Sunday, March 11 2007
In the seventh of what is now an annual series, the 2007 Avo Limited Edition - the L.E.07 - will debut at a series of 12 dinners hosted by leading tobacconists around the country beginning on March 16.
The first stop will be with his friends at
Corona Cigar Company of Lake Mary, Florida, home of the Avo Lounge, to be followed by another event with the Corona Cigar Co. store in Orlando, Florida in the evening following. The highlight will be the introduction of the L.E.07, a 5 5/8-inch by 48-ring short
Toro, offered unbanded and uncellophaned in elegant boxes of 20.
As in the past, the blend features a sun-grown Ecuadorian wrapper, Dominican-grown binder and filler leaves, this time emphasizing the Piloto Cubano and San Vicente strains. The result is a cigar "on the fuller side compared to the standard lines," notes Avo brand manager Matthew Kern of Davidoff of Geneva. Kern further wrote that the blend is "still very rich, aromatic and balanced."
In the case of the Avo limiteds, this cigar really is a limited edition. A total of 7,000 boxes (140,000 cigars) will be produced in total, with 4,000 boxes (80,000 cigars) reserved for the U.S. market.
"Government regulation of tobacco could backfire by leading smokers to light up more often and inhale more deeply, the Food and Drug Administration chief said Tuesday."
Is this possible? In the heat of hearings by do-gooder Senators who want to insert the government into tobacco regulation, the U.S. F.D.A. director says "no thanks"?
It's exactly what Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach told the Associated Press on March 6.
"We could find ourselves in the conundrum of having made a decision about nicotine only to have made the public health radically worse," he told the news service in an interview. "And that is not the position FDA is in; we approve products that enhance health, not destroy it."
His concern is that consumers who would recognize that the FDA has authority over tobacco would conclude – wrongly, according to von Eschenbach – that cigarettes were somehow safe, or at least safer than before regulation. It's a legitimate worry, but one the anti-tobacco forces do not want to hear.
"We have the opportunity to take a very important comprehensive, public health approach to this problem." he told the AP. "And it's not a matter of giving FDA regulation or authority. It's a matter of addressing the public health problem that's before us."
Little MasterDirect Cigars scored a major upset victory in the British Court of Appeal last week that could cause a significant shift in the pricing of Cuban cigars in foreign markets.
On March 14, 2006, the British High Court held that the cigars were not proved to be counterfeit, but that no consent by Habanos S.A. was present (implicitly or explicitly) for export of its cigars purchased in Cuba to be sold in another country. So, MasterCigars Direct's activity in selling the cigars it bought in Cuba in Great Britain (and elsewhere via its website) was subject to the authorization of the exclusive importer – Hunters & Frankau – which was not about to give its consent.
The Court of Appeal disagreed. In news reports of its decision, the court apparently impaled Habanos – and by extension, Hunters – on its own past policy of allowing the sale of small amounts of cigars from its Casa del Habano stores for resale in other countries. This practice, according to the Court, amounted to a tacit agreement to allow sales of cigars (and use of its trademark) outside of its network of exclusive distributors in each country.
Lord Justice Jacob noted that "I suppose nearly all members of the public would think that you cannot infringe a trade mark if you are just selling the genuine goods of the proprietor to which he has applied his trade mark."
The Court of Appeal did note that MasterDirect Cigars may not be able to import cigars in the same way in the future, since Habanos has changed its sales policy in Cuba to try to quash commercial purchases of even a single box for resale elsewhere.
However, the danger hasn't passed. The comments of Justice Jacob might well be taken to indicate that if genuine Havana cigars are brought into the British market, even if from another jurisdiction and not from Habanos, S.A.'s distributor for that market, they could be sold in Britain. So what if a Habanos distributor for Asian or Middle Eastern or South American territories provides cigars to small sellers in Britain and other European markets? At least on trademark grounds, such parallel importation may be legal, in Britain anyway. Only time will tell if this scenario plays out and Habanos S.A. and Hunters & Frankau are considering their options for an additional appeal, which would have to be to the House of Lords.
- Rich Perelman in Los Angeles
Want more? Join Rich for daily coverage of cigars, accessories, people and issues at CigarCyclopedia.com.
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Reprinted by permission. Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2007; All rights reserved.
