1998 Interview with cigar execs Edgar Cullman Sr. and Edgar Cullman Jr.

(smokemag.com) The two men at the helm of one of the world’s largest and most successful cigar companies share a bond that stretches well beyond that of fundamental business loyalty. It is the unmistakable bond between father and son. These guardians of such celebrated brands as Macanudo, Punch, Hoyo de Monterrey, Partagas, and Cohiba are Edgar M. Cullman, chairman of General Cigar Holdings, and his son Edgar Cullman Jr., president and C.E.O.
They share a fascinating romance with tobacco dating back to the turn of the century. From Edgar Sr.’s great grandfather Ferdinand, who emigrated from Germany to the U.S. in 1848 during the European revolution, to Edgar Jr., who currently runs the day-to-day operations of General Cigar, this family’s history with the golden leaf is remarkable. Listen in as these visionary men share a morning with SMOKE Publisher Robert M. Lockwood and expound on cigars; past, present, and future. Continued

Irene leaves hard times for East Coast tobacco farmers

STONEWALL, N.C. (AP) Far from the beach towns that took Hurricane Irene's first hit, the storm inflicted some of its worst damage on inland farms as crops were pummeled by wind, scalded by salt spray and submerged by floodwaters. Some farmers are reporting total losses.
"My tobacco crop is completely wiped out. I can't harvest any of it," said Keith Beavers, whose Mount Olive farm lies about 70 miles from the ocean. "It's either blown off the stalk or off the limb, and what's left is raggedy." Continued

Selling Cigars, Tobacco with Health Claims

(National Cigar History Museum) Tobacco and health have been associated as long as the weed has been used. The earliest health uses by native Americans were as a poultice, an emetic and other uses best forgotten. Practitioners in Europe tried it for various ailments, and drug store jars testify to its medical uses by some folks well into the 1800’s.
It is not surprising that smoking should be deemed by some as a healthy practice as pipes of shredded leaf were prescribed by doctors for centuries. As demand for cigars escalated in the early 1830’s what more natural than healthy cigars? Continued

First Cuban Edición Limitada Cigar of 2011 Ships

(Cigar Aficionado) The first of this year’s Cuban Edición Limitadas—the Hoyo de Monterrey Short Hoyo Pirámides—has been released and is shipping to retailers across the world.
According to an announcement by global Cuban cigar distributor Habanos S.A., the Short Hoyo Pirámides are expected to hit shops by this week.
It’s the first cigar in a series of three 2011 Edición Limitadas, with the Cohiba 1966 and the Ramon Allones Allones Extra to follow later this year. Continued

The Digger from La Flor Dominicana Cigars

(Cigar Aficionado) Imagine you're in a dark alley, smoking a cigar. You're approached by a mugger. What do you do? If you're smoking the new La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero The Digger, you have the option of taking the cigar from your mouth and using it to club your attacker into submission. We joke, of course, but if the Digger isn't big enough to knock a person out, it's certainly larger than just about any other cigar you've seen. Continued

Tobacco Review: GL Pease Odyssey

(Cake & Dottle) Being a Latakiaphile I was excited to start smoking some of the GL Pease tins I have put away. No one has as many highly regarded tobaccos as Greg, and I have quite a few of his blends in my cellar. To date the only GLP tobacco I've smoked is Key Largo, which is a very nice tobacco indeed. Latakia, burley, cigar leaf. Not overwhelmingly cigar-y, not really a Latakia blend in the traditional sense. It's a unique and enjoyable smoke. Continued

Bulgarian King's Tobacco to invest 45M leva in new cigarette plant

(Sofia Echo) Bulgarian cigarette maker King's Tobacco will pump 45 million leva into a new production capacity, due for completion in 2012, the Plovdiv-based company said on August 26. The new plant will cover 74 000 sq m and will create 400 jobs. ... King's Tobacco recorded a more than 200 per cent jump in sales abroad for the past nine months alone. Continued

Edgar M. Cullman, Cigar Industry Giant, Dies at Age 93

(Cigar Aficionado) Edgar M. Cullman, the man who led General Cigar Co. for decades and made Macanudo one of the best-selling brands in the history of the premium cigar business, died yesterday afternoon. He was 93 years old. He passed at his home in Connecticut surrounded by his loved ones.
"Edgar Sr. was a giant and a visionary. A legend for more than 45 years in America's premium cigar industry," said Marvin R. Shanken, editor and publisher of Cigar Aficionado magazine. "This is a sad day." Continued

Also, from the New York Times: Edgar M. Cullman Sr. Dies at 93; Helped Turn Cigars Into Objects of Desire

When will U.S. Grower Direct purchase tobacco?

(Tobacco Farmer Newsletter) An employee at the company's office in North Carolina said earlier this week that opening is scheduled for "early" in the week of August 29.
No other information was provided. Continued

JPS Bagged Tobacco

(CSN) Republic Tobacco introduced its new line of JPS Bagged Pipe Tobacco, available in three unique varieties: regular blend Paradise, mint blend Island and gold blend Treasure. The cut and moisture of the product are designed to be just right for packing and to provide rich, smooth smoking satisfaction, the company reported. All bags are tamper-proof and re-sealable to maintain product freshness and flavor. Link

Cigar Tea: An Albuquerque Favorite

(St. James Tearoom) Back by popular demand, the Cigar Tea combines the full afternoon three course tea meal with fine cigars and apéritifs, creating a match exquisite for any connoisseur! This event will be held outdoors in either of two areas - the (quieter, hidden) tea terrace near the waterfall, and the (louder, but with a view) roof deck. (This special event utilizes the roof deck, not handicapped accessible.)

Please call the tearoom if there are any guests in your party who would be unable to climb the stairs, so that we can seat you in the terrace.)

For over eight years this has been one of the best ways to introduce gentlemen to the pleasures of tea. But of course, we still get plenty of the ladies who enjoy the cigar tea as well. Register soon, because this one will fill up quickly!

$52 per person, includes full three course meal, two fine cigars, and two apéritifs and digestifs with your meal (Madeira, Sherry, and Port).

Wednesday, October 5
6:30 - 8:30pm (at least!)
$52 per person includes tax & tip
Link

'Gamblers Of The Soil' Prepare For Hurricane Irene

(Hartford Courant) As workers scrambled Thursday morning to harvest broadleaf tobacco in anticipation of heavy rain in the afternoon and a hurricane this weekend, Howard Horton's thoughts went back to 1938.
"That was the worst to ever hit us," the 87-year-old farmer said of the devastating hurricane. Horton's family has been farming in the Nayaug section of South Glastonbury for more than 150 years. "Both wind and rain, and then the Connecticut River crested at nearly the highest point ever recorded. But we survived. We are gamblers of the soil." Continued

Boulder cigar festival sparks up fun and friendship

(dailycamera) Smoking has always been a communal activity. Whether in the boardroom or at the pub, smokers are social animals who prefer to light up in the company of others.
However, in recent years, the backlash against Big Tobacco has forced smokers to go underground. Instead of sitting comfortably in the smoking section at their favorite restaurant, smokers can now be found huddling in the alleys behind restaurants, shivering while they bemoan the latest cigarette tax hikes and swap stories about the good ol' days.
That's one of the reasons for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, says Dan Gallagher, vice president of Smoker Friendly, a tobacco-products store. Continued

Messina Hof Partners with Hight Cigars to Create a Custom Port Barrel-Aged Infused Cigar

(citybizlist) Messina Hof, one of the fastest growing and most award-winning wineries and resorts in Texas, announces a new partnership with Hight Cigars to produce a Messina Hof port barrel-aged infused cigar that will be available in Fall 2011.
Chip Hight, a native Houstonian, took his love for cigars and has launched his own cigar brand, Hight Cigars.
Hight Cigars are created in Tabacalera Lorenzo Briones, a small factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, by a select group of the area's most highly skilled roleros. Continued

This Titanium Cigar Punch Will Only Add To the Awesomeness of Smoking Your Cuban

(Gizmodo) ... Made of 6AL4V titanium on the outside with a stainless steel split ring and cutter on the inside, this punch will slice a neat little hole into your Cuban while simultaneously doing away with the cigar remnants you've sacrificed. Since the top of the punch is quite sharp, it also comes with three neoprene o-rings to keep the cap on. Continued

Fire Destroys Two Arturo Fuente Tobacco Warehouses

(Cigar Aficionado) An early Tuesday morning fire burned down two large tobacco warehouses of Tabacalera A. Fuente y Cia., the manufacturer of Fuente Fuente Opus X and Arturo Fuente cigars.
The fire in Villa Gonzalez, near the company's main offices in Santiago, Dominican Republic, completely destroyed large inventories of aged tobacco and possibly caused smoke damage to some other nearby storage facilities. Continued

McClelland Caramel Rush Tobacco Review

(glynnquelch.co.uk) I have been wanting to try some of the American pipe tobaccos for a while. So when Elliott suggested a tobacco trade, i finally had a chance. I sent him a goodie bag of snuffs, tobaccos and cigars. Watch Box Opening Video

Blended in : America
Contains : Virginia & Black Cavendish
Cased/Top : Caramel
Pipe : Carling “Budget” – Bent Billiard (Smooth)

The tobacco has a very, very strong caramel aroma to it. The blend is dark and sticky, with a little golden highlights. Continued

Brewery using cigar box wood, Cuban espresso to make a beer that tastes like Tampa heritage

(AP) When a friend gave Joey Redner a taste of a beer that had been aged with Spanish cedar — the wood used to wrap and box cigars — he knew it was an idea worth stealing.
The aroma and flavor instantly reminded the then avid home brewer of his hometown’s historic Ybor City and the hand-rolled cigars Tampa is famous for. And he knew that if he ever owned a brewery, his beer needed to evoke the same memories. Continued

Uzbek National Airline Limits Powdered Tobacco

(Radio Free Europe) Uzbekistan's national air carrier is telling passengers to limit the amount of "nos," or powdered tobacco, they take with them aboard flights, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reports.
Use of nos is common throughout Central Asia, is widely available at bazaars, and often carried in small ornate containers.
The tobacco is placed under the tongue and produces an effect similar to smoking cigarettes but at a far lower cost.
The Uzbekiston Hawa Yollari air company announced on August 24 that passengers can take no more than 250 grams with them on board. Continued

Zimbabwe: Tobacco Deliveries Continue to Trickle in

(allAfrica.com) Low tobacco deliveries have continued trickling in at the auction floors despite the announcement of a closing date. Normally tobacco volumes delivered to the floors increase towards the end of the selling season but this has not been the case this season.
Boka Tobacco Floor director, Ms Rudo Boka said the low deliveries were an indication that most farmers sold their crop.
... She, however, said deliveries could pick up during the mop up sales, which were conducted after the closing of the auction floors. Continued

Marlboro snus plant in Va being idled

(AP) The parent company of Philip Morris USA says it's idling a Virginia manufacturing plant that makes its Marlboro snus smokeless, spit-less tobacco.
Altria Group said Wednesday it is moving production from the York County facility to various facilities of its U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. subsidiary. Continued

Cigar retailer moving facility from NY to PA

(standardspeaker.com) An online cigar retailer based in New York will move its operations to a Drums facility, bringing with it the opportunity for up to 60 new jobs.
The company, New Global Marketing Inc., which operates the online retail company Bestcigarprices.com, is in the process of converting a 25,000-square-foot building in the CAN DO Corporate Center and expects to begin operations there by Nov. 1, according to Greg Fox, the company's chief operating officer.
New Global will initially employ between 35 and 40 people with expectations of reaching 60 employees within a few years, Fox said. Continued

Room101 CigarMageddon Tour Dates Announced

(Davidoff) The time has come! Los Angeles’s favorite cigar marauder will be kicking off his “CigarMageddon” Fall Tour starting this coming Friday. Get ready for mayhem as we rain down cigars and swag at over 60 nationwide events. At each stop, we will be showcasing our standard series blends (Room101 OG and the NEW Room101 Connecticut), along with the 93-rated Room101 LTD Conjura and the NEW Room101 LTD Namakubi Edition.
Please stay tuned to Room101 Cigars on Facebook and the Room101 website for additional events being added to the schedule. [click here for the tour schedule]

USDA says flue-cured tobacco production will be up, burley down

(Tobacco Farmer Newsletter) Flue-cured production should be about 3% more than last year, while burley production will likely fall 5%, according to the August Crop Report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture which was issued this morning (August 11). According to the report, the big winner in volume in 2011 will be Pennsylvania, whose burley is up 11% and whose Southern Maryland volume is up 30%. Continued

Another Huge Federal Tobacco Tax Increase in the Works

(P*p*s Magazine) ... It specifies a tax increase on cigarettes from $ 50.33 to $ 100.50.
It specifies a tax increase on Roll-Your-Own Tobacco from $ 24.78 to $49.55.
It specifies a tax increase on Pipe Tobacco from $ 2.8311 to $ 49.55. That is not a typographical error. The intent is to raise the Federal tax on pipe tobacco to the same as Roll-Your-Own Tobacco - after they double the tax on RYO.
It specifies similar tax increases for all other tobacco products. Continued

Cigar Review: Macanudo Cru Royale Robusto

(Toasted Foot) Released at the 2010 IPCPR, this brand follows the release of one my favorites, the Macanudo 1968. Produced by General Cigar and blended by Benji Menendez this cigar is a more full bodied offering from Macanudo which is mostly known for its mild smokes. Continued

Photo: Library of Congress

Top Tobacco, Republic Tobacco Suit Alleges Trademark Infringement

(CSNews) Top Tobacco LP and Republic Tobacco LP are taking legal action against several Illinois businesses for trademark infringement, unfair competition and trafficking in counterfeit goods. The companies filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago last month.
... The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the defendants have been knowingly selling, in the Chicago market, counterfeit TOP-brand cigarette rolling papers that were illegally manufactured in China with the specific intent of confusing and deceiving the public. Continued

Judge sets bidding procedures for assets of three Mocksville tobacco companies

(Winston-Salem Journal) A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has established the bidding procedures for the assets of three bankrupt Mocksville tobacco companies.
At stake is the attempt by CB Holdings LLC of Raleigh to buy Renegade Holdings Inc., Renegade Tobacco Co. and Alternative Brands Inc. for $15.6 million. An auction will take place Oct. 4. A final hearing on the sale of the companies will take place Oct. 12. Continued

ITC opens first premium cigar retail store in Delhi

(The Hindu) Diversified business group ITC today opened its first retail store selling premium cigar brand ‘Armenteros’ in the capital as part of plans to strengthen its presence in the premium tobacco segment.
The company had introduced the ‘Armenteros’ range of handrolled cigars in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata last year.
According to sources, ITC is planning to launch the luxury store, ‘Cigar Republic’, in other key metros in future, apart from the capital. Continued

Luigi Radice calabash interview

Luigi Radice & Luca DiPiazza chat with Sykes about the new calabash shape that he and sons Gianluca and Marizo have been working on.

Tanzania to earn $188m from tobacco

(busiweek.com) ... Flue Cured Virginia (FCV)’s116 Million kgs each expected av. Price of US$ 1.60 per kg with expected value of US$188.800 million equivalent to Tshs 292.640 bn (exchange rate 1US$ toTshs 1550).
Dark Fire Cured (DFC)’s 4.5 Million kgs each expected av. Price of US$ 1.25 per kg with expected value of US$5.625 million equivalent to Tshs 8.718 billion.
Alliance One is expected to buy 45 million kgs of FCV and 2 million of Dark Fire Cured (DFC), making a total expected volume of 47 million kgs. Continued

1961 Airstream reborn as chic cigar bar, the Mobile Cigar Lounge

(tampabay.com) So many innovative business products are born to solve a specific problem. The product offered by Dennis Sheaffer's employer is no exception. The problem: People who associate cigars with a good time increasingly aren't allowed to light up in bars, restaurants, sporting events or even their own homes. The solution: a retrofitted 21-foot Airstream trailer called the Mobile Cigar Lounge. Continued

£300 for Churchill’s half-smoked cigar

(iwcp.co.uk) A CIGAR, half smoked by Winston Churchill, was sold for £300 at the Cowes Week auction. The cigar was smoked by Churchill at a dinner with the German chancellor, Dr Konrad Adenauer, at Downing Street, on May 14, 1953. Continued

Daniel Blumenthal of Villazon Cigars

(northjersey.com) ... Following his discharge in 1945, Mr. Blumenthal followed in the footsteps of his father, opening his first cigar store, Daniel's Cigars, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at West 86th Street and Broadway with $1,200 in his pocket.
"He was the only one who carried dark cigars," said his wife. "His customers were Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and all the politicians. He supplied the cigars to Burl Ives [in the stage and film version] for 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.' Ernie Kovacs even put him on television" when he filled in as host of "The Tonight Show."
Mr. Blumenthal had foreseen the embargo in Cuba in the early 1960s and began gathering up Cuban cigars before Castro took control of the island. Continued

Thunder Chrom Edition Snus Tobacco Surprise Release

(Snus Central) The snus world has been impatiently waiting for the long promised release of the Thunder Chrom (Thunder Chrome in English) editions from V2 Tobacco. Patrick Vogel, co-owner of V2 released a surprise announcement early this morning announcing the five new Thunder Chrom Long+ Limited Edition snus offerings will be available Week 35/36 2011.
Thunder Chrom was originally planned for an April 2011 release. As recently as two weeks ago, that had been pushed back to January 2012. What happened? Why is the Thunder Chrom Edition different from other V2 Limited Edition snus releases? The story behind Thunder Chrom may never be fully known for years, but here is what the SnusCIA has been able to uncover. It's an intriguing story about some exciting new snus. Continued

Malawi Giving Up On Tobacco

(allAfrica.com) Malawi is reducing the production of tobacco following huge losses by smallholder tobacco farmers and commercial estates trading the crop on the country's only official tobacco markets, the auction floors.
Tobacco has been the country's sole main revenue earner accounting for up to 60 percent of the foreign exchange estimated at 950 million dollars. Malawi's tobacco accounts for five percent of the world's total exports, according to the country's ministry of agriculture.
Commercial production of Malawi's tobacco leaf dates back to 1889 when it was introduced by colonisers from Virginia in the U.S. Continued

Chefs Believe Cigar Lovers Shouldn't Wait Until After Dinner to Smoke

(Seattle Weekly) Legislators nationwide have agreed food and cigarettes don't belong together, but cigar smokers say their favorite tobacco product can bring a new dimension to dining.
"Obviously, a cigar is different than a cigarette," says Crush's Jason Wilson, who helped organize the culinary component of this weekend's Seattle Cigar Expo. "A cigar offers great pairing possibilities with food." Continued

La Gran Fuma: A Recession Fighting Cigar

(Firecured) The house is under water, the 401k is still in the dumps, the stocks are up one day and down the next, and the job, well, maybe it will be there next year, maybe not. What's a poor cigar lover to do? Fear not, friend, there are some hand rolled cigars on the market that will let you hold your head up in public without busting your new budget, and some of them even taste good. Here's one:
At $1.50 a stick, La Gran Fuma cigars can't hold a candle to cigars costing many times more, to expect so would be unreasonable. Reasonable people, however, may enjoy this mild cigar from the makers of Gran Habano. For the price, the taste is reasonably pleasant, the construction reasonably solid, the burn reasonably even, and the finish reasonably good. I think you get the idea.
The wrapper is Nicaraguan Corojo, the binder Nicaraguan, the mixed filler (long/short) Costa Rican & Nicaraguan. Each cigar sports a jaunty band and comes in a sturdy wooden box of 20. If you're on a budget and smoke one cigar a week, I think you could do better, but if you're on a budget and smoke one or more cigars a day, you may want to try La Gran Fuma.

Photo: Famous Smoke Shop

Slideshow: Harvesting Connecticut Cigar Wrapper

(Cigar Aficionado) The sandy, loamy soil of the Connecticut River Valley and its warm microclimate provide fertile ground for flavorful tobacco and August is harvest time for both shade-grown wrapper and its thicker, darker cousin, broadleaf. Cigar Aficionado's Greg Mottola headed up to Ellington, Connecticut, to check out this year’s crop of wrapper leaves. Most of the shade-grown farms are owned by O.J. Thrall Inc., a private company renowned for its vast acreage of shade-grown tobacco, and the primary supplier to General Cigar Co. Continued

Pura Sangre Super-premium Debuts from Ventura Cigar

(smokemag.com) The private blend of Nicaraguan tobacco grower and cigar maker Nestor Plasencia Sr., who emigrated from Cuba at age 15 to build a family tobacco growing and premium cigar businesses in Nicaragua and Honduras, has been developed into a new super premium brand, Pura Sangre, released by Ventura Cigar Company.
The line is hand made in Esteli, Nicaragua by Plasencia from a blend of Habano-seed seco and ligero filler from Condega, Estelí, and Jalapa, and finished with a five-year-aged Nicragauan Viso Habano wrapper. ... The dark, full-flavored cigar is the flagship brand of Ventura Cigar Company http://www.venturacigar.com/, a new venture of Kretek International, Inc.—a powerhouse in specialty tobacco importing and a major distributor of specialty cigarettes, OTP, and premium cigars. Continued

Zimbabwe tobacco sales end today

(The Zimbabwean) Today (Thursday) is the final flue-cured tobacco auction sales day, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.
The TIMB said in a statement that final deliveries would be accepted until the close of today only.
All growers were advised to complete their grading and baling operations well before the final sales day, although contract sales would continue until further notice.
"The flue-cured tobacco auctions clean up sale for the 2011 Marketing Season will be held on Tuesday, September 20, 2011." Continued

General Green Harvest organic tobacco snus

(Snubie.com) ... Swedish Match is releasing another limited run - this time of a General product called General Green Harvest. This snus will have the traditional flavor and character of General White Portion. The product description goes on to mention, "General Green Harvest is the world's only snus that is grown by certified tobacco farmers without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. The flavor and character is just like General White Portion. General Green Harvest, full-bodied, spicy tobacco taste with pronounced notes of bergamot and hints of hay, green grass and stable." Continued

Smokingpipes.com: An Interview with Sebastien Beaud

Back in June, Alyson and I visited Sébastien Beaud, owner of Genod and maker of the Sébastien Beo pipes. We took lots of great video that day and I conducted an interview with Sébastien about Genod, St. Claude, and, of course, the new Sébastien Beo line. Enjoy! - Sykes Wilford

Ybor's Cigars Drifted To Polk

(TheLedger.com) Gavino Gutierrez was looking for guava when he first visited Tampa in 1884. He hoped to build a factory preserving the tropical fruit, but there weren't enough guavas in the area to support the industry. He quickly gave up on the idea.
Traveling next to Key West, the Spanish-born entrepreneur visited friends who had opened Cuban cigar factories on the island. His friends were having labor problems and wondered whether they should move their factories elsewhere. Gutierrez told them they should look at Tampa.
And so it was that Cuban exiles Vicente Martinez Ybor and Ignacio Haya came to Tampa in 1885 and founded the community known as Ybor City. The Cuban cigar industry they brought would affect not only Tampa, but also parts of Polk County, for decades to come. Continued

Photo: Gonzalez Habano Cigar Company

Take Me To Your Humidor

(sandiegoreader.com) ... Beth leads me to the humidor, shows me a bunch of cheroots. “These,” she says, pointing to a box of Gran Havana Pencil cigars, “are made here, by our company.”
Oh yeah. Gran Havana Cigar Company. Cuban seed, guys rolling up there in the Gaslamp, on Fifth. Not sure where they moved. Man, I've heard of locovore, but locosmoke? Continued

Fat Cuban Partagas Cigars Being Released

(Cigar Aficionado) The Partagás Serie E No. 2, the fattest straight-sided Partagás in the Cuban cigar portfolio, is finally ready for sale. The cigar will reach cigar stores around the world over the next two weeks. Cigar smokers have been waiting on the new cigar since news of its creation was announced in February, just before the Habanos Festival.
Measuring a sturdy 5 1/2 inches long with a 54 ring gauge, the cigar is longer and fatter than the Partagás Serie D No. 4, Cuba's best selling robusto and one of the world's most popular cigars. Continued

Tobacco pioneer DeCloet set to close

(Tillsonburg News) Management of DeCloet Ltd. has held out hope for the past year that it would be able to rescue its manufacturing facility on Highway 3 east of Tillsonburg from creditors.
However, a last-minute attempt to arrange financing has failed.
... DeCloet Ltd. has been a name-brand manufacturer of tobacco machinery and infrastructure since 1966. Gabe DeCloet established the business in partnership with his brother Dan. In its time, DeCloet has manufactured bulk kilns and dryers, tobacco harvesters, sprayers, planting machines, palette sanitizers and portable heaters. Continued

Aging Room from Oliveros Cigars Showcases Rare, Limited Supply Tobaccos

(smokemag.com) Oliveros Cigars’ new Aging Room series is made only in small batches and features blends rolled from limited-availability tobaccos. “After many years of preparing new blends and trying new tobaccos, we have come across many favorite blends that although we thought they were great, there was not enough tobacco available to release a new blend,” explains company president Raphael Nodal.
The first release in the Aging Room series, M356, is rolled from tobacco farmed by veteran Dominican Republic grower Jose “Jochy” Blanco. This blend was the favorite prototype for the company’s Swag Puro Dominicano line, but it turns out there wasn’t enough of these tobaccos available to launch a full production brand. Continued

TBZ starts buying tobacco from East farmers

TOBACCO Board of Zambia (TBZ) has advised independent and sponsored growers of burley tobacco in Eastern Province who still have excess produce to start selling the commodity at the Chipata and Lundazi tobacco sales floors.
TBZ chief executive officer Aven Muvwende said in a statement in Chipata yesterday that starting from yesterday, the board would be buying tobacco grown in Zambia and only from registered independent farmers including sponsored farmers who had excess produce.
He said this was through powers vested in the board, power number 16 of the Tobacco Act CAP 237 of the Laws of Zambia. Continued

Class & Smoke

(The League of Ordinary Gentlemen) Earlier this year, the State of Washington signed off on cigar rooms:

The bill establishes a special license endorsement for up to 100 cigar rooms, which would each pay $17,500 for a state endorsement.

Up to 500 tobacco shops would have the option to pay $6,000 each to allow indoor cigar and pipe smoking.

Any place where cigar smoking is allowed would be physically separated from places where smoking is banned by law. Cigarettes would not be allowed. Applicants also would need a valid liquor license.

This is a win-win. A little extra revenue for the state and a place that cigar smokers can go where they are unlikely to disturb others. What I find interesting – and telling – about this bill, however, is that cigarettes are not allowed. Because really, who wants to stink up cigar rooms with cigarette smoke. That is, of course, ridiculous. This isn’t about clean air or consumer preferences. Rather, it’s about this: Cigars are classy, but cigarettes are for poor people. Continued

Drew Estate’s Undercrown Cigar Debut Nears

(Cigar Aficionado) Undercrown, the newest traditional cigar line from Drew Estate, is nearly ready for its much anticipated mid-September debut in tobacco shops across the country.
Described by company co-founder Jonathan Drew as an "inverse Liga Privada," Undercrown's blend consists of many of the same tobaccos found in Drew Estate's Liga Privada No. 9 and T52 lines, but with a twist. Continued

Pinning Down Cavendish Tobaccos

(glynnquelch.co.uk) Cavendish tobacco isn’t a variety. Its an aging & flavouring process, pretty much any tobacco can be used. The Dutch and other europeans even use Perique & Latakia in some blends. Black Cavendish is cooked with steam/ heat, while Gold Cavendish isn’t. I have managed to get hold of 3 base tobaccos, all forms of Black Cavendish. American, English & one that’s an English/American/Dutch hybrid. To show a more common Dutch Cavendish I have Sail – Natural Cavendish, a golden Cavendish. Continued

Zimbabwe misses tobacco targets

The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) says the industry will fail to meet this year’s projected target of 177 million kilogrammes of tobacco owing to high losses of 31% in farms and 21% during the re-handling process, ZBC News reported on Sunday.
As the tobacco selling season comes to an end this week, farmers are counting their losses while the TIMB indicated that the target of 177 million kilogrammes will not be met owing to various reasons.
TIMB Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andrew Matibiri said drought and other factors such as re-grading of tobacco have impacted negatively on the projected target as 130 million kilogrammes of tobacco have so far been auctioned raking in US$375 million. Continued

Early Cigar Labels: 1835 - 1868

(National Cigar History Museum) Although cigars had been smoked in Europe and the U.S. since the 1760’s, there didn’t seem to be strong brand competition prior to the 1840’s. A cigar was a cigar and you took whatever you could get. Cigars were advertised as Spanish, half-Spanish, Havannah, Manila, Hamburgh, Yara or common, all descriptions of how, where, or what they were made of. You might find mention of Regalias or Londres, the two most popular shapes, both about four inches long, the former straight, the later bulbous. Cigars were rarely mentioned by brand name. In newspaper ads and government documents before 1840, I’ve seen only RIFLE and DOS AMIGOS in 1838 and LA CARONA [sic] in 1839. By 1840, things were changing. Continued

Toraño Family Opens its Cigar Vault

(Cigar Aficionado) If you were to carefully thumb through the pages of the Toraño Family Cigar Company's tobacco journals, you'd come across an old blend called Liga A-008. It was composed of filler tobacco from the Estelí and Condega regions of Nicaragua, a Honduran binder from Jamastran and a shade-grown Nicaraguan colorado wrapper. When the blend was conceptualized eleven years ago, the Toraños thought it had potential, but was nevertheless missing something.
Recently, company president Charlie Toraño revisited the blend and decided to amp up the power with tobacco previously unavailable to him. Continued

100 years of cigar packing

(Cigar History Museum) The last step in making cigars is to pack them for sale. Both U.S. and Canadian law required that all cigars be packed in boxes, cans, jars, etc., and have paid taxes before they can be sold.
Congress said nothing about HOW those cigars could be put in boxes: that left numerous choice. Horizontally, vertically or upright? Banded, not banded, foiled, tissued...or in glass or aluminum tubes? Bundled in 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s? or 9s? Wrapped together or in pockets? With other sizes and shapes? With other colors of cigar? What inner label? What outer label? What should the edging say, if anything? Nail tag? Plain or decorated flap...front, side or floating? Nail tag or no? NW, NWH, BN or other type box? What size boxes...25, 50 or 100s or other? Box made of wood, cardboard, a hybrid, glass or other material? Continued

Tobacco buyers looking for quality leaf

(Southeast Farm Press) The upcoming tobacco marketing season presents growers with just the kind of marketing problem that no grower wants to face: Large competing foreign inventories, many of them very low-priced.
But there may be a way to get around the problem if you take steps to produce high quality leaf. That is certainly what buyers are going to be looking for.
“The world is awash in flue-cured, but it is poor-quality flue-cured,” said Blake Brown, North Carolina Extension economist, at the U.S. Tobacco Forum in June. Continued

Tobacco Farm Life Museum beginning Saturday events

(Selma News) The Tobacco Farm Life Museum is getting ready for a new series of vendor/demonstration events called “Saturday Series: Stepping into the Past” that starts this weekend, said museum curator Melody Worthington.
Every Saturday from now until the end of the year will feature an event based on skills and lifestyles from people living the 1880s through the 1930s in hopes of helping to preserve those traditions, arts, crafts and skills, said visitor services coordinator Elaine Richardson.
According to Richardson, many of the events have already been scheduled and will last from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. every Saturday for the rest of the year (excluding Saturdays like the N.C. State Fair). Continued

Karl Marx Cigars

(Reading Eagle) The author of "The Communist Manifesto" and "Das Kapital" may never have known it, but cigars bearing his name were manufactured in Reading.
The Commonwealth Cooperative Association, a Socialist collective formed in 1898, made Karl Marx Cigars, according to labels on rare cigar boxes in the collection of Earl Ibach of Womelsdorf.
Marx's portrait appears on the underside of the cigar box lid, above the label "Economist." Continued

Photo: ReadingPaSocialists

A Quartet of Classic Cigars

(Cigar Aficionado) We found a quartet of classic cigars in this tasting, three of them Cuban, one Nicaraguan, and all four aged superbly. The oldest smokes scored highest, a 1959 Por Larrañaga (98 points) and a 1960 H. Upmann No. 1 (97 points). Each was fairly smooth, especially the Por Larrañaga, and each cigar showed how an exceptional smoke can remain delicious even after 50 years. A far younger cigar, the robusto-sized Romeo y Julieta Exhibición No. 4 from 1993, showcased the high quality of production from that year. The 96-point cigar remains full bodied with a reverberant finish. As the Exhibición No. 4 approaches its 19th birthday, it is perhaps in its smoking prime. The Padrón Millennium, a limited-edition Nicaraguan release from 2000, shows remarkable intensity and elegance. Continued

A Rough Guide To Aromatic Tobacco

(glynnquelch.co.uk) A Rough Guide To Aromatic Tobacco

Zimbabwe Importing Burley Tobacco?

(allAfrica.com) Just recently, The Sunday Mail ran a story headlined "Zimbabwe to import blending tobacco" in which it revealed that the country was expected to import 13,3 million kilogrammes of tobacco worth over US$44,5 million.
The tobacco was purportedly needed for blending with locally-produced flavours.
It was expected to come from Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, India and China. Continued

Photo: First Lady Rosalynn Carter with Waylon Jennings, smoking a cigarette, and Jesse Colter at a reception preceding a concert to benefit the Carter-Mondale campaign, 1980 (Library of Congress).

New Cheyenne Cushion Tipped Cigars

(CSN) "From one of America's leading cigar brands comes an exciting new line of products! Cheyenne Cushion Tipped Cigars are a larger cigar, featuring Full Flavor, Wine, Vanilla and Wild Cherry in a 5-count pack. Cheyenne Cushion Tipped Cigars: a new standard from the brand you count on to offer high-quality products at a fair price." Link

ITC Raises Classic Cigarettes Rate By 10%

(PTI) Tobacco major ITC (Indian Tobacco Company), the maker of the Navy Cut, Gold Flake and other brands of cigarettes, has hiked price of the premium Classic range by a steep 10% per packet of 20 sticks.
"Prices have been increased in the Classic brand of cigarettes," an ITC representative told PTI today. The firm, however, refused to offer the reason for doing so. The company has increased by 10% the prices of 20-sticks packs of the Milds, the Regular and the Menthol in the Classic range from Rs 100 to Rs 110. Continued

Swisher Cigars Reaches Sesquicentennial

(jaxdailyrecord.com) In Springfield north of Downtown, the country’s largest cigar exporter rolls, labels, packs and ships out up to 14 million products a day.
The seller of a third of the nation’s cigars, Swisher International Inc. traces its history to Ohio, where merchant David Swisher received a small cigar factory as a debt settlement.
His grandson, Carl, moved it to Jacksonville in 1924, where it employs about 1,100 workers and where it makes Swisher Sweets, the No. 1 brand of cigars in the country.
Swisher, known historically for its famous King Edward cigars, has grown its product lines through acquisition and invention. Continued

True Blend Tobacco Update

(Tillsonburg News) Lawyers representing dozens of farmers suing a Tillsonburg-based tobacco company for $15 million have filed a motion of contempt against two of the company's directors.
Trung Nguyen of Toronto law firm Brauti Thorning and Zibarras LLP, who represents the tobacco farmers, filed the motion recently at a Woodstock court, alleging that True Blend Tobacco Company Inc. co-director and president Victor Osztrovics and his wife Elysia, its co-director, secretary and treasurer, violated an injunction prohibiting them from disposing of any assets belonging to True Blend or two of it directors, Victor Osztrovics and Brian Poreba.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this year, 49 farmers sued True Blend, Victor Osztrovics and Poreba for $15 million. Continued

The Tobacco Movie Made In Connecticut

(WindsorPatch) Last week’s column on the history of tobacco in Connecticut seemed to have brought back a flood of memories for many who worked on tobacco in north central Connecticut a generation or more ago.
If you were among those who worked in Tobacco Valley, you might want to find a copy of the movie "Parrish," which was released to the public 50 years ago. Based on a novel of the same name by New London native Mildred Savage, which was published in 1958, much of the movie was actually filmed in Connecticut. Local scenes of tobacco farms, especially at the Thrall Farm in the Poquonock section of Windsor and parts of East Windsor, are everywhere. Continued

An ode to the 'beedi'

(Deccan Chronicle) ... Basheer reclining on his chair beneath his Mangosteen tree and pulling on a beedi while listening to K.L. Saigal’s songs in his gramophone is an iconic visual of Malayalam literature.
It would be well-nigh impossible to imagine these giants lighting up a svelte Marlboro for instance. For them, beedi was the ‘democratic’ alternative.
In films, it was the maestro Satyan who made a fine art of beedi smoking. The way he lit up his beedi with a glare and spat after the first acrid taste of the smoke has never been matched by other smokers on screen.
The beedi went out of fashion in the arena of popular culture in the 80s and 90s when the Leftist accent in Kerala culture gave way to liberalisation. Actor Mammootty tried to create a new style by combining stylish western attire with Ganesh beedi, but it never really caught on. Continued

Tobacco history comes to life

(WPDE) Horry county's history came to life Saturday.
Dozens came out to the L.W. Living History farm as part of the seventh annual tobacco festival.
"One of the things that would be happening this time of year on a small one horse family farm would be gathering or putting in tobacco," Museum Director Walter Hill said. Continued

Photo: Old tobacco barn, rural North Carolina, 2009 (Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress).

Suffragette Cigars

(National Cigar History Museum) Some of the most interesting cigar boxes of the 1870s focussed on issues, hoping to attract a smoker’s eye by depicting one of the day’s more newsworthy controversies. Issues boxes are rare and a thrill to find. Poltics and social issues were natural targets.
... The 1872 election pitted Republican Grant against Democratic newspaperman Horace Greeley, but the real attention-getters were the nominees of the newly formed Equal Rights Party: feminist Victoria Woodhull and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Woodhull didn’t win one state, largely because not one state allowed women to vote. Interestingly, Woodhull couldn’t have served had she been elected not because she was a woman, but because she didn’t meet the minimum age requirement of 35.
“Women’s Rights” included the right to smoke in public, a hotly debated issue since Puritan days. Continued

Tobacco Review: Peretti's Cuban Mixture

(Cake and Dottle) ... Today the focus is Peretti's Cuban Mixture. This is one of my top five tobaccos, so the subject is near and dear to my heart. A 140 year old blend comprised of Burleys, Carolina, Maryland and cigar leaf, it's one of Peretti's signature blends. The majority of Peretti's Burleys are cube cut, but Cuban Mixture is more of a large or coarse shag. It's a nice cut for Burley. It doesn't burn as fast as a shag or ribbon cut Burley, but it stays lit to the bottom and won't clog the airway the way a cube cut sometimes can. Continued

Hopz Craft Beer Cigar by Ted's Cigars Review

(Intoxico) The toro, measuring 6 by 50, comes beautifully packaged in a plastic tube adorned with a beer label like graphics adorned with images of hop cones, and is likewise banded. The cigar itself is rolled impeccably in a nice dark, natural Cameroon wrapper, bound with a US Connecticut binder, and filled with tobacco from the Dominican Republic. Continued

Officials want to prevent sale of Mocksville tobacco companies

(Winston-Salem Journal) The National Association of Attorneys General wants to stop the sale of all the assets of three bankrupt Mocksville tobacco companies to a Raleigh firm.
The group filed an objection Wednesday with U.S. Bankruptcy Court on CB Holdings LLC's $15.6 million deal for Renegade Holdings Inc., Renegade Tobacco Co. and Alternative Brands Inc.
The deal, announced July 11, was projected to close Oct. 30. The Davie manufacturers have a combined 100 employees. Continued

How to lower the labor requirement of harvesting burley tobacco

(Tobacco Farmer Newsletter) Could burley growers replace the hatchet-like tobacco "knife" with a weedeater for cutting down their stalks?
"We have found that a weedeater with a blade is the best way to cut burley,” says Joseph French, superintendent of the Upper Piedmont Research Station at Reidsville, N.C. "You can cut burley [so] much faster with [one]." You also don’t have to stoop as you do with the conventional knife. Continued

A Glass of Tobacco, a Bowl of Wine

(G. L. Pease) I frequently mention wine and pipe tobacco in the same puff of smoke. It's usually an off-hand, casual remark, and it wasn't until I was challenged by a friend, a devotée of the grape, but no fan of the leaf, to defend what seemed to be a somewhat tenuous position that I started to examine it more closely, and wound up finding even more similarities than I'd previously thought possible. On the surface, it might be difficult to imagine two things as different as a bottle of wine and a tin of tobacco sharing many similarities; let's start at the ground, and work our way up. Continued

Camacho Liberty 2011 Cigars Now Shipping

(Davidoff) As with all editions of the Liberty Series, this new blend is constructed in our proprietary 11/18 format (48x54x48x6) and selected from our best concept blends of the year. This particular cigar, medium-to-full in body, is the perfect combination of balance, strength, and aroma. The sophistication of the 2011 Camacho Liberty is second to none. Filler tobaccos from (3) unique countries of origin provide for an intensely flavorful and complex experience that is truly extraordinary.

Each master box consists of twenty limited edition cigars packed and individually numbered in their own cedar coffins. These single cigar cedar coffins are best stored whole inside your humidor, and will allow the Liberty’s to age properly without absorbing the characteristics of other cigars stored in the same unit.

Total production: 40,000 cigars (2,000 boxes)

MSRP: $334.00 per box, $16.70 per cigar

Crowned Heads Pair with Cigar Maker Ernesto Perez-Carrillo

(Cigar Aficionado) Crowned Heads LLC, the Nashville, Tennessee, cigar company formed by former executives from C.A.O., has joined with Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, the veteran cigarmaker who once rolled La Gloria Cubana cigars in Miami. Perez-Carrillo is going to make Four Kicks, the first cigar for Crowned Heads. Continued

Dubinthedam summer tobacco update

Dubinthedam's summer tobacco update.

Tobacco Companies Shift Spending to Smokeless Products

(CSN) Tobacco companies have ramped up advertising and promotions for smokeless products while spending fewer dollars on traditional cigarette advertising and promotions, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
According to FTC data reported by Forbes, U.S. tobacco companies spent $547.9 million in 2008 -- the latest year data was available -- on smokeless advertising and marketing, more than double what was spent in 2003. During that time, sales of smokeless tobacco products increased by 11 percent.
By contrast, marketing and advertising spending on traditional cigarette products declined 34 percent compared to 2003, to $9.94 billion. Continued