Recent Cigar News.

[TommyBB]

Since the CW News page isn't functioning right now, and it doesn't make sense for us to fool with it as the roll out of the new site draws near. So I'll try to post news stories to keep everyone in the loop, so to speak.

El Rey de Los Habanos announces sell out of El Centurion

El Rey de Los Habanos reports that they’ve sold all of this year’s run of El Centurion cigars. According to Don José “Pepin” Garcia, these were designed to be small batches as the tobaccos in each years edition would be difficult to duplicate. At the 2007 RTDA show he stated that he was only making 50,000 cigars, and that he "tried to get the flavor of this cigar as close to the Cohiba Edición Limitado made in 2000, the year before I left Cuba. Next year's cigar will be like a Montecristo with an oscuro wrapper."

According to their press release, "El Centurion First Limited edition, by Don Pepin Garcia, has been completely sold. Aged by three years and impeccably constructed, these cigars have been successfully accepted by our customers. Thanks for being part of our business”

[TommyBB]

In a press release from it's new parent company, Imperial Tobacco Group, PLC, Altadis announces changes in the Board.

MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Spanish-French tobacco company Altadis SA (ALT.MC) said Wednesday it has appointed Imperial Tobacco Group PLC's (ITY) Finance director Robert Dyrbus as its chief executive.

In a filing to the Spanish market regulator, Altadis said Imperial was restructuring the company's board of directors. Altadis said nine board members had resigned and the board will now have 15 members.
Last month, Imperial Tobacco said it secured 95.8% of Altadis, paving the way for the EUR12.6 billion takeover, one of the largest takeovers in the tobacco industry.

• Altadis Board update
  
  The Board of Directors of Altadis, S.A., in its meeting of today, February 6th, 2008, has adopted, inter alia, the following resolutions:
  
  1. To accept the resignation presented by the Directors Mr. César Alierta Izuel, Mr. Patrick Louis Ricard, Mr. Jean Pierre Marchand, Mr. Wulf Von Schimmelmann, Mr. Antonio Vázquez Romero (former Chairman, ed.) Mr. Charles Henri Filippi, Mr. Amado Franco Lahoz, Mr. Javier Gómez-Navarro Navarrete and Mr. Gonzalo Hinojosa Fernández de Angulo.
  
  2. To designate as new Directors of the Company Mr. Robert Dyrbus, Mr. Graham Blashill, Mrs. Alison Cooper, Mr. Colin Matthews, Mr. Matthew Phillips, Mrs. Kathryn Turner, Mr. Sipko Huismans and Mr. Gary Aldridge, who will have the capacity of Nominee Directors.
  
  3. To appoint as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company and Chairman of the Executive Committee Mr Robert Dyrbus.
  
  4. As a result of the cessations and appointments in the Board of Directors, the Delegate Committees of the Board will be comprised of the following members:
  
  Executive Committee: Chairman: Mr. Robert Dyrbus, Members: Mr. Jean-Dominique Comolli, Mr. Gregorio Marañón y Bertrán de Lis, Mr. Jean Pierre Tirouflet, Mr. Graham Blashill, Mrs. Alison Cooper, Mr. Colin Matthews, and Mr. Sipko Huismans.
  
  Strategy, Ethics and Corporate Governance Committee: Chairman: Mr. Jean-Dominique Comolli, Members: Mr. Carlos Colomer Casellas, Mr. Bruno Bich, Mr. Robert Dyrbus, Mrs. Alison Cooper and Mr. Sipko Huismans.
  
  Audit and Control Committee: Members: Mr. Jean-Dominique Comolli, Mr. Berge Setrakian, Mr. Robert Dyrbus and Mr. Carlos Colomer Casellas.
  
  Appointments and Remuneration Committee: Members: Mr. Robert Dyrbus, Mr. Sipko Huismans, Mr. Jean Pierre Tirouflet and Mr. Marc Grosman.

[TommyBB]

Habanos S.A. Corporation and Tabacuba Business Group are honored to invite you to the 10th Habanos Festival, the most important event in the Habanos realm.

Habanos S.A. Corporation and Tabacuba Business Group are honored to invite you to the 10th Habanos Festival, the most important event in the Habanos realm.

From 25th to 29th February, La Habana, venue of the Festival will become the meeting place of the distributors, specialists and lovers of the best cigar in the world. It will be a unique setting for presenting the novelties to be incorporated to the Habanos portfolio in 2008, which guarantee the dynamism of our market.

Inside the Habanos Festival, the Trade Fair and the International Seminar will make for a broad exchange of knowledge, experiences, products and ideas and create a unique atmosphere to fully enjoy the aroma, flavors and texture of the Habanos, the true stars of the Festival.

[TommyBB]

CAO Shoots and scores with the NBA's best as the NBA Players' Association selects CAO as their VIP Cigar for the third year.

Nashville, Tennessee.
CAO, one of the world’s foremost premium cigar manufacturers, announced today that it has been selected to provide cigars for the NBA All-Star Weekend 2008, beginning February 15, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
NBA All-Star Weekend brings together the NBA’s top players for a week of competition, community service, and world-class entertainment. CAO cigars will assist in transforming the music Mecca into the “Basketball Capital of the World” for the first time. The 57th Annual NBA All-Star game will be played on February 17 and broadcast by a record 123 international telecasters in 215 countries and territories. Selected NBA players and VIPs will receive CAO Gold Corona Gorda cigars and headwear provided by CAO M.E.R.C.H. “We’re honored to be selected by the NBA Players Association as the exclusive cigar sponsor for our third consecutive All Star Weekend,” said CAO Director of Lifestyle Marketing Jon Huber.
CAO was selected to provide cigars for NBA All-Star Weekend in 2006 and 2007, and was recently the exclusive cigar sponsor to the HBO® SAG Awards Luxury Lounge.

[TommyBB]

HEARD IN THE HUMIDOR
Highlights of the week in cigars and smoking from

For the week of February 11-15, 2008

Los Angeles – The unstoppable flow of premium cigars headed into the United States continued strong as the Cigar Association of America's import report for November 2007 was released.

For the month, 32.9 million premium cigars entered the U.S., about the same as in 2007. But for the year, the total rolled past the magic 300 million mark at 301.8 million. If imports for December resemble the 29 million imported in 2007 or the 33 million from 2006, the total for 2007 will become the second or third-largest on record. The 1998 total of 334.6 million is second all-time and the 329.5 million from 2005 is third. The all-time mark of 417. 8 million was set in 1997.

The 300 million-plus total for 2007 is the fourth year in a row that premium cigar imports surpassed 300 million. Prior to the start of this current streak in 2005, only the Cigar Boom years of 1997 and 1998 had ever had imports of more than 300 million into the U.S. It's a good sign of a steady and perhaps modestly expanding market.

The Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua accounted for 98.7 percent of all imports in November of 2007 and 98.8 percent of all imports for the year. Two other cigar-producing countries have registered more than a million cigars exported to the U.S.: the Bahamas at 1.49 million through 11 months and Mexico at 1.33 million.

Overall cigar imports, which include machine-made and little cigars, have also zoomed in 2007. In the 11-month report, the total number of cigars – of all types – imported into the U.S. rose to 1.12 billion for 2007, against 948.4 million in 2006, an increase of 17.7 percent. Machine-made cigar imports are up 15.4 percent for the year, from 448.1 million to 516.9 million, as a major shift in production has occurred from U.S. facilities to the Dominican Republic and Honduras. And little cigar imports continued up dramatically, ahead 36.5 percent from 2006.

>> Keeping cigars humidified is a major preoccupation of cigar lovers and convenience, along with dependability, are critical factors in finding the right one.

A new entry, the Humi-Disc, has been added to the Cigar Savor line of accessories from Altadis U.S.A. It's a modestly-priced, disc-shaped humidifier which uses the familiar system of gel crystals which are activated by water.

One advantage of the Humi-Disc is that the device is see-through, so you can tell when the crystals need more water. And this device uses simple tap water rather than distilled water or propylene glycol solutions required by other humidifiers. The gels can hold 100 times their weight in water, which slowly evaporates to provide a relative humidity in a humidor of 70 percent. The compact size of the Humi-Disc suggests that it will work well for keeping 25-30 cigars in good condition.

The Humi-Disc retails for $9.95 and is making its way into stores now. There's a magnet on the back to attach to the interior of humidors which have a metal plate to hold onto a humifidication device.

>> Short fillers: A hard-to-find, oddball cigar "box" from Cuba known as a "Branch of the Tree" cabinet was sold on eBay in late January. Made of lacquered bark, these cylinder-shaped cases held 25 corona-sized cigars (5 1/2 x 42) and were offered by various manufacturers both before and after the 1959 Revolution, up to about 1980. This one was for H. Upmann, one of the first times in recent memory that a cabinet of this type had been seen for this brand. In good condition, it was clearly a post-Revolution model as the bottom read "Hecho en Cuba" instead of the pre-Revolution "Made in Havana-Cuba." Offered by a Canadian seller, the item drew some lively bidding, ending with nine bids and a final price of $510.00, a bit better than the $479.57 bid for a Sancho Panza model last month. Not bad for tree bark . . . find our latest tasting review, of three marvelous cigars that are on the mild side, in our News & Views archives for February 8.
Want more? Join us for daily coverage of cigars, accessories, people and issues at www.CigarCyclopedia.com.
Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2008; All rights reserved.

[TommyBB]

Outlaw Cigar Party with Puros Indios and Jan. Party Girl

Check it out, Carlos Diez appears at Outlaw Cigars. No offense to Carlos, but Chanel is better looking.

[H311oLHD]

Originally Posted by TommyBB

CAO Shoots and scores with the NBA's best as the NBA Players' Association selects CAO as their VIP Cigar for the third year.

Nashville, Tennessee.
CAO, one of the world’s foremost premium cigar manufacturers, announced today that it has been selected to provide cigars for the NBA All-Star Weekend 2008, beginning February 15, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
NBA All-Star Weekend brings together the NBA’s top players for a week of competition, community service, and world-class entertainment. CAO cigars will assist in transforming the music Mecca into the “Basketball Capital of the World” for the first time. The 57th Annual NBA All-Star game will be played on February 17 and broadcast by a record 123 international telecasters in 215 countries and territories. Selected NBA players and VIPs will receive CAO Gold Corona Gorda cigars and headwear provided by CAO M.E.R.C.H. “We’re honored to be selected by the NBA Players Association as the exclusive cigar sponsor for our third consecutive All Star Weekend,” said CAO Director of Lifestyle Marketing Jon Huber.
CAO was selected to provide cigars for NBA All-Star Weekend in 2006 and 2007, and was recently the exclusive cigar sponsor to the HBO® SAG Awards Luxury Lounge.

They couldn't pick one of their better offerings? CAO America people?! cmon now. I do like the Golds sometimes, and I realize why they did this. I"m pretty sure they didn't want 50 NBA players/execs puking in front of the cameras.

[tchapchap]

Thanks for the articles Tommy! Good stuff!!

[TommyBB]

Thanks, Tom. Until the new site is up, we don't have the CW News page, so I'll try to keep you all informed.

Smokers give bar's 'production' rave reviews
At Lake Mille Lacs tavern, cigarettes are merely props used to act out an exception in smoking ban
BY JASON HOPPIN
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 02/11/2008 12:03:29 AM CST


LAKE MILLE LACS - On a night when wind chills were expected to reach minus-40 or below, revelers hunkered down for a night of drinking at Barnacle's Resort, a popular winter redoubt for ice fishermen and snowmobilers on the north shore of Lake Mille Lacs.

Helmets and jackets were stuffed everywhere. A plastic kiddie pool full of crushed ice held red meat, which was raffled off throughout the night. Two tables of Texas Hold 'Em were full, and someone was telling the story of the night Minnesota Vikings fullback Jim Kleinsasser sat there - right there - in that very stool. Smoke wafted through the bar.

Wait ... smoke? As in cigarettes?

On this Saturday night, and every Saturday night going forward until someone tells them to stop, the owners at Barnacle's are allowing their customers to light up. It's not so much an act of civil disobedience against the statewide smoking ban as it is exploiting an exception that allows smoking as part of a theatrical production.

You see, all those people drinking and smoking and laughing and telling the government to mind its own business? They're really actors.

"You are looking at a stage. You are looking at a playhouse," said Mark Benjamin, who cooked up the idea. "Those are not cigarettes - those are props."

Obviously.

The night was a big hit with patrons - er, actors - who bought $1 buttons that said "ACT NOW!" to denote that they were part of the production. Playbills were printed up, and the local police

were notified. Sheila Kromer, Barnacle's co-owner, said the police told her they wouldn't visit unless someone complained.
Charlie and Sylvia Tapelt live in the area and are regulars at Barnacle's. Charlie said it was great to be able to smoke in a bar again instead of standing outside in the cold, a notion his wife seconded - even though she doesn't smoke.

If customers don't want to drink in a smoky bar, they have the choice to go somewhere else, Sylvia Tapelt said.

"People should be allowed to decide," she said.

John and Vicki Kurkowski were visiting for the weekend from their home in White Bear Lake. Asked what it was like to smoke in a bar again, a wide smile spread across John Kurkowski's face.

"It's great," he said.

Since the smoking ban went into effect in October, compliance has been good. However, when the final version of the ban was hammered out last year, state lawmakers inserted a provision allowing smoking as part of a theatrical production. But they never defined the meaning of a "theatrical production."

Link

[Wang Lung]

MADRID -(Dow Jones)- Spanish-French tobacco company Altadis SA (ALT.MC) said Wednesday it has appointed Imperial Tobacco Group PLC's (ITY) Finance director Robert Dyrbus as its chief executive.

Another bean counter in charge.