Monday, February 13 2006
The following cigar news items are courtesty of the HEARD IN THE
HUMIDOR newsletter, which features highlights of the week in cigars and smoking, from CigarCyclopedia.com.
January 23-27 - Cuban cigars are limited, legendary and profitable.
That's why so much attention is being paid to an 18-month-old case which is coming up for decision soon on whether "parallel" imports of Havana cigars into Britain are legal. At stake are the distribution rights not only for Great Britain - held by the venerable firm of Hunters & Frankau - but by extension the entire European Union and the big cigar markets in Spain, France and Germany.
The "parallel" or "gray" market involves the purchase of a product for sale in one country but used for sale in another. In this case, a five-year-old company called MasterCigars Direct purchased a lot of Havanas originally intended for another country, but then imported them into Britain for sale there and through its Internet site to others worldwide. Hunters & Frankau has an exclusive agreement for the import of Havanas with Habanos , S.A., the Cuban firm which distributes cigars made in that country (half-owned by Altadis , S.A .).
The goods were seized by British Customs and have been held while the case is being heard. Hunters says the importation is illegal and violates its exclusive distribution agreement and its right to the use of all Cuban cigar trademarks. MasterCigars Direct argues that since it purchased the cigars legally in Cuba, it has the tacit approval of the ultimate trademark owners and should be allowed to import them anywhere.
Business commentators have recognized the potential for a ripple effect on prices if MasterCigars ultimately wins. The big losers would not only be Hunters, but Altadis, which could see its profits for distribution and sale of Habanos reduced through greater "gray market" activity.
Looking for the next "rare" cigar from the Fuentes? It could be a special edition to salute the premiere of "The Lost City," a new film from actor/director Andy Garcia about the tumultuous fall of the Batista regime and the takeover by Fidel Castro in 1958-59.
Garcia told Smoke magazine interviewer - and founding editor - Aaron Sigmond that Carlos Fuente, Jr. helped with the production by planting ten acres of tobacco and covering it with cheesecloth for the film's scenes in tobacco fields. "It was more of an experiment for him because the summer is generally a time for land to rest, but the crop turned out really well," said Garcia. "[Carlito] wants to put out a special Lost City edition cigar with the wrapper from that summer shoot."
Short fillers : Cigar bars are popular, but now cigarettes are getting the same treatment! R.J. Reynolds opened the first-known "cigarette bar" in Chicago, called "Marshall McGearty Tobacco Artisans" on North Milwaukee Avenue. It offers a full bar and some dessert and snack items, but features eight custom-made cigarette blends that sell for $8 a pack. With Reynolds behind it, it will be the first of many if successful . . . Swedish Match, the owner of General Cigar, may be misnamed after selling off much of its match-making operations in Europe and Asia, in order to concentrate on more profitable activities . . . like cigars!
January 16-20 - Big cigars are all the rage, as are value cigars that you can smoke everyday and not worry about the price.
The Tabacalera Perdomo scored on both fronts last week with their reintroduction of their Perdomo Fresco line. There are four big-ring sizes: Robusto (5 inches by 50 ring), Toro (6 x 50), Churchill (7 x 50) and Torpedo (6 1/2 x 54), all featuring Connecticut Shade wrappers and Nicaraguan-grown binder and filler leaves, grown on Perdomo's own farms.
It's mild-to-medium in body and offered at retail prices (before local tobacco taxes) of $1.90 to $2.20, in colorfully-dressed bundles of 25.
The Fresco line continues the trend toward larger and larger ring gauges. In 1995, there were only four cigars made for the U.S. market with billy-club-width ring gauges of one inch (64 ring) or more; this year, the Perelman's Pocket Cyclopedia of Cigars lists 36!
Perdomo makes one of the largest cigars, the Cuban Parejo Galaxia at 10 inches long with a ring gauge of 100! It's not the biggest, however, as Miamis La Tradicion Cubana makes The Big One - the fattest cigar on the planet - at 12 inches long and 192 ring gauge (three inches!) and the Great Pyramid (8 1/2 inches long by 128 ring).
The Miami Herald ran a story last week noting new worries in Cuba over whether the Communist government will survive the eventual death of Fidel Castro. Staff writer Frances Robles noted, "In recent weeks, the Cuban government has made a series of rare public comments urging Cubans to embrace the revolution - or risk its future. Having just celebrated the revolutions 47th anniversary, Cuban government officials are openly worrying that the generation of disaffected youth that grew up with scarcity and hard times since the early 1990s will be the very catalyst that destroys Castro's legacy."
Short fillers: Budget officials in Cook County, Illinois are trying not only to impose new cigarette taxes, but to tax cigars and other tobacco products on a weight or priced-based system, but are getting a stiff fight from distributors who point out that the administration of the tax on non-cigarette items will cost as much as is collected . . . another smoking ban is set to be enacted in New Jersey in about 90 days, but it exempts smokeshops, cigar bars and, interestingly, casino floors in Atlantic City . . . one more reason for Cubans to consider going capitalist: their new tourism record of 2.3 million visitors in 2005 is a little embarrassing compared to last weeks announcement of last year's Los Angeles-area tourism total of just less than 25 million. While Cubas total Gross Domestic Product in 2003 was estimated at $31.6 billion, tourism in the L.A. area brought in $12.7 billion by itself!
January 6-13 - With the start of the New Year, Cuba's Festival del Habano can't be far away. Started as a seminar program in 1998, this year's Festival will be the eighth and will mark the 40th anniversary (1966-2006) of the Cohiba brand. The Romeo y Julieta will also be saluted, probably with a new size for the already-extensive range.
The five-day program will begin in Havana on February 27 and include visits to the famed tobacco fields of the Vuelta Abajo area of the Pinar del Rio province, a tour of the El Laguito factory - home of the Cohiba, Davidoff and Trinidad brands - and a series of seminars before the final Gala Dinner on March 3.
The Festival draws about 1,000 attendees annually, but the tariff is stiff: $1,260 in "Cuban Convertible Pesos" (essentially equal to $1 U.S. per peso). You can buy the parts you want a la carte: the Gala Dinner costs $500, the opening night reception is $200, but it's only $75 for the plantation tour to the Vuelta Abajo and $10 for the El Laguito visit!
Short fillers: A University of Central Florida research project has demonstrated the viability of using tobacco plants to produce an extraordinarily pure vaccine for anthrax. Thanks to the quick-growth characteristics of tobacco, a one-acre planting could produce up to 360 million doses in a single year! . . . New York has its annual Times Square ceremony, but a giant, seven- foot-long cigarwas dropped to mark the New Year in Richland, Pennsylvania for the first time last week. It joins other mid-state "drops" such as a 300-pound Kiss in Hershey and a monster pickle in Dillsburg . . . A tip for heavy users of torch lighters: clean the sparking mechanism with a few blasts of compressed air to keep the area clean and your fire bright!
