Cigar News
News of the Week (September 02, 2017): New Aging Room, Alec Bradley and More
September 2017
Welcome to our latest cigar news post! In this week’s post, we’ll take a look at some new releases and discuss some changes in the industry. We’ll also touch down on a few important legal updates.
New and Upcoming Releases:
- To kick it off, this has been an exciting month for Aging Room fans. As you likely know, in 2013, Founder Rafael Nodal produced the Aging Room Quattro F55 blend in collaboration with Jochy Blanco. Now, a new version of that award-winning cigar has been released, this time with a Mexican San Andres Morrón wrapper and Dominican Habano binder and filler. The cigars are box-pressed and will be limited to a run of 40,000 boxes per year, each containing 10 cigars.
- Another exciting new release is Alec Bradley’s TAA Exclusive cigar, Black Market Illicit. While this is not the first time Alec Bradley has developed a cigar exclusive to TAA, it has been quite a while—the last time was 2013 (the Prensado Figurado). Owner Alan Rubin has described the Black Market Illicit as the original Black Market “on steroids.” It consists of a Nicaraguan filler, a Honduran and Nicaraguan binder, and a Nicaraguan wrapper. You can only buy it in one size: a 6×50 Toro.
Industry News:
- In our first item of industry news, Beat Hauenstein, previously the COO of Oettinger Davidoff, has just taken over as the CEO. Hauenstein has been with the company since 2003. The previous CEO, Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, is departing so that he can focus on his external board and consultancy duties.
- In other industry news, Drew Estate has recently announced that it is partnering up with STG Canada. Effective August 28th, STG Canada is the manufacturer’s new exclusive distribution partner in Canada.
Legal News:
- Let’s give the bad news before the good. Unfortunately for residents of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, it is no longer possible to purchase tobacco at age 18. The minimum age has been raised to 21. Curiously enough, the entire village health commission rejected the ordinance, but the village board voted it into effect anyway. Let’s hope that means that there is enough resistance to eventually get this new restriction overturned for Buffalo Grove’s 40,000 residents.
- In other discouraging news (don’t worry—it hasn’t been all bad this month on the legal front), New York City’s Committee on Health has passed several items of anti-tobacco legislation. Combined, these are going to have a significant impact on the cost of cigars in the city. The new legislation will set minimum thresholds for cigar prices, so starting next year, it will be a lot more expensive to shop for stogies locally. The only upshot is that some of the extra revenue will be going to public housing programs in the city.
- In very good legal news, the FDA has given the premium cigar industry more time to send over information on the manufacturing and ingredients of their cigars. The original deadline was next February, but it has now been moved to August 2021. This means that the industry has been granted a significant extension of time to push for exemption from the harsh new FDA restrictions on tobacco products. This is a conversation which the FDA seems increasingly interested in having, so it is now more important than ever for those in the cigar community to lift up their voices and be heard.
Thanks for stopping by to check out the latest news in the cigar world! Check back with us soon for more updates!
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That’s an important development, with the Yank FDA ‘Food & Drug Administration’ being open to the idea that premium cigars are entirely a different tobacco matter than cigarettes. Given how Europe & much of the rest of the world will often follow a USA lead, this could be very positive.
What is not cited often enough, is the major massive collation of cigar-smoking health studies back in 1998, by the National Cancer Institute (Monograph 9, ‘Cigars – Health Effects & Trends’), where it was scientifically & statistically determined that smoking 1 or 2 cigars per day, posed virtually zero statistically significant health risks! In some data strata – still within statistical insignificance – cigar smokers had better overall health than those who didn’t smoke at all, ha!
Given how fine cigars are all-natural 100% tobacco, and given that one doesn’t generally inhale into the lungs when smoking, this should not be a surprise, although many people will assume that just because cigars are bigger there is more ‘risk’ involved in them. Whereas in fact, fine cigars are similar to wines and alcohols, they can be enjoyed in moderation without negative impact. It’s a shame the cigar community has not cultivated and shared this knowledge more broadly.
We also missed the great opportunity to more encourage the female cigar smoker who can benefit from the overall milder nature of cigars, and who can just as readily, if not even more profoundly, appreciate the sense of deep relaxation that can result.