Cain Cigars

Like a pride of lions circling and then devouring a hapless baby rhino, cigar connoisseurs have been ferociously smoking Cain cigars since their release a short time ago. They are billed as being brazenly full bodied and loaded with flavor. Oliva’s newest creation has definitely created a storm amongst brothers (and sisters) of the leaf.

Even though I rarely fall into the innovator grouping in the “Diffusion of Innovations” I couldn’t pass this opportunity up. I have done what many others have done and bought a box of Cain cigars. I bought a box of maduros and I also picked up a five pack of the Cain Fs.

Based off of the couple of maduros I have smoked they are very good cigars with chocolate and some spice comprising the main flavors with some grassy flavors making up the rest of the flavor palette. As I write this, I am smoking a Cain F and it is definitely more full bodied than the maduro. Spice, wood and some earthiness make up the main flavors for the Cain F with some sweetness added in as well. I can’t say that the Cain F has knocked me on my ass but it is really enjoyable, that’s for sure.

One last thing: if you want to win a custom motorcycle then you should head on over to the Cain website. You need to hurry though since the deadline to enter is August 8th, 2010!

Why I Joined Cigar Rights of America

I Joined Cigar Rights of America (CRA) to get access to their special cigars.

While this may seem like a selfish thing to do it really is not. What every upstart nonprofit needs is money and CRA is no different. They are going to need money to pay for lobbying, marketing, websites, PR, administration, and a whole boatload of other things that one would not normally think of.

So, even though my main reason for joining is to gain access to those cool new cigars that money is going to pay CRA’s bills. And, quite frankly, that is their strategy here.

Not everyone has the time nor the inclination to be a Cigar Ambassador nor will many take the time to evangelize for cigar smokers’ rights. My “Assault on Cigars” section is, I feel, my way of evangelizing but, to be honest, I should probably do more. For example, I could be emailing my anti-smoking congresswoman or my anti-smoking senators but that is not likely to have much impact on them because I am not exactly part of their base. Not by a long shot.

Like many of my cigar blogging peers (A Cigar Smokers Journal, Smoke Signals, Nice Tight Ash and many others) I have waffled back and forth on the validity of such an organization. Cigar smoking is a past time that is enjoyed by too few to make a difference on a national level. Or is it?

This is what I think CRA is doing:

1. Build up membership
2. Gain legitimacy through increased membership numbers
3. With more legitimacy comes more involvement
4. Attack local smoking bans and increased taxes (locally, statewide and nationally) with this new base of followers

With a limited set of goals, like the ones I just outlined, I think that they have a legitimate shot at making a difference. It’s going to take a while still before CRA and its members get enough clout to advance the rights of cigar smokers but they at least now are getting some traction.

Now that I have joined, for the purely selfish reason of getting access to some new cigars, I am actually thinking about stepping up my involvement in the fight against smoke-Nazis. Here I am, a professed lover of the leaf, and I am not going to help out any way I can? I don’t think I would be able to live with myself if I just sat back and watched the destruction of cigars.

Even though I am now nominally bullish on CRA I do think that they can do some things better.

1. Now that CRA is racking up members left and right it is time to start communicating with us through weekly newsletters. Events are fun and the website is awesome but the vast majority of people won’t make that extra effort to get involved. Make it so that they can get involved as easily as possible. Petitions and form letters to congress (both sourced and marketed through the Internet) are two easy steps CRA can take that will get people involved without requiring reluctant members to expend too much energy. Membership is important (money and numbers) but it is useless unless CRA can properly wield that power.
2. Partner with groups outside of the cigar industry. There is an anti-tax and anti-regulation groundswell fomenting in America right now (actually, Americans are usually anti-tax and anti-regulation except for those rare occurrences when the financial system and the housing market collapses. But I digress). Seize upon this opportunity to partner up with these kinds of groups because two dozen groups fighting regulations is better than one. Some obvious partners would be business, anti-tax, libertarian and/or conservative groups. By becoming a part of a coalition the message will get watered down but it will nevertheless be more forceful because the more voters against legislation there are the more reticent politicians will be to say “Yea” to a bill that tramples upon our rights. One word of warning, be wary of the large tobacco companies like Phillip Morris (Altria). They actually lobby for many of the regulations and taxes directed at tobacco companies because these regulations and taxes build up a barrier against smaller tobacco concerns (like cigars).
3. Get a better blog because the one you have now is horrendous. If you want, I can set you up with a snazzy new blog in a couple of hours that has some decent SEO qualities to it. More likely, you will need to hire a professional who can build you a fully optimized blog, which I can also hook you up with since my day job is as a business consultant in this area (shameless self-promotion). But you guys are going to have to do the work, which means blogging more than once a month (as of this writing CRA’s last post was August 6). This is a digital world that we live in and if your blog isn’t up to snuff then you might as well not exist.
4. Take some time to follow your Tweeps on Twitter, it doesn’t take much effort. Twitter is one of those awesome little things that everyone uses now so there really isn’t an excuse for not posting updates daily. Most of your tweets can even be automated. 235 followers on Twitter is pathetic, you can do so much better. Maybe you could get your Executives and Board Members to tweet (and blog). Every other industry has executives doing this, it’s time the cigar industry has the same kind of representation on the Internet.
5. Promote the heck out of your accomplishments (this idea was stolen from Brian Hewitt’s post on CRA’s Facebook wall). If you aren’t going to shout from the mountaintops about what you are doing and what you have done then others will eventually lose interest. Be shameless in your self promotion. Highlight CRA’s weekly events (of which there are many) in your kick-ass new blog. Tweet about every accomplishment you have made no matter how trivial. Do interviews with cigar bloggers, newspapers, magazines and news shows whenever possible. Heck, have your Board Members do some interviews as well. Putting yourself out there will promote our cause and will increase membership.
6. Get politicians on board. There are a ton of politicians out there who smoke cigars. You probably can’t walk ten feet in Miami before you run into one. Governor Schwarzenegger put up a tent so he could smoke cigars while holding court with his vast array of functionaries. The cliche about having friends in high places is true; having more politicians supporting CRA can only be a good thing.

CRA is off to a good start and movements like these take a lot of time before they reach alarge enough magnitude to really affect change. I signed up for the cool cigars but I bet I will be getting more involved as time rolls on. If you have not yet signed up you should go over to CRA’s website and take a gander at those special cigars. Join now to get access to those smokes while it is still legal to buy them in the United States.

PRESS RELEASE: CRA Offers 2 FREE Exclusive Premium Cigars – FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!

CIGAR RIGHTS OF AMERICA

10533 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, U.S.A.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 24, 2009
Contact: Brian Berman
Phone: (818) 541-1535
Email: brian.berman@cigarrights.org

CRA Offers 2 FREE Exclusive Premium Cigars – FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!

Fairfax, VA – Cigar Rights of America (CRA) has announced an exciting new bonus offer exclusively for members that will serve as a unique member benefit, while advancing the cause of protecting cigar enthusiasts from intrusive taxation and regulation.

An initial coalition with approximately twenty of the world’s top cigar makers have joined forces to create an exclusive one-of-a-kind collection of cigars specially blended or sized for CRA members only! These cigars are not available anywhere else and you must be a CRA member to get them.

THE BONUS OFFER: Starting today, anyone who joins CRA or renews their existing CRA membership, will receive 2 FREE exclusive premium cigars.*

The cigars will be randomly paired and packaged from the following brands:

Ashton
Arturo Fuente
Avo
Alec Bradley
CAO
Camacho
Casa Fernandez
Drew Estate
Don Pepin
Fonseca
La Aurora
La Flor Dominicana
La Gloria Cubana
J.C. Newman (Maximus)
Oliva
Padron
Tabacalera Perdomo
Punch
Puros Indios
Rocky Patel
Tatuaje
Torano

For more information, or to join/renew, please visit www.cigarrights.org

About Cigar Rights of America

Cigar Rights of America (CRA) was founded on the principle of fighting for the freedom to enjoy premium cigars. A consumer-based, non-profit public advocacy organization that works with local, state and federal governments to protect the freedoms of cigar enthusiasts, CRA works with its constituency of members including manufacturers, retailers and cigar enthusiasts to focus on opposing restrictive smoking bans and increased taxation of cigars.

###

* While Supplies Last. Member must pay $5 for shipping/handling. Cigars are Toro size.

Graycliff X-Factor

Graycliff’s new cigar, called the X-Factor, actually has no name yet. They are letting the retailers come up with the name for the cigar and the winning name will get a trip. Here’s the video from the IPCPR.

IPCPR Preview

What do porn stars, comic book readers, dentists and cigar smokers have in common? They all have conventions! And this is the time of year for the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) to have theirs. They even have a culturally sensitive mascot, seen below.

According to IPCPR, their annual convention has hundreds of retailers handing out free cigars and other goodies in a couple hundred thousand square feet of space. It’s going to start August 8th and end on the 12th in New Orleans. Yes, it starts tomorrow. So, unless you are already planning on going, you probably won’t be. That means no free cigars but that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to know what is going on.

What follows are some links to coverage of IPCPR:

Stogie Review has continuous coverage through their Twitter page. They will be physically attending the shindig but, hopefully, they will leave out the bathroom breaks from their coverage (I hope!).

If you’re a fan of Oliveros cigars and want to see Kinky Friedman then you can go to the Oliveros booth on the 9th, 10th or the 11th to see him.

CAO is going to unveil its new line, La Traviata, which is kind of similar to my first name, at this year’s IPCPR. Here’s a review.

Chief Hava is going to have a Twitter BOTL event on August 11th. And you might also want to check out his post on how the Texas smoke Nazis, in tandem with duplicitous business interests, are stomping out cigars in Galveston, Texas. TEXAS!!!

Want to know what Padron, Patel, Tatuaje, Casa Magna and others will be unveiling at this years IPCPR? Then head on over to The Stogie Guys! They have a short description of all the new cigars.

Alright, that’s enough. Go smoke a cigar!

Brick and Mortar Versus Online Cigar Shops

My first cigars were some Arturo Fuentes from a local tobacco shop. These cigars ignited my passion for cigars and I am forever grateful to my mom for getting me those sticks. In no way am I overstating the facts when I say that cigars have enriched my life. So, thanks mom and thank you to the brick and mortar (B&M) that started me on this journey.

Unfortunately, I don’t live on Calle Ocho. Cigar smoking is just not that important in my area. The B&Ms in my neck of the woods are lackluster, at best. Yesterday, I went to a new shop that, from the outside, looked promising. It was actually a cigar shop(!) – so it should have a ton of cigars on hand. Or so I thought.

There were not that many cigars in the walk-in humidor in the back of the narrow shop. It looked cool with its glass doors but outside of the slim selection of Fuentes, Nubs, Punches, Patels, and some other mainstays there wasn’t much to choose from. That doesn’t even go into the horrible humidification system he had, but I digress. I asked the owner what he thought of the Casa Magna I was buying and the summation of his answer was: “They’re good. I like them because they are milder.”

Seriously, that is what he said. If you don’t know the Casa Magna was the #1 cigar for Cigar Aficionado in 2008 and it isn’t milder (I guess it’s milder than some other cigars but it isn’t, by any means, a “mild” cigar). So, even when I’m lucky enough to find a place that has a moderate selection of cigars, the proprietor has a poor knowledge of the products he is selling.

On top of all of this is the markup. I can understand paying a couple of extra dollars per cigar. But double what it goes for online? That’s too much. [Maybe, since I do live in the tax-loving state of California, there are a ton more taxes that I am unaware of - that could easily explain the extra markup.]

My stance on B&Ms can be summarized thusly: If you have a good one close by then, by all means, go there. It is worth paying a little extra for cigars if you have a great proprietor and can get some camaraderie from going. But, even if I had one by my house, I would still use online cigar shops.

Maybe I’m just different from the average cigar smokers. Personally, I don’t like going out all that much to smoke my cigars. When I go to a restaurant this Thursday for a cigar smokers’ dinner that will be the first time I will be going to a cigar event. I’m sure I will like it but, on average, I like to smoke alone. Smoking alone is a way for me to relax and enjoy my cigars. Maybe if I had a good friend who also smoked cigars I would smoke with him like Denny and Alan do at the end of every episode on Boston Legal. What all this means is that I probably wouldn’t be going to a B&M for the camaraderie alone.

Furthermore, there’s just no way for a B&M to have the same selection and prices that an online shop has. The online shops regularly have great deals as well. If it weren’t for the samplers offered online I would probably not have the same exposure to cigars that I currently have. Heck, if it weren’t for online shops like the ones that are advertised on my site I probably would not be blogging about cigars. And please don’t think that I wouldn’t be advocating online cigar shops if they weren’t advertising on my site and giving me the occasional freebie. I have a little more ethics than that.

For what it’s worth, online cigar shops will continue to be my go-to source for cigars. There are just too many deals and the prices are so much better online. When a truly good B&M opens up by my house I will go there frequently. Until that fortuitous day comes my cigars will be delivered – properly humidified.

The Fuente Family – An Introduction

I love Fuente cigars. Just the other day I was lucky enough to have my first Fuente Fuente Opus X and it was just awesome. Probably the best cigar I have ever smoked. Tons of spice with a nice leathery background (I will post my review in a month or two, I have a little bit of a backlog). An absolutely wonderful smoke.

In honor of that cigar I scoured the Internet and found this great video that gives a brief background of the Fuente family and their cigar making roots. And, yes, it’s basically a commercial for the Fuente family. But so what?!?! Hope you like it!

Stogie Review Interview with Pete Johnson

The guys over at Stogie Review posted a great interview with Pete Johnson, the maker of boutique cigar brand Tatuaje. He is also featured in the most recent issue of Cigar Aficionado. I actually just received a couple of the highly rated Tatuaje cigars the other day and can’t wait to smoke them. Until then, we have this 23-minute video.

Cuban Cigar Outlook for 2009

This first story got me worried about Cuban cigars:

Why are sales of Cuban cigars down? The minute the subprime mortgage crisis turned global, of course, demand had no place to go but down. And, there’s always the quality issue that has plagued manufacturers in recent years. So far, the damage hasn’t been bad.

Maybe since demand isn’t forcing more production the Cuban cigar makers will get to focus more on quality. Unfortunately, for me mainly, I can’t really talk about the quality of Cuban cigars since I’ve only had one. Yes, I know, that sucks.

Not everything is all doom and gloom for Cuban cigars, not by a long shot. Even though they were whacked with two big storms in 2008 they are set to have a great crop in 2009.

The world’s premier tobacco region in western Cuba has recovered from two powerful hurricanes in 2008 and is about to produce one of the best crops in years, growers said on Tuesday.

To rap all of this up Cuba is set to have their annual cigar fest:

The 11th Habano Cigar Festival was opened on Monday at the Havana Convention Center by Raul de la Nuez, minister of Foreign Commerce.

In summary, the state of Cuban cigars is strong! Cuba, on the other hand….

Petition to Cigar Manufacturers

Have you ever had a hard time finding information about a cigar? Want to know where the tobacco you are smoking was physically grown? Want to know how much of your premium cigar is made from tobacco from the Dominican?

I don’t know about you but I would love to know this information and it seems like I’m not the only one. Doc Stogie Fresh has started a petition asking cigar manufacturers to provide this information. Here are the highlights:

Cigar Information: What we’d like to know about the cigars

I have already signed the petition and I urge all cigars smokers to sign the petition as well. It is important to know what you are smoking for a couple of reasons.

1. You can better educate yourself. If you know what kinds of tobacco you like you will be able to pick similar sticks in the future because that information will now be readily available.

2. Quality control. Once cigar makers start publishing what tobacco goes into their cigars they will have to work to maintain that mix. If they lie about what goes into their cigars it will be possible to catch them lying. (Think C.S.I. for cigars.)

3. Marketing tool for cigar makers. Think about a 25 year old Scotch or a wine from Burgundy. Consumers are willing to pay a premium just because they know the ingredients come from a great area and/or are aged.

For the good of cigardom, SIGN THE PETITION!