What's Happening Cigaraholics?

What's going on? with the release of the Las Calaveras, everybody is buzzing, I'm waiting to see how they are.. Looking to get an order in this week yet, have you had one? let me know what you think...

Las Calaveras 2015 by Crowned Heads

Las Calaveras, or “The Skull”, is a special, limited release from Crowned Heads that gathers inspiration from the Mexican Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). As with many Crowned Heads releases, there is much meaning and substance behind the cigar, from its design, and even the way the cigars are packaged!
Las Calaveras – Edición Limitada 2015 is the successor to the ever-popular 2014 release, sporting a new Ecuador Habano Rosado wrapper for 2015. The cigars are intended to be an annual release, with a new or tweaked blend for each year. As last year’s blend, the 1st in this audacious series, became one of the most sought-after cigars in 2014, this year’s edition is sure to follow a similar pattern. Cigars have sold to retailers in record time for Crowned Heads, and if history is any indicator, the cigars will not last long on store shelves.
This special cigar, blended at the famous My Father Cigars factory, will most certainly be one of the most-celebrated releases for 2015 - be sure to secure your order before they’re gone for another year!

Two Former Drew Estate Tobacco Gurus Ready for New Phase

Two Former Drew Estate Tobacco Gurus Ready for New Phase

4 Jun 2015

Despite the fact the FDA could rule before the end of the year that cigars introduced now cannot be sold or marketed without the FDA’s approval, cigar companies continue to churn out new cigars.

And with the annual IPCPR Trade Show less than two months out, more and more new cigars are being announced. (As we have seven out of the past eight years, StogieGuys.com will be covering the IPCPR from the show floor, which this year is in humid New Orleans in late July.)

Melillo Announces Foundation Cigar Co.

In addition to the many new cigars, two former key figures at Drew Estate are expected to announce their next phase in the cigar industry. Nicholas Melillo, who left Drew Estate roughly 13 months ago, was the first to announce his future plans.

On Tuesday Melillo, who had been executive vice president of international operations at Drew Estate before his departure, announced the formation of Foundation Cigar Company. The company, which will be headquartered in Connecticut, is preparing to introduce its first blend at the IPCPR Trade Show.

While exact details of the blend are not yet known, in a press release Melillo, who goes by “Nick R. Agua” online, said he will be making his first cigar at the TABSA (Tobaccos Valle de Jalapa) factory in Nicaragua, using Aganorsa tobacco, which is also extensively used in Drew Estate blends. The first cigars are scheduled to arrive in cigar shops in September, and reportedly will retail for around $10.

Melillo described his new partnership in a distributed statement: “I have known and been purchasing tobacco from Eduardo Fernandez and his team since 2003. It’s great to work with guys who really know their tobacco. They have welcomed me in with open arms and have given me access to their special cuartos anejamiento, or ‘aging rooms.’ I have personally selected some very special vintage tobaccos which possess some amazing flavors and complex characteristics. The variety of Nicaraguan tobaccos they have in the warehouse is incredible and some of the blends I have worked up are, well, let’s just say we are all very excited about them. The tough part in working up a few nice blends is deciding which cigar you like the best.”

Steve Saka Non-Compete Ending Soon; Announcement to Follow?

Melillo’s new cigar is certainly highly anticipated, but maybe not as much as an expected announcement from former Drew Estate president and CEO Steve Saka. During the time when Saka and Melillo were at Drew Estate, the two played a critical role in growing the company from an operation known mostly for its unorthodox infused cigars to a Nicaraguan juggernaut that made some of the most sought-after non-infused cigars, including Liga Privada.

Saka left Drew Estate in July 2013 and reportedly has a two-year non-compete agreement that will expire only a week prior to the IPCPR Trade Show. In a series of recent Facebook posts, Saka has been sharing photos from Nicaragua where he has been spending time sampling tobacco in Nicaragua, which many have interpreted as preparation for his next cigar venture.

If, as many expect, an announcement about his future plans in the cigar industry comes soon, Saka would be one of many who has “retired” from one company only to reemerge in the industry after a contractually obligated hiatus. The cycle of cigar makers gaining expertise, experience, and capital at one company only to strike out on their own later is one of the aspects of the industry that drives innovation and competition to the great benefit of consumers.

New FDA Regulations could wipe out every cigar introduced in the last eight years

February 15, 2007 could turn out to be the most important date in the history of the premium cigar industry. Why, you ask? Because every cigar introduced after that date could soon be made illegal by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

While the so-called Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTC)—the bill giving the FDA the power to regulate cigars—didn’t pass until June 2009, the legislation sets February 15, 2007 as the cutoff date for tobacco products to be grandfathered in as exempt from needing FDA approval before being sold or marketed in the United States.

Tobacco products introduced after that date (which comes from the text of the legislation and probably cannot be altered by the FDA, even if the agency wanted to) must receive the FDA’s approval before they can be marketed for sale. For a period from passage of the FSPTC until March 22, 2011, new tobacco products could be marketed while an application was pending but, as the FDA reiterated recently, any new product that didn’t have an application submitted by that date cannot be marketed until the FDA takes action to approve it. This would apply to cigars when they are subject to FDA regulation, despite the fact the FDA hadn’t even taken the first step towards regulating cigars in March 2011, and so no cigar applications would have been submitted.

Theoretically, new cigars should get approved as “substantially equivalent” to products that were already on the market in 2007 since the basic components of handmade cigars haven’t changed in at least a century. But the process is surprisingly complicated, likely very expensive, and includes an “Environmental Assessment” and a “Health Information Summary” along with a requirement for scientific studies about how the product would be used in comparison to the product it is being claimed as substantially equivalent to. In other words, you’d probably need deep pockets, lawyers, and scientists to have a chance.

Plus, so far the FDA hasn’t shown any ability to handle existing applications. As we observed when the Deeming Rule was first proposed, only a few dozen of the 4,000 pending applications were ruled on as of April last year, with just 17 being approved over the period of multiple years. As of now, the FDA site says it has approved only 132 products as “Substantially Equivalent” since 2011, while an untold amount remain waiting for a ruling.

The FDA did propose in its rules one option for an exemption for premium cigars with a retail price of $10 or more, but even if the agency adopts that option it would leave the vast majority of cigars (85%, according to one analysis) to be banished from the market and forced to wait for an approval that may be nearly impossible to get.

February 15, 2007 is a long time ago, so allow me to set the stage: On that date we published a Quick Smoke of the Gispert Lonsdale (remember that cigar?), and you couldn’t yet buy an Apple iPhone because the first one didn’t go on sale until later that summer.

As far as cigars go, here are just a few introduced in 2007, but after the February cutoff date: Oliva Serie V, San Cristobal, Padrón Serie 1926 80 Years, CAO America, Te-Amo World Selection Series, Santa Rosa (an Altadis cigar I forgot ever existed), Rocky Patel Sumatra Edge, Cabaiguan Guapo, La Aurora Corojo Oscuro Barrel Aged, and the Cuban Cohiba Maduro (which, if the embargo ever ends, would also be subject to the regulations).

To say the industry has changed since then would be a gross understatement, as evidenced by the fact that multiple cigars listed above are no longer being made. For most cigar smokers I talk with, the vast majority of cigars they smoke were introduced well after 2007.

Cigar rights groups are now looking to push legislation that would amend the date for new cigars to be grandfathered in. This seems extremely reasonable. After all, how can cigars have complied with a regulation two years before passage of the bill authorizing the FDA to regulate cigars, and five years before the agency took any steps towards exercising its power to regulate cigars?

The problem is that reasonable doesn’t buy you much when it comes to passing federal laws. And considering the difficulty in getting support for the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act in Congress, there isn’t much indication that there are majorities in Congress that want to treat cigars reasonably, nor that President Obama would sign such legislation if it somehow made it to his desk.

Habanos Appoints New Co-President

Habanos Appoints New Co-President

Gordon Mott
Posted: February 19, 2015

Inocente Núñez Blanco has been named the new co-president of Habanos S.A., replacing Walfrido Hernandez Mesa, who had been in charge since November, 2012. Núñez Blanco will share the responsibilities for running Cuba's premium cigar company with Luis Sanchez-Harguindey Pardo de Vera. Sanchez Harguindey has held his position since December 2012.
Habanos is currently a company that is jointly owned by the Cuban government, and by Imperial Tobacco PLC of the United Kingdom. The co-presidents are selected by their respective institutions, and approved by the board of directors of Habanos S.A.
Núñez Blanco will be the third Cuban co-president since 2011. He comes to Habanos after a long career in the tobacco and agriculture industries in Cuba. His most recent position was head of human resources in the Brascuba Cigarrillos S.A.

Habanos S.A. Predicts Big U.S. Sales, Shows 2015 Cigars

Habanos S.A. Predicts Big U.S. Sales, Shows 2015 Cigars

Gordon Mott
Posted: February 24, 2015

Cuban cigar sales in the United States could reach between 70 and 90 million cigars a year if the 53-year-old trade embargo between the two nations is lifted, according to two executives of Habanos S.A., the Cuban tobacco monopoly.
The sales projection would represent a market share of between 25 to 30 percent of the U.S market, said Jorge Luis Fernandez Maique, the commercial vice president of Habanos S.A. His Spanish counterpart, Javier Terrés de Ercilla, the vice president of development of Habanos S.A., added that Habanos' long-term goal is to attain the same level of sales that it has in the rest of the world where, according to its own statistics, it maintains a 70 percent market share.
"But the consumer will be the final judge of that," said Fernandez Maique. Terrés added that it could take 10 to 15 years or more before the market for Cuban cigars in the U.S. attains the same level as in the rest of the world.
The announcement of projected U.S. sales came at the opening press conference of the Festival de Habanos 2015, the 17th year that the festival has been held in Havana, Cuba. The festival is expected to draw more than 1,650 participants from 61 countries and 220 accredited journalists from 25 nations. The five-day event features a trade fair with 67 exhibitors from seven countries, including Italy, Canada, Germany, Spain, Brazil, China and Cuba.
Habanos experienced a 1 percent decline in revenues in 2014 versus 2013, to $439 million, the result of crisis in various parts of the world, including the Middle East and Russia, according to Fernandez Maique. He added that the world premium cigar market is estimated at 450 million cigars, of which Habanos has a 70 percent share in units, and an 80 percent share in terms of revenues. He said that there are currently 147 La Casas del Habanos around the world, and an additional 700 Habanos cigar specialists and 1,600 cigar outlets that carry the company's brands.
Spain remains the largest market for Cuban cigars, followed by France, China, Germany and then Swizterland. Cohiba is the country's largest selling brand, followed by Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta and Partagás. In terms of regional sales, Europe is its largest market by far, representing more than half of the company's sales.
The two executives said that they viewed the announcement in December by U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro to begin normalizing relations between the two nations as "a positive move." But Terrés Ercilla added that it was still too early to tell whether or not there would be an immediate impact on the sales of Cuban cigars.
"U.S. tourists can only bring back $100 worth of cigars, so that's not a lot," added Fernandez Maique.
When asked if the opening of the U.S. market would represent a challenge for the Cuban cigar industry to maintain quality while increasing production, Fernandez Maique said the industry would never compromise quality. He said the Cuban cigar industry had gone through a "difficult period" around the year 2000, and that it had learned a lesson never to compromise on quality again.
"We believe we are now a leader when it comes to quality. ... and we will protect that jealously," said Fernandez Maique.
Fernandez Maique also acknowledged several recent harvests had been difficult and presented some real challenges to the Cuban cigar industry. He said those difficulties explained the slow release in 2014 of some of the Edición Limitadas, including the Cohiba Robusto Supremo, which did not reach world markets until November or December.

But he said that in 2015, Habanos was planning to release three new cigars, which will be presented during the Festival: the Romeo y Julieta Wide Churchill Gran Reserva Cosecha 2009, the Montecristo 80th Aniversario and the La Gloria Cubana Edición Especial Casa del Habano. The Romeo y Julieta measures 5 1/8 inches by 55 ring gauge and will be sold in boxes of 15. The Montecristo 80th Aniversario (6 1/2 inch by 55) will have a production of 30,000 boxes. The La Gloria Cubana Edición Especial La Casa del Habano, which honors the retail chain's 25th anniversary, comes in boxes of 30 with 15 Pirámides (6 1/8 by 52) and 15 Robustos Extras (6 3/4 by 48).
The executives also highlighted the new Añejado line, which has been blended with tobaccos that have between five and eight years of age. The two cigars are the Romeo y Julieta Pirámides (6 1/8 by 52) and the Montecristo Churchill (7 by 47). Each cigar is sold in boxes of 25, and each has a special Añejado band.

Diplomaticos Bushido Comes To Asia Pacific Region

Diplomaticos Bushido Comes To Asia Pacific Region

Gregory Mottola
Posted: April 7, 2015

Bushido. It's the samurai code of honorable conduct. It's the way of the warrior. But it's also the name of the new Cuban Regional Edition Diplomaticos launching this week through Pacific Cigar Ltd., the distributor of Cuban cigars for the Asia Pacific territory that includes Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Known as a No. 109 in Cuban cigar factories, the Diplomaticos Bushido measures 7 1/4 inches by 50. But what makes the size distinct is its tapered, blunted belicoso head. A long discontinued vitola in the regular-production Cuban portfolio, the 109 is rarely seen and only released intermittently by Habanos S.A. for special projects such as this one.
But the Bushido is also a commemorative cigar of sorts. Pacific Cigar told Cigar Insider that it was created to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the very first Japanese citizen to visit Cuba. During the Keicho mission, samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga stopped in Cuba (then part of New Spain) on his way to the Vatican in Rome. (The Diplomaticos Bushido was originally intended for a 2014 release.)
Pacific Cigar celebrates the spirit of diplomacy and the code of the samurai with these Diplomaticos Bushidos, which come packaged in a decorative black outer shell designed with an eye-catching samurai motif. But they won't come cheap.