News: Minnesota Raises Cigar Tax, Adds Cap

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A state with some of the highest taxes on cigars is getting a tax hike, and at least one retailer is calling it a victory. Last week, after months of negotiations, Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law new taxes that includes changes on how cigars are taxed in the state. Under the old structure, cigars [...]

Weekly News (May 27, 2013)

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Editor’s Note: I’ve never made these columns about my personal life. Many others do it in their blogs—most notably Jerry Cruz, who does it better than I ever could—but for me, it’s only been personal views about this industry. Over the last few months, as I transition in my personal life, I’ve been asked about [...]

Weekly News (January 31, 2011)

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Can he do it? Will he do it…? Yepp, another week, another Viaje LE announcement. Nope, I’m not kidding. It marks the seventh sixth (I really thought there were seven) announcement of a new Viaje product this month joining the: Exclusivo Chiquito, Exclusivo Shorts, WLP, Late Harvest and Trifecta. The stick? You’re going to have [...]

Editorial: Minneapolis Smoking Ban

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Minnesota passed the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act in 1975. Fast forward pretty much thirty years. In 2005, St. Paul’s City Councilman Dave Thune proposed a smoking ban and two years later it passed. In the time in between, Minneapolis and a host of other cities passed smoking bans. This led state lawmakers to pass the Freedom to Breathe Act in 2007 amending the 1975 legislation by placing much more restrictions on the consumption and sales of tobacco products. There are two main contentions of the act being debated, the use of “sampling” and where smoking is allowed. The Freedom to Breathe Act does not limit smoking in the following areas: