Cigar Newbie

Sorry for no posts. I’m hoping to continue my review of CAO America’s 4 for Fourth of July box set. It was a busy work week. I did get the special CRA sampler set this week. I had it shipped to Cigar Inn in Manhattan. I didn’t spend nearly enough time there but one thing I definitely got was a friendly “vibe” from the staff. I’ve been in another cigar bar/lounge kind of place and found it to be too put offish. I’m not a rich NYC type and I am not one to spend all my days in suits. When I teach, I tend to be more relaxed as it’s about the content than the packaging. I’ll admit it: I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy.

Anyways, it didn’t seem to matter what I was wearing they were very friendly. So, as I’m apt to do in more friendlier places, I took a peruse through the humidor to see if anything caught my eye. A few things did (one for the sake of novelty) and so I added to their coffers in addition to the Sampler. I think the next time I visit there, I’ll have to get them to do the whole barber thing. I was actually very impressed by their selection of straight-edge razors. There selection was impressive but most I had seen before. There were only one or two I hadn’t. But that’s fine. Sometimes it’s good to know where to get the usual stuff when in the city and not just the unique ones.

So in addition to the sampler and the 3 cigars I got from Cigar Inn (Stradivarius, H. Uppman Edicion Limitada and AVO 80th)  I also got my Cigars of Month (Cigars International) from the post office (who insists they left a notice but I know I didn’t get it so the cigars have been in the post office for a couple of weeks). This month I got Tatiana Mocha (very bland and only went through about half before I chucked it), CAO VR Full Fathom Five, San Cristobal Guajiro (has a pig tail) and La Flor de Cano Selectos. I’ve had the CAO before (Ying Yang box set) but the other two I haven’t and am looking forward to trying them.

As I sat last, however, trying out the Tatiana and my girlfriend was enjoying the Al Capones (her favourites) I began to wonder if those kinds of enjoyments will go away with the new change in law by the FDA. While I don’t always have a Drew Estate (if I have a flavoured cigar it’s usually theirs), I am a bit perturbed by the ban on flavoured cigarettes and how broad the law is. It could mean that her enjoyment (maybe once a week) in those little cigarillos and my occasional indulgence (maybe once every two weeks) will be taken away. I certainly understand that cigarettes shouldn’t be foisted onto children but I am an adult and I certainly can make that decision on my own as to what I choose to do (no different than the foods I eat, the exercise I do or don’t get, and the alcohol I drink). Now, I am from a country that is far more “nanny state” than this but it still is annoying.

There is no easy answer as to how to address this. First they will remove the flavoured cigarettes, then the cigarillos and then the non-flavoured stuff (a straight-out ban on tobacco). And I’d bet they’d find that many people still die from lung cancer et al. (other “smoker” diseases). The reality is that no one thing is the cause (short of outright direct radiation from a nuclear explosion, etc.) when it comes to things like cancer, etc. When  you read through some of the material and consider that there are other factors that aren’t included (i.e., better healthcare options, less pollution, wider spaces, higher employment rate, etc.) you can quickly realize that perhaps targeting one thing isn’t necessarily the solution.

We will all die at some point. I’d like to do so enjoying the things I love the most: a good cigar, a good drink, a good love and a good fight in WoW.

It feels kinda like Sesame Street. You’re shown a bunch of pictures and you need to figure out how it doesn’t belong. In this case, we’re talking about the use of cheap “cigars” to be used as blunt wrappers but a law that doesn’t narrow the specification down. I mean, come one. Do they really think that someone is going to take an $8+ cigar and cut it apart to use for marijuana? Serious? That’d be a rather expensive “blunt”. In a country that is about capitalism and trying to be frugal these days, it’s more likely they find the cheapest cigar they can and use that. So why not put a price tag on the cigar to ensure that you’re targeting the right one? The reality is that this law could effectively close down small B&Ms, where people go in to purchase one or two individual cigars to enjoy.

Purchasing a whole box, especially right now, can be a fiscal challenge for some and for others, they just don’t have the space to store it. The ability to go in and purchase a single cigar is akin to going into a restaurant and having a single glass of wine. I understand the purpose of the law but laws are meant to be specific. Broad-sweeping laws like this are too general and open to too much interpretation. If this really becomes law, I’d be surprised and all those involved should be admonished for poor law practise (most politicians are lawyers and they should know better).

Read the article/op. ed. piece below and if you can and haven’t already done so, join CRA today. They are there to protect our rights as smokers.

There is more trouble in Washington , DC , but this time it’s a few blocks from Capitol Hill. It’s in the Washington , DC City Council chambers.

An initial group of five (possibly eight) city council members, including Marion Barry, Tommy Wells, Michael Brown, Yvette Alexander and Harry Thomas, have introduced an amendment to the Drug Paraphernalia Act of 1982, known as the “Single Sale of Cigar Products Prohibition Act of 2009.” The very reading of “cigars” in a “drug paraphernalia” ordinance is deeply disturbing, and the reason such a trend needs to stop – now.

The intent of the proposed ordinance is to prevent the use of cigars as a means to marijuana use. The draft ordinance defines cigar as “an individual cigar, cigar leaf wrapper, flavored or non flavored cigar that is referred to as a blunt, blunt wrap, or any other tobacco product that may be used in the ingesting, inhaling or introduction of marijuana to the human body.”

In this draft, there is no mention of price, size, hand-made, machine-made, or other defining characteristics of cigars. While media reports have said its intent is to ban sales at convenience stores and gas stations, there is no mention of them in the bill either.

Local premium tobacconists such as W. Curtis Draper and Georgetown Tobacco view the language as too vague, with John Anderson of W. Curtis Draper stating, “It’s scary because it’s open ended.” David Berkebile of Georgetown Tobacco intends to join in the opposition.

The measure is not without precedent. Just over the border in Maryland , Prince George ’s County Council, where ordinances were advanced to require sales of cigars in packs of five, helped usher in a trend with such public policy. That legislation did exempt stores that specialize in cigar sales.

Earlier this year, Mayor Sheila Dixon of Baltimore , Maryland stated, “cheap cigars are becoming popular and these products are addictive and deadly.” The effort in Maryland was praised by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, stating “Individual cigars are more affordable to price sensitive kids.”

We would like to dramatize how such nebulous policies can lead to unwarranted and unjust actions.

Recently, a customer of Havana Connections, a Richmond , Virginia based premium tobacconist, purchased a $10 cigar, left the shop, and proceeded to drive home. He was enjoying the cigar in the privacy of his car, when he saw the blue lights flashing in the rear view mirror.

When the cigar enthusiast asked what the problem was, the officer said he saw smoke, and wanted to know if he was using marijuana. Obviously, the answer was no, but the officer said “well, I have probable cause. Give me the cigar. I need to test it.”

After some protest, he took it; set the cigar down, and the officer proceeded to cut this premium hand made cigar in half, dousing it with a solution to test for the presence of marijuana. Guess what? There was none. The cigar enthusiast proceeded to say, “you owe me $10 for that cigar.” The officer said, no, but you can take it up with our office. He did, and they gave him $40 for his trouble. True story. Two weeks old. Amazing.

In government, especially at the local and state level, one of the foremost contributing reasons to bad public policy is the setting of precedent and others saying “we should do that too.” That’s how an outdoor smoking ban makes its way from San Francisco to Boston . That has been the case on matters of indoor and outdoor smoking bans, private property (housing) smoking bans, regulation of advertising and marketing, and the setting of tax policy.

Hopefully on September 29, a committee of Washington DC City Council will set aside this proposed ordinance. More so, however, there needs to be a halt to the very introduction of these measures across the country.