Earlier this week our own David Garofalo penned an article about the copy cats in the cigar industry, and one could say Rocky Patel is following in the footsteps of Drew Estate which unveiled pipes from Tsuge last year. According to an email sent out to retailers today, Rocky Patel will be introducing several lines of luxury pipes. The limited supply will be showcased at the Rocky Patel Booth at IPCPR. According to the email, […]
According to a report at CQ Roll Call, the House Appropriations Committee’s fiscal 2016 Agriculture spending bill includes a provision that would limit the FDA’s ability to regulate products. The provision is in Section 747, and would change the date introduced in a 2009 law that said commercial tobacco products introduced after February 15th, 2007 would be subject to pre-market review. The provision would change that date by defining new tobacco products as those that enter […]
While the Republicans are not flawless, the Democrats are about to strike again on cigars in Oregon. Over the past year, I continue to notice a trend of Democrats taking away our freedoms as cigar smokers, and looking to raise taxes. This time the Oregon House is set to vote on raising taxes and included in the bill is removing the cap on premium cigars in order to extend expiring tax credits for people with low […]
Other than Hawaii which now has the whole state at the age of 21 to purchase tobacco, there is no other state with more cities and towns to raise the age from 18 to 21 than Massachusetts. This week Mansfield has become the 64th municipality to raise the minimum age to 21. The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2016. The measure was passed with a 2-1 vote with one member abstaining and […]
Originally part of CLE, Robert Caldwell left to form his own company aptly named Caldwell Cigar Company and until now the cigars were made at the Ventura cigar factory in the Dominican Republic. In their short time of existence the company has outgrown the small factory and needed their own space, and own factory that will see the production still run by Ventura. However, the new factory will be more than triple the size and […]
This time of year with all the new cigars coming out we tend to neglect our go to cigars, and for me one of those cigars for when I want something full-bodied is the La Flor Dominicana L300. For me it feels like the cigars coming from Litto Gomez aren’t your typical Dominican cigar, and that is a good thing. According to their website The L300 is made with the darkest, richest Ecuadorian Sumatra wrappers you […]
The Wayne County Board of Supervisors last week voted to ban tobacco and e-cigarettes on all county property despite objections from several members. Those who spoke out against the ban publicly worried that the government was overreaching their bounds. The ban though goes above and beyond traditional bans in the past. If you are driving or sitting in your car on county property and you choose to smoke you must do so with the windows […]
Ladies and Gentleman….Here come… “The Copy Cats” by David Garofalo It’s that time of the year when some manufacturers come out with what they believe was “hot” last year from their competitors and try it themselves. That is a large part of the cigar industry my friends, companies taking the easiest path to success… Copying others… but maybe there is nothing wrong with it. Maybe they don’t have to be the first, just the best. […]
On Friday the Governor of Hawaii, David Ige signed a bill into law that makes Hawaii the first state to change the legal smoke age to 21. The state senate passed the bill back in April and accord to Ige, “Raising the minimum age as part of our comprehensive tobacco control efforts will help reduce tobacco use among our youth and increase the likelihood that our [children] will grow up tobacco-free“ Violation of the law will result […]
They say the hardest thing for any parent to do is to bury their child. Nestor Miranda had to do this with his son Danny Miranda who was affectionately known as Danno. To honor his memory the company release The Danno a 7 x 56 cigar that has seen various incarnations. Today while in town at a launch event for the latest version we sit down with Nestor Miranda and talk about how the company […]