Thursday, June 08 2006
Cuba's co-president of
Habanos S.A., Oscar Basulto, always has something interesting to say. In the Summer 2006 issue of Smoke, he had a ready message for American smokers about the future of
Havana cigars:
"Those [Americans] who are most enthusiastic to smoke the best tobacco in the world and have been able to acquire it, they will smoke Habanos for sure [when they legally can do so]. I daresay many of these people will leave cigars from other origins behind and move to [smoking only] the Cubans. Others who have not been able to buy Habanos may well continue to enjoy cigars from different origins - Dominican cigars, for example - because they continue to enjoy them."
Smoke correspondent Gary Heathcott pointed out that some Nicaraguan brands have been compared favorably to Havanas. Basulto brushed the comparison aside:
"[M]ost American smokers have tried very few real Cuban cigars. Otherwise, their opinions would be different. Generally speaking, Nicaraguan cigars have a good presence, but they have nothing to do with Cuban cigars. . . .[W]e feel they can never emulate our products unique flavor and aroma.
"I am not saying Nicaraguan cigars are bad. They are different - in my judgment, not as tasty nor as aromatic as Cubans. . . .[T]hey are simply not working with the weather conditions, soil or climate that we have in Cuba."
Political victories for smokers are few and far between, but the first week in June brought some good news for the West Coast. In Oregon, a measure to increase cigarette taxes failed to collect enough signatures and will not appear on the November ballot.
In California, actor-director-activist Rob Reiner was rebuffed at the ballot box as his universal pre-school funding initiative (Prop. 82) lost by a 61%-39% margin, carrying only three of the states 58 counties. Reiner was the individual most responsible for the passage of the current California tax burden of 46.76% on cigars and with a potentially crippling tobacco tax-increase measure looming in November, the results gives some hope to those trying to stop the new anti-tobacco measure.
Despite a strong push by government to make Australia tobacco-free in 15-20 years, newspaper reports indicate cigar smoking is increasing. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that while Cuban cigars are popular, so are familiar brands to U.S. smokers such as Arturo Fuente, Cuesta-Rey, Davidoff, Dunhill and Padron.
The state government of Victoria pledged $52 million Australian (about $38.5 million U.S.) over the next four years to help fund auto racing and other sporting events hit by the elimination of tobacco company sponsorships. One wonders what the public would think if told in advance that its tax dollars would be used to cover shortfalls caused by a ban on tobacco ads?
Short fillers: Where did the phrase "Close but no cigar!" come from? According to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, it "originated in the mid-20th century when a cigar was the prize issued for winning a carnival game: . . . Macanudo introduced a new size in its standard Café line, the Thames. It's a toro of six inches long and 50 ring, but offered in an aluminum tube, the fifth tubed cigar in the Macanudo line . . . Raul Castro, the Cuban military minister and heir-apparent to brother Fidel, turned 75 on June 3. He's long been designated to take over after his brother retires or dies . . . but who will die first? . . . find our latest tasting review, featuring the Cumbres de Puriscal Gold line using tobacco grown from Cuban seeds from the 1950s, in our News & Views archives for June 9.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
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Heard in the
Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company.
Copyright 2006; All rights reserved.
