupris, our lobbyist and executive director of the PA Assn. of Distributors, regarding a meeting which will be held in an attempt to answer those questions.*MORE
From: Chris McCalla, Legislative Dir., IPCPR
By a vote of 46 - 1, the New York City Council Wednesday afternoon [October 14, 2009] passed legislation banning the sale of flavored tobacco products in the city. However, tobacco used in pipes and hookahs was exempted. According to the fiscal impact, the measure would result in a revenue loss to the city of $1 million. The mayor has 10 days to decide whether or not to veto the measure. If he does not, it becomes effective 120 days after he signs it into law. If the measure is challenged in court (as it is likely to be), it may not be effective for yet a longer period.
The ban specifies as follows: "Sale of flavored tobacco products prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or offer for sale any tobacco product or any component part thereof, including,but not limited to, the tobacco, paper, roll or filter, which contains any natural or artificial constituent or additive that causes such tobacco product or its smoke to have a characterizing flavor; provided, however, that it shall not be unlawful for any person to sell or offer for sale any tobacco product or any such component part thereof which is designed for use in a pipe or hookah, whether or not such tobacco product or component part thereof causes such tobacco product or its smoke to have a characterizing flavor."
Characterizing flavor is defined as follows: "Characterizing flavor" means a taste or aroma experienced prior to or during consumption of a tobacco product that predominates over and is distinguishable from the taste or aroma of tobacco. Such flavor shall include, but is not limited to, any such tastes or aromas relating to any fruit, chocolate, vanilla,honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice; provided, however, that such term shall not include tobacco, menthol, mint or clove tastes or aromas. A public statement or claim disseminated by the manufacturer,or by any person authorized or permitted by the manufacturer to make or disseminate public statements concerning the tobacco product, that a tobacco product has or produces a flavor, disseminate public statements concerning the tobacco product, that a tobacco product has or produces a flavor, taste or aroma (other than tobacco, menthol,mint or clove) shall constitute proof that the tobacco product has a characterizing flavor. A tobacco product shall not be determined to have a characterizing flavor solely because of the use of additives or flavorings or the provision of ingredient information."
(Information courtesy of Cigar Association of America.)*MORE
By Chris McCalla, Legislative Dir. (IPCPR)
Following months of political wrangling, stonewalling, and failed negotiations, Pennsylvania State Legislature finally approved the state's operating budget. The governor signed the budget late Friday [October 9, 2009]. Despite several tobacco tax excise increases, large cigars will not be taxed at the proposed 30% excise tax rate. Large cigars by definition are those weighing three pounds or more per 1,000 cigars; this definition covers the premium handmade cigar and popular-priced, large cigar product lines. Thank you to all IPCPR retailers and their customers for joining the fight to Protect their Liberty! In just seven days our Legislative Action Alert was operational, Action Alert users sent 782 messages to the Capitol! Additionally, 148 new subscribers joined in the fight! Thank you for your efforts and direct action. As these fights usually prove to be long and difficult, it takes all hands on deck to ensure this kind of win. Thank you to the Cigar Association of America (CAA) and our other industry allies for their extensive lobby efforts. Additionally, thank you to the CRA for their consumer-based advocacy campaign.
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For more information on tobacco legislation in your state, please visit www.ipcpr.org.*MORE
By: GARY WECKSELBLATT
Bucks County Courier Times (phillyBurbs.com)
An agreement may be close at hand, lawmakers say.
As he hustled in and out of meetings Tuesday, Rick Taylor hedged his bets. "I think we're within shouting distance of each other," said the state representative from the 151st District of Montgomery County.
"I think it's going to move relatively quickly now. Of course, I could be wrong."
So goes budget predictions in Harrisburg, where today marks day 99 without one.
Lawmakers kept up a frenzied pace Tuesday, as leadership met with Gov. Ed Rendell early, and then the Senate passed tax and spending bills before noon in a bid to end Pennsylvania's 3-month-old budget stalemate.
House, Senate move closer on state budget continues at phillyburbs.com...*MORE
By Tony Tortorici (IPCPR) HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania -– Pennsylvania legislators and Governor Ed Rendell are heading for a showdown with more than 20 percent of the state's adults who smoke and can vote by aiming to impose a 30 percent tax on cigars and tobacco products, other than cigarettes. The move would devastate retail tobacconists, cost tax revenue instead of raising it, and encourage illegal smuggling, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.
Nearly 100 days into an impasse over the state's budget, Pennsylvania's Rules Committee last week made substantial departures from a deal made September 18. Among other changes, the revised proposal adds a 30 percent tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco in an attempt to help close the $3.2 billion tax gap.
"Outrageous!" said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR. "These legislators are so desperate to raise tax revenues that they are not thinking clearly; they are grasping at straws and really haven't thought this through."
McCalla singled out Rep. Robert Belfanti, D-Northumberland, as an example. Belfanti is quoted by the media as having said, "We stood firm against big tobacco."
"Obviously, Rep. Belfanti doesn't know what he's talking about. We are not ‘big tobacco.' Premium cigars are made primarily by small, family-owned businesses that have been hand-crafting their products for generations. These premium cigars are then sold by smoke shop owners, largely mom-and-pop operators who employ local citizens, serve their neighbors, and pay federal, state and local sales and payroll taxes.
"The real losers, however, will be Pennsylvania's discriminating cigar smokers at all economic levels who enjoy their premium cigars just as they might enjoy a single-malt scotch whiskey or a bottle of good wine," he said.
More than 70 of IPCPR's 2,000-plus members are located throughout the state of Pennsylvania. "The governor goes around defending the so-called economic progress being made in the U.S. and now he's supporting an action in his state that has the potential to completely destroy a segment of an industry that has been misunderstood and under siege, despite the facts," McCalla said.
Heavily taxed tobacco products in other states have encouraged illegal smuggling, McCalla added.
"So, not only would such a tax on cigars potentially cause the loss of businesses, jobs and tax revenues, it would encourage illegal activities which force the state's legal system to divert its attention from more important matters," he said.
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For more information on tobacco legislation in your state, please visit www.ipcpr.org.*MORE
By Tony Tortorici, IPCPR
New York, New York September 16, 2009 – The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association today announced it is joining forces with opponents of the proposal to extend New York City's smoking ban to include the city's parks and beaches. [See also NY Times story from Sep. 14, 2009] Dr. Thomas A. Farley, New York City's health commissioner since early June, proposed the broad-reaching ban last week as part of a tobacco-free strategy that would affect more than 1,700 parks, playground and recreational facilities, in addition to the city's seven beaches and 14 miles of shoreline. It would also increase local, state and federal taxes on tobacco, and urge businesses to reject financing and sponsorship from the tobacco industry.
"It is clear that Dr. Farley likes to manipulate human behavior and tell people what they can and cannot do. Now, only a few months into his new job, he's trying to manage the behavior of smokers and legitimate businesses even beyond the inordinately high levels of control he inherited. Someone ought to tell him about the constitution and the rights we have as individuals," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR.
The IPCPR is comprised of some 2,000 members, including owners of retail cigar stores and manufacturers and distributors of premium cigars and related accoutrements.
"Our members are small businesses, mostly mom-and-pop operations that employ thousands of people. We pay local, state, federal and payroll taxes. Our customers enjoy premium cigars like most people enjoy fine wine. The more you limit the places you can enjoy a good cigar, the quicker you put us out of business and eliminate all those jobs and the taxes they generate," McCalla said.
McCalla cited a Federal Reserve study that showed how smoking bans have proven to be economic dampeners.
"An Illinois smoking ban in casinos saw a decline in casino revenues of 21 percent while neighboring state casinos – all without smoking bans – had revenues stay flat or make slight gains even during a slowing economy," he said.
"The myths surrounding secondhand smoke – especially that which one might encounter in an outdoor environment - have played on the ignorance and gullibility of the public. Even the Surgeon General's report says the health effects of secondhand smoke are inconclusive. And that was indoors!
"To those of you who don't appreciate the cultured aroma of a fine cigar, what else don't you like the smell of – wet dogs and cheap perfume? Are you going to ban them next?" he asked.
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For more information on tobacco legislation in your state, pleasse visit IPCPR.org.*MORE
By Tony Tortorici (IPCPR)
Washington, D.C.-- Is the day coming when you go into a cigar store and can't buy a single cigar? That day could come sooner than anyone might expect, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association. The Washington D. C. Council has scheduled a public hearing on Bill 18-124, called the "Single Sale of Cigar Products Prohibition Amendment Act of 2009." The open ended Bill would ban the sale of individual cigars or cigar products that might be used to introduce marijuana into the human body. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on September 29 in the John A. Wilson building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington DC 20004.
"There are cigars, and then there are premium cigars. There is a huge difference between them and we need to educate the Council as to what that difference is because this bill, if enacted, would be devastating to all legitimate cigar stores in the area," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR.
"The bottom line is that this is bad legislation that won't do what it is intended to do – stop the use of marijuana. The only thing it will do is irreparable harm to owners of cigar stores, their employees and loyal customers who enjoy premium cigars."
The more than 2,000 members of IPCPR sell or manufacture premium cigars and tobacco, pipes and related accoutrements. McCalla says they are, for the most part, owner-operators of small, family-owned businesses who have employees and pay local, state and federal taxes.
"The premium cigars we offer are all hand-made from natural tobaccos. Our customers smoke premium cigars like most people enjoy fine wines. A premium cigar makes ordinary moments special and special moments extraordinary. To deny anyone that pleasure would be like banning beer because someone uses it as a chaser for, say, a shot of bourbon," said McCalla
"Legislators keep raising the taxes on premium cigars until they are so expensive people can only buy one or two at a time and now they want to ban the single sale of cigars. Ridiculous!"McCalla urged all D.C. citizens – smokers and non-smokers – to speak against the bill at the hearing on September 29 or call 202/724-8000 in advance to talk to the Council of the District of Columbia . More information about the Council may be found online at www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/.
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For more information on tobacco legislation in your state, pleasse visit their website at IPCPR.org.*MORE
New York City -– Despite millions of tax dollars coming to the cash strapped state of New York from the sale of tobacco products annually, New York City is taking actions that will ban the sale of some of those products throughout the city's five boroughs. In addition, the city is moving toward posting gruesomely graphic anti-smoking signs at the cash registers of the city's 12,000 cigarette retailers. "I'm going to assume that these are well-meaning people, but they are moving down a very slippery slope and do not realize the errors of their ways," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association. The IPCPR is joining the National Association of Tobacco Outlets and the Cigar Association of America to campaign against these actions.
The New York City Council is reviewing Proposed Introduction No. 433A that seeks to ban the sale of flavored cigarettes, flavored cigars, flavored chewing tobacco and other flavored tobacco products. At the same time, the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene wants to put graphic anti-smoking signs at cash registers where cigarettes are displayed, the first such action in the United States.
"They claim that banning the sale of flavored tobaccos is supposed to protect youth from purchasing these products. Age laws are already in place forbidding the sale of tobacco purchases by youths. Anyway, most flavored tobacco products have been included in recent federal legislation giving the Federal Drug Administration regulatory power over cigarettes. There is no reason for New York City to waste time debating whether to assume that authority," said McCalla.
The IPCPR, an association of some 2,000 premium cigar store owners and manufacturers and distributors of premium tobacco products and accoutrements, also argues against the proposed anti-tobacco signage at cash registers because, among other reasons, it is discriminatory against a minority.
"About 20 percent of New York adults smoke, so that makes them a minority and that makes such signage discriminatory. Maybe they should consider putting signs in the candy sections of stores warning of the dangers of obesity and in the beer and wine sections proclaiming the dangers of alcoholism and drinking and driving. It is a slippery slope, indeed, and smokers and non-smokers alike should be against having the government tell them what to do," he said.
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Source: International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (www.ipcpr.org)*MORE
By Tony Tortorici (IPCPR)
Washington, D.C. -- Although the Department of Defense is considering phasing in a ban on tobacco use in the military over as many as 20 years, The Pentagon reassured troops this week that it won't ban tobacco products in war zones, according to Defense Secretary Robert Gates' press secretary Geoff Morrell. But the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association isn't taking any chances. "This comes down to personal choice and the pleasure of enjoying tobacco – especially good cigars and pipe tobacco – and the individual rights for which our military are fighting," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR. His group's members include more than 2,000 small business owners of smoke shops and manufacturers and distributors of hand-made cigars, pipes and pipe tobacco. They represent some five percent of the tobacco industry.
"IPCPR members regularly send supplies of hand-made cigars to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to enjoy during their moments of relaxation. If anyone has earned the right to such pleasures, it's our troops, especially those in combat," he said.
McCalla pointed out that most people have had the image of officers smoking cigars but that cigars are enjoyed by all strata of military personnel, not unlike civilians.
"Smoking throughout the ranks is not restricted to one level or another, nor should it be. Whether they are Generals or Privates and Airmen, Admirals or Seamen, they all have equal rights to enjoy a legal product," McCalla said.
The IPCPR isn't waiting 20 years before it begins its fight for the rights of military personnel to enjoy tobacco, he explained.
"We let the anti-tobacco forces get away with spreading a lot of misinformation about smoking and secondhand smoke over the last two decades. Much of their so-called research is highly questionable and their conclusions are particularly biased. As a result, smoking bans have spread unfairly. We're not going to let that happen by default in the military," he said.
McCalla emphasized that everyone's individual rights are attacked every time there is a legislated smoking ban.
"Each smoking ban chips away at our individual rights which leads to loss of other rights, whether or not we smoke cigarettes, premium cigars or use other tobacco products. It's a right of choice and we are all affected," he said.
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For more information on tobacco legislation in your state, visit the IPCPR website.*MORE
By SHERRI ACKERMAN (AP) TAMPA - When the landmark cigar maker Hav-A-Tampa announced plans to shut down operations in its namesake city, those smitten with Tampa's reputation as Cigar City lamented the loss.
Stogies helped transform "Tampa town" from a sleepy fishing village with 700 residents in 1885 to a thriving city of 108,000 two decades later. Back then, 159 factories employed some 13,000 workers as cigar rollers and tobacco strippers.
Tampa cigar makers hurting after tax increases continues at NewsChief.com...*MORE
By Gary Korb
So, your city has passed a no-smoking ban. Meeting down at the local saloon for a good cigar is now a thing of the past, right? Not necessarily. Believe it or not, despite NYC's rigid smoking law, there are still a few pubs nestled among The Big Apple's skyscrapers where you can puff on a puro in peace. The same goes for Philadelphia, which last year initiated its own city-wide smoking ban. In a blog I stumbled upon by Chris Mohney, Editor of Gridskipper.com (The Urban Travel Guide), he refers to a map posted in Philadelphia Magazine's Daily Examiner showing where "brothers of the leaf" can smoke in "The City of Brotherly Love."
"These aren't just reader-generated tips on which bartenders will turn the other way or provide water-filled paper cups," writes Mohney, "Rather, the map features venues that manage to get around the city's year-old ban in some pseudo-legitimate fashion. Neither the map points nor the brief intro explains why these different bars can legally allow smoking, but a little Googling reveals that Philadelphia's smoking laws don't apply to any establishment where over 80% of revenue comes from alcohol."
Click here to view the map of smoking bars in Philadelphia. £ *MORE
By Gary Korb
In case you haven't yet heard about the Supreme Court's June 28th ruling on "Leegin Creative Leather Products vs. PSKS, Inc. dba Kay’s Kloset," the Court ruled that it is now legal for a manufacturer to set the minimum price a distributor can charge for the manufacturer’s goods. In the 5-4 ruling, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision overturned the 1911 "Dr. Miles Medical Co. vs. John D. Park & Sons Co." decision, which until now, made it illegal to do so. Therefore, the new law applies to all manufacturers, including exporters of premium handmade cigars. If you can bear with a little legal mumbo jumbo, the following excerpts illustrate some of the key points of the decision and should help give you a better understanding of why the Court ruled the way it did.
Justice Kennedy writes: "A single manufacturer’s use of vertical price restraints tends to eliminate intrabrand price competition; [competition between manufacturers who sell different brands of the same type of product.] 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 in-between.”
Kennedy later adds, "If the consumer can then buy the product from a retailer that discounts because it has not spent capital providing services or developing a quality reputation, the high-service retailer will lose sales to the discounter, forcing it to cut back its services to a level lower than consumers would otherwise prefer. Minimum resale price maintenance alleviates the problem because it prevents the discounter from undercutting the service provider. With price competition decreased, the manufacturer retailers compete among themselves over services."
The other side of the argument
Justice Breyer, who dissented with Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg, wrote: "The fact that a rule of law has become ‘embedded’ in our ‘national culture’ argues strongly against overruling…The per se rule forbidding minimum resale price maintenance agreements has long been ‘embedded’ in the law of antitrust. It involves price, the economy's 'central nervous system'…It reflects a basic antitrust assumption (that consumers often prefer lower prices to more service). It embodies a basic antitrust objective (providing consumers with a free choice about such matters). And it creates an easily administered and enforceable bright line, ‘Do not agree about price,’ that businesses as well as lawyers have long understood…The Court suggests that it is following the common-law tradition…In sum, every stare decisis concern [the doctrine that, once a court has laid down a principle of law applicable to a certain set of facts, it will adhere to that principle and apply it to future cases where the facts are substantially the same] this Court has ever mentioned counsels against overruling here…The only safe predictions to make about today's decision are that it will likely raise the price of goods at retail and that it will create considerable legal turbulence as lower courts seek to develop workable principles. I do not believe that the majority has shown new or changed conditions sufficient to warrant overruling a decision of such long standing."
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What does all of this mean to you, the cigar consumer? Some of the ruling's consequences are yet to be seen, but one thing's for sure: Cigar makers will now be able to set minimum retail prices for their brands and respective frontmarks. Accordingly, retailers will be prohibited by law from selling below the manufacturer's set minimum price. It may help level competition among the big online retailers, while giving the B&M cigar stores a leg up, but, as Justice Breyer noted, expect prices to go up regardless of where you purchase your cigars.
So, will cigar smokers abandon online "cigar discounters" if the prices are equivalent to their corner cigar store? Probably not. Online retailers will still have a considerable amount of market power; the ability to offer bigger selection, save customers state sales taxes where applicable, offer free cigars, shipping, and other premiums, as well as provide a wider range of customer services. It will also be incumbent upon mass merchants to be more creative in their marketing and new customer acquisition efforts.
How this decision will play out in the months ahead should prove to be even more provocative after the RTDA convenes in Houston next month when the manufacturers meet the retailers face-to-face. £
If you have the interest and the time, you can read all 55 pages of the decision by clicking here.*MORE
by Gary Korb
Here we go again. If you log on to CigarAdvisor.com fairly regularly, you may recall my blog on May 23 in which I urged cigar smokers who reside in Pennsylvania to take action against the proposed tobacco tax increase bill. It's one thing to talk about a bill, but when you actually SEE it, it takes on a more ominous dimension. Earlier this week I was handed a copy of House Bill No.1476 (see "Related Links" below), otherwise referred to as the "Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Tax Act." I read proposal. It all looks a bit sinister, too, with its stark typewriter font and numbers running down along the left of each line. If passed, the bill would not only have a drastic negative impact on our business, but there are at least three other national cigar distributors/retailers in Pennsylvania that would be hurt by its passage, not to mention certain death for practically every local cigar store. Since the smoking bans at least allow you to smoke in a cigar store, this act would get you through the back door by virtually eliminating the stores, as well.
Under Section 2, titled "Definitions," cigars come under the definition of "Tobacco product." "A product containing tobacco for consumption. The term includes a cigar, a little cigar, a cigarillo, pipe tobacco, smokeless tobacco, roll-your-own, smoking tobacco, bidis or beedies and kretek. The term does not include a cigarette."
Further down in Section 3 titled, "Incidence and rate of tax on tobacco products" part (a) it states: "The tax is imposed on the tobacco product wholesale price, regardless of the actual price at which the tobacco product is sold and regardless of whether the tobacco product is sold."
It gets better: In Section 3 (b) which references requiring a tobacco stamp, not unlike those found on the bottom of a package of cigarettes. Here's the rub: "The stamp shall be affixed to or impressed upon each package of tobacco product." Can you imagine affixing a stamp to every single cigar sold in a cigar store?
And now for the knockout punch - Section 3 (c): Tax - "The tax imposed by this section shall be at the rate of 59.2% of the wholesale price of the tobacco product." In case you didn't have your glasses on, that's FIFTY-NINE POINT TWO PERCENT.
In a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story dated June 12 by Jerry Guo, titled, "Pa. tobacco tax not a sure thing this season," Mr. Guo leads with, "In any other industry, a 60 percent increase in prices would bankrupt a business."
According to one of my sources, the state legislature does not currently have the bill on its docket for a vote, even though they want to have a budget approved by June 30th. That's some good news. Moreover, I don't have any information at this time as to if and/or when the Cigar Association of America, the Washington, D.C-based lobby group will try to halt or at least get the bill modified with regard specifically to cigars. Maybe there's still time.
Here are the names of the representatives who have introduced the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Tax Act: Frankel, Bennington, Curry, Freeman, Josephs, Leach, McGeehan, Melio, Mundy, Rubley, Thomas, and Walko.
Now that you've got the names, it's even more crucial that you contact your representatives and tell them this bill is unfair to cigar smokers. Again, you can click here to find your representatives and do so.
The Pennsylvania Cigar Tax Hotline is also still open at 1-877-978-9993. If you haven't done so already, call it today to speak to someone in your representative's office, or leave a message. (Don't count on speaking to them directly.)
What's most frustrating is that cigar smokers - imported premium handmade cigar smokers, that is - make up such a small fragment of the population. Our voice is so small it's akin to being a droplet of water in the ocean. Somehow, we must find a way to band together and get loud; show our representatives, many of whom are cigar smokers themselves, the distinction between cigars and cigarettes.
At this point all I can do is hope for the best, since my job and many others could be at stake. I also pray that at this year's RTDA in Houston, this growing threat will be addressed and that some cogent plan can be agreed upon. £
Related LinksPennsylvania House Bill No.1476Pennsylvania cigar smokers must take action now!*MORE
