halfwheel

News: U.S. Senate Rejoins Fight to Protect Cigars from FDA Regulation

The United States Senate has officially rejoined the fight to protect cigars from FDA legislation, as the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act received an official bill number today, S. 772. The bill has already signed on six co-sponsors, including a bi-partisan effort from Florida as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Bill [...]

News: Arkansas Legislator Proposes Statewide Smoking Ban

A sweeping statewide smoking ban has been introduced in the Arkansas legislature and was quickly sent to committee for its first hearing. Arkansas HB 2119 modifies the existing state smoking laws and removes all exemptions for cigar bars, lounges, cigar shops, outdoor restaurants and other establishments and exemptions. It was introduced by Representative John W. Walker, [...]

News: Statewide Smoking Ban Proposed in Kentucky

Cigar Rights of America issued an advisory on Thursday regarding a bill that would implement a statewide smoking ban in Kentucky and contain no provisions for cigar shops, bars or lounges. House Bill 190 was introduced on February 5, 2013 by Representatives Susan Westrom (D), Julie Raque Adams (R) and David Watkins (D), and would effectively ban [...]

Editorial: The Ten Questions for 2013

I think this might be my favorite article to write and publish. It takes a lot of time, but despite what my Twitter account might hint at, I do love the industry proper. There were a lot of things that happened in 2012, many of which aren’t so relevant as far as looking at things [...]

News: Michigan Legislature Approves 50-Cent Cigar Tax Cap

The Michigan Legislature approved Senate Bill 1004, a piece of legislation that would put into place a 50-cent cigar tax on November 1st. The bill now heads to Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk for his signature. In a news release, the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers cited “diligent, long work and effort” by a group [...]

News: CRA Announces Two More U.S. Reps Co-sponsoring H.R. 1639

Cigar Rights of America announced on Friday that two more members of the U.S. House of Representatives have joined on as co-sponsors of H.R. 1639, known as the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2011. At the core of the resolution is the protection of premium cigars from FDA oversight and regulation. [...]

Weekly News (June 25, 2012)

Editor’s Note: After a few weeks of craziness, we seem to be catching up. There are a few technical changes being introduced to the site, if you have any issues, please contact us. Brooks posted the first new Icons of Cigars™ portrait on halfwheel, one of Steve Saka of Drew Estate. In addition we are [...]

The Cigar Industry Reacts to Prop. 29′s Defeat

The cigar industry made no secret of their feelings of relief in the wake of the expected defeat of Proposition 29 in California, a proposal that would have raised taxes of premium cigars and pipe tobacco by 73%. In one of the first press releases issued following the announcement that 100% of precincts had reported, [...]

Weekly News (June 18, 2012)

Editor’s Note: It will be a busy week at halfwheel and likely busy up until the trade show. I’m not sure if it’s entirely necessary. There’s a chicken and egg problem regarding new releases that runs rampant through the industry. There’s not enough space in most retail humidors because of a flood of new releases, [...]

News: CRA/IPCPR set to meet with Vice President Biden Today

The International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) announced that representatives from their organization and Cigar Rights of America (CRA) would be meeting with Vice President Joe Biden in Orlando, FL on Friday to personally deliver the White House Petition asking President Obama to instruct the FDA not to regulate the premium cigar industry. [...]