Sunday, October 05 2008
J.C. Newman's Diamond Crown and
Diamond Crown Maximus cigar brands aren’t always the easiest to find. But finding a place to smoke them might be getting a little easier.
The concept of the Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge – a place to relax and smoke a cigar as well as buy one – has exploded in 2008. The first was opened at Davidus Cigar of Urbana, Maryland on September 29, 2007, but by the end of 2008, there are expected to be 46 such locations spread across 23 states!
These aren't new shops, but rather recognition for existing shops which stock J.C. Newman brands such as Cuesta-Rey, La Unica and, of course, Diamond Crown, which offer both the opportunity to buy cigars and to enjoy them in a friendly atmosphere. With the advance of smoking bans in so many states and cities, the ability to host smokers is an increasingly important part of the retail experience.
This makes the Diamond Crown Cigar Lounge concept much different than General Cigar's Club Macanudo, which are stand-alone lounges now in three U.S. locations in New York, at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland (the home of the Washington Redskins of the NFL) and inside a larger club in Miami. It should be noted that J.C. Newman has its own standalone club inside Tampa's Tropicana Field, the Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar, which is located behind the batter's eye on Centerfield Street.
But Diamond Crown lounges are being christened at a ferocious pace. The second shop to be identified as a Diamond Crown lounge was Corona Cigar in Orlando, Florida in April of this year. By the end of June there were nine. But by the end of 2008, there are slated to be 46 Diamond Crown lounges with at least one each in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. With, no doubt, more to come.
>> Magnum's Cigar Wine and Liquor Emporium won a round in court on September 30 in its ongoing battle against the Arizona Department of Health. The Phoenix-area shop's view that it met the statutory requirements of the Smoke-Free Arizona Act to allow smoking in the shop was upheld by the Arizona Court of Appeal after being rejected at the trial court level.
"I'm extraordinarily pleased and happy for me and my family," said owner Amar Patel in an interview with the Arizona Capitol Times. "It's always what we felt was right and we felt we were going to win this case."
The Arizona Department of Health Services told Patel that because his store also carries a liquor license, smoking was not allowed since bars and restaurants were specifically included in the 2006, voter-approved measure. But Patel's store qualified for the exemption for tobacco shops because it receives more than 50.1% of its revenue from the sales of tobacco and tobacco-related products.
Patel lost the first round when a Maricopa County Superior Court judge decided in March that the Smoke-Free Act applied to him. But that decision was reversed by the Court of Appeal. Judge John Gemmill wrote that "Although the act specifies that the majority of a retail tobacco store's sales must be from tobacco products and accessories, it places no restrictions on the source of the other 49.9 percent sales."
Patel said that the case has cost him more than $100,000 in legal fees so far and it's likely that the Department of Health Services will ask for a review by the Arizona Supreme Court. Don Herrington, the head of Epidemiology and Disease Control for the Department of Health Services said that "all of its options" are being considered.
>> Who is "Ted" in the "Ted's Made by Hand" line? Turns out it's Ted Jackson who got into cigars in 1996 when he was asked by the folks who create Maker's Mark bourbon to come up with a cigar for their "Roaring '20s" party for that year's Kentucky Derby.
After a lot of trial-and-error experiments, Jackson finally settled on a handmade blend manufactured in the Dominican Republic which was infused with Maker's Mark Bourbon, enclosed in glass tubes and sealed with the famed Maker's Mark red-wax drip. It was an immediate hit and Jackson's English Emprise company has sold millions of the Maker's Mark line, not to mention his Courvoisier line, infused with the famed Cognac. He's also produced several commemorative cigars, including glass-tubed blends for both of the George W. Bush Presidential inaugurations.
Jackson also teamed with blender Jesus Sanchez to make a cigar for his own taste. When he renovated a historic farm in Corydon, Indiana into a haven for friends, he also asked them to help build parts of it with him. After a hard day's work, he rewarded them with his personal cigar. Pretty soon, more people were requesting "Ted's" cigar and a new brand was born. The natural-wrapped version debuted in 2007 and the maduro-wrapped style was introduced for public sale in 2008.
Short fillers: Find our latest tasting review, of five blends of the Paul Garmirian line in our News & Views archives for October 3.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
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Reprinted by permission. "Heard in the Humidor" is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2008; All rights reserved.
