The Big Smoke - Chicago - April 10th

Is anyone going to the big smoke in Chicago?
(or any of the other locations?)

I’d love to go - but it’s the kind of think you want to go to with friends, and none of my regular cigar buddies are going.
So I’ll have to live vicariously through some one else.

If you’re not familiar with the Big Smoke it’s a series of events put on by Cigar Aficionado.
The summary on their side says:

Sounds like fun to me!
Some of the larger events (at least a few I’m aware of in the past have) also offer seminars on rolling your own cigar, or pairing a cigar with spirits, or a cigar smoker’s breakfast.

If you’d like to get tickets you can do so HERE.

If you go post a comment and let me know.
Maybe you can be a StogieCast.com correspondent!

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Schwarzenegger Cigars from Californa Governor Terminator

Despite the characters involved in this post this is NOT a political post.
I just thought it was kind of funny.

Recently Arnold Schwarzenegger called Rush Limbaugh “irrelevant”

In an apparent attempt to kiss and make up Arnold sent Rush some cigars.

Sent in a special humidor, Complete with the Seal of the Governor of the State of California, these were special cigars. Official Arnold Schwarzenegger cigars. He even autographed the inside.

Here are some pictures.

Hey Arnold…
You can call me irrelevant too.
I’m a big fan … and I’m sure I would be of your cigars as well.

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Imperial offer to buyout of Altadis fails… for now.

Quick Update:
Altadis rejected the buyout offer from imperial (7.8 Billion GPB / 11.5 Billion Euro) saying Imperial’s offer had failed to “reflect the strategic value of the company, its unique and diversified assets, as well as [its] future growth prospects.”

Imperial is reportedly considering a new offer.
Perhaps Altria will get a chance after all.

Source: TimeOnline

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Imperial Tobacco places bid for Altadis

Imperial Tobacco put a bid on Altadis Wed. Evening.
It’s offer was 7.9 Billion (GBP)

Altadis will be considering the offer over the next few days, though tmcnet.com says their shares rose above the offer price, suggesting Imperial might have to raise it’s bid.

The tcmnet article offers some insight into the motivations of the deal:

Altadis is a big name in the cigar industry with some big brands under it’s umbrella.
(Montecristo)

The full context of the industry complexities escapes here I must admit.
Apparently there’s a chance that Altria - owner of Philip Morris my make a bid for IMperial at the same time.

It’s all fine by me I guess as long as we don’t see the Marlboro man smoking a Montecristo.

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Iowa Cigar Tax makes my eyes hurt

So talk about making things more complex than they need to be…
The current cigar tax situation in Iowa is dizzying.

The current state tax on cigars is 22 percent.
The more expensive the cigar… the higher the tax.

This week the Iowa House will debate a bill that would change that.
While it would raise the state cigarette tax by a dollar per pack, it could actually lower the state tax cigars.

Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, is supporting the change.

Makes sense.

He goes on to say that if the proposal becomes law, the state tax will more than double on a cigar that costs a dollar. But for expensive cigars, it could go down to just 50 cents.

While I don’t like the idea of making value cigars less a value… the concept does seem to be more fair than the attitude being taken by Senator Nancy Boettger, a Republican from Harlan.

She is quoted as saying:

Oh really,
How completely ridiculous.
So anyone that can pay 200 dollars for a purse on Michigan Ave. in Chicago could easily pay 350 for it?
I don’t think so.
My wife has one of those 200 dollars purses.
Let me tell you it was a big deal. Lots of thought went into it and it was a special purchase for her.
I had to tell her all day that it was “ok” and she deserved a nice “fun buy” every now and then.
An extra $150 would have sent my wife home without that special purchase.

Meanwhile our friend Senator McCoy (who is obviously ALSO not well experienced with cigars) suggests many Iowa cigar smokers are going on-line to buy their stogies because the state tax is so high.

No kidding??
You think??

Iowa smokers… does your head hurt trying to listen to all of this?

Source: Radio Iowa News

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Cigar victory in Philadelphia

Cigar Aficionado reports that Philadelphia’s “Blunts Bill” has been over turned.

The ordinance:

• banned the sale of flavored cigars
• banned the sale of ALL cigars within 500 feet of a
• school
• recreation center
• day-care center
• church or community center
• And banned the sale of individual cigars except in specialty cigar stores, hotels and restaurants

All because some punks were apparently buying the gas station cigars called “blunts” and using them for drugs. They would take the large cigar wrappers and use them to wrap up… something else.

Punks.

But no worries as the law has been put down.
So smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em in the city of brotherly love.

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Danvers Massachusetts smoking law hurts local cigar shop

Well I’ve been following the Cigars R Us case in Danvers, MA.
I won’t recap the whole thing here but see the “Related Posts” listed at the end of this post if you’d like to get caught up.

Recently the shop was denied a variance that would allow so degree of smoking in, or around, the establishment.
This is truly sad.

It seems the shop’s only real course of action now is to apply for a food service permit from the town so that they can be classified a cigar bar. THEN they could allow smoking… as long as revenue from the food and drink doesn’t exceed 49 percent of total revenue.

In the Danvers Herald article Mark Carleo the public health inspector was quoted as saying:

No but I’m sure they are working on that.
This is truly ridiculous. I’ve looked around for a web site or email address for the shop but came up with nothing.
I just feel like they should know people ARE on their side.
Perhaps an Internet PR blitz would at least put some pressure on the community there to stop being SO absurd that it threatens a man’s business.

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Cuban Cigar Sales and Industry Information

Hi folks.
Sorry for the slow posting schedule the past few weeks.
I shall rectify the situation.

To that end here’s some interesting cigar industry news for you.

Cuban cigar sales are going up!
DTCuba.com has an interesting article up about the curent trends Habanos S.A. enjoys.

Here’s the two second take aways:

Fun facts to impress your friends:

• Habanos S.A. sales grew 8 percent.
• Largest growth in Eastern Europe.
• Eastern Europe has a 61-percent share of the market
• Sales in Africa increased 45 percent

Other regions with large sales numbers:

• Latin America
• The Middle East
• Asia

Best Selling Brands:

1. Montecristo
2. Cohíba
3. Partagás
4. Romeo y Julieta
5. Hoyo de Monterrey
6. Trinidad
7. José L. Piedra
8. H. Upmann
9. Bolívar
10. Punch
11. Quitero
12. Ramón Allones

There are 115 Casas del Habano shops around the world

• 45 in Latin America
• 18 in Cuba
• 23 in the Middles East
• 31 in Europe
• 15 in Asia
• and 1 in Africa.

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Travel the world, smoke cigars, and watch big game!

Hi folks.
I found the following site quite by accident but I’m glad I did.
It isn’t really a cigar site - but the post I stumbled upon mentioned the group of travelers sitting at their safari camp smoking cigars when they heard a lion in the distance.

The next morning they got some great pictures, and even some video footage of a lion kill. At some points they are close enough to smell the lions breath.

And that’s pretty much the premise of the site.
The site’s mission statement is “Have Camera, will travel… just about anywhere!”
How cool would it be to travel the world smoking cigars and watching big game?!

eh…maybe when I win the lottery.
If you are interested the post I read and enjoyed is HERE.

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Cabaiguan Imperiales

Cabaiguan Imperiales

7″ X 47, Natural

I won’t lie, I tried this as part of a Blind Tasting, which to me validatesthe glowing review. If I can rave about it not knowing what it was, then it clearly wasn’t hype. Read the damage below!

Construction: What a beauty! As you can see in the pic above its a luscious looking ligt brown vitola of decent length, nicely packed and clearly expertly rolled. It seems to me I saw a triple cap which generally means of cuban origin, or a Fuente Opus X, though it did not have the rosado hue of the latter. No soft spots, not veins to see, not one blemish at all!

Pre-Light: Rich and tangy smelling, with a host of earthy smells, this cigar did a good job of highlighting the flavors to come. Clip was easy and the pre light draw was fairly easy, just restricting enough to ensure what was going to be a long languid experience. the Pre-draw yeailede more of the the tasty notes experienced in the intial smell.

Burn: You can see how fine the construction is in the burn of this stogie. Long and slow, cool and straight, this stogie did not need a single touch up after the initial light. Did I mention how slow it burned. I lit this cigar at the beginning of popping in the DVD “The Day After Tomorrow” and the cigar lasted THE ENTIRE MOVIE! And not once did it burn hot, allowing its marvelous flavor profile to shine through. The Draw while it burned was just perfect, restrictive enough as not to burn hot, but yielding a plethora of fragrant smoke.

Taste: What a lovely rich cigar. Amazingly smooth and round on the palate, this cigar abounds with earthy and rich notes. I dont wanna pin down the sweetness with a specific I dentifier, except to say it si natural (molasses maybe?). Also notes of wood like standing in a whiskey aging room, and a field on a farm after the rain (you know, that wet earth rich smell. The thing that stuck me most is that it had all these rich flavors while maintaining that incredible smoothness. Almost the epitome of what a medium bodied medium strength cigar should taste like. A genuine EXPERIENCE, not just a cigar to smoke.

In Summary, all I can say is if you like mild-medium cigars, and you get the chance, smoke one of these!

Summary:

Like the Cigar: YES
Buy it Again: YES
Recommend to a Friend: YES

TomC
The Smoking Lounge

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