Sunday, September 14 2008
What may well be the most intense launch campaign ever undertaken for a new cigar brand will get started in two smokeshops on September 18.
That's when the Macanudo 1968 National Tasting Tour will start at Jungle Jim's of Fairfield, Ohio and at Liberty Smokes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the first two of an incredible 450 in-store events that will take place in just 22 days to promote this new version of the venerable Macanudo brand, now celebrating its 40th anniversary in the hands of General Cigar.
The Tour will visit shops in 41 states over three weeks with six states slated for 20 or more events: 40 in New York, 39 in Florida, 37 in Texas, 24 in Illinois, 24 in Pennsylvania and 22 in California. Michigan is scheduled for 19 events and the Tour will end (for now) on October 9 at The Tasting Room in Minona, Wisconsin.
General's campaign reaches far beyond stores with advertising in magazines with a strong audience of adult men, including Esquire, Golf Digest, Men's Journal, Playboy, Yachting and others.
The cigar itself is the only Macanudo which does not use a Connecticut-grown wrapper; instead, it features an extra-dark Honduran-grown San Augustin wrapper with a Connecticut-grown Habano binder. The filler tobaccos are from the Dominican Republic and from the Nicaraguan island of Ometepe. It's a limited-production brand that is offered in four sizes: Churchill (7 inches by 49 ring), Toro (6 x 54), Robusto (5 x 50) and Gigante (6 x 60), all in boxes of 20. Retail pricing runs from $8.50 to $11.00 each, not including local sales and tobacco taxes.
>> According to The New York Times, Congressional Democrats do not intend to bring up the SCHIP legislation – that would raise the Federal tax rate on cigars and the tax cap from 4.875 cents to $3 – again this year. They have concluded that President George W. Bush will veto the bill again and that the House Republicans will again have enough votes to sustain that veto.
In addition, according to the Congressional Budget office, the cost of the bill has increased, however, the revenues from tobacco taxes remain about the same. Because of the projected cost increases, Congress would need to figure out how to fund the extra cost. Opposition to the current SCHIP bill remains from Hispanic, African-and Asian-American members of Congress due to a lack of coverage for some immigrants.
Finally, time is a factor as Congress will be adjourning in the next three or four weeks, potentially leaving insufficient time for the legislative process to play out. With projections showing the Democrats gaining seats in both the House and Senate in November, it is possible that the Democrats are simply playing for time until the next Congress convenes.
>> "The Royal College of Physicians says radical measures are needed to curb smoking: swinging increases in tobacco tax; tougher penalties for tobacco smugglers; and promoting alternative forms of nicotine. The college says the approach ‘has the potential to end tobacco smoking in the UK within the next 20 years.'"
That report appeared in the British newspaper The Independent and marked the College's latest broadside against tobacco in a country in which 22% of the adult population (about 10 million people) are estimated to be smokers.
It has filed a report called "Ending Tobacco Smoking in Britain" and according to the report, "says the tax on tobacco should be increased by 10 per cent every year, and its sale restricted to licensed retailers in premises, such as off-licences, from which children should be banned.
Although the major emphasis of the report is on cigarettes, cigars are clearly included in the program design suggested. In the words of the report, "The primary objective of regulation of smoked tobacco should be to make smoking and smoked tobacco products as unappealing, unattractive, unaffordable and unavailable as possible, as quickly as possible."
Among the many suggestions are to license all tobacco sales outlets, to constantly increase the minimum annual license fee to essentially close all small tobacconists (which would surely include almost all cigar shops in the country), eliminate Internet sales of tobacco, restrict the hours during which tobacco products could be sold, restrict or eliminate all advertising expenditures and insist on "plain generic packaging" for all tobacco products. The report also suggests "Penalties for smugglers should be increased to match those for class-A drugs such as heroin and imposed also on those who sell cigarettes to children."
If all these things and more are done, the report believes that tobacco use can be eliminated by 2025.
Short fillers: Find our latest tasting review, of new cigars that were the stars of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association convention & trade show, in our News & Views archives for September 12.
- 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.
