Weekly News (April 3, 2023)

Editor’s Note: Over the last few weeks, readers in countries where English is not the primary language may have found that halfwheel was loading in a local language. While some of you may have found that helpful, I know some were annoyed.

The good news is that—with the feedback of some our readers—that is no longer happening. Or, at least, it shouldn’t be. If it is, please contact us so I can see what’s happening.

For a handful of languages, you can now visit a specific URL to see an automatically translated version. At the moment, the following are active:

• Deutsch — de.halfwheel.com
• español — es.halfwheel.com
• svenska — sv.halfwheel.com
• Tiếng Việt — vi.halfwheel.com
• 简体字 — zh-cn.halfwheel.com

If you are hoping to see other languages, you can scroll to the bottom of the site and look on the right side for a language selector. Eventually, I will add additional subdomains for other languages.

My understanding is that these translations should be better than what you would get from putting halfwheel articles into Google Translate, but not what you would expect if a person translated the articles. Names of cigars or companies seem to be particularly challenging for the software, but there are ways to improve those issues. Perhaps the largest issue is that none of us at halfwheel are purposeful about writing articles in a way that would make it easy to translate.

If you see any other issues or suggestions, please let me know. — Charlie Minato.

Cigar News

• Alec Bradley’s PCA 2023 Booth Becomes Forged Cigar Co. Booth
• Brick House Ciento Por Ciento Returns as 2023 TAA Exclusive
• Caldwell Releases Blind Man’s Bluff Toro Deluxe
• Camacho Factory Unleashed 3 Shipping in April
• Crowned Heads Begins Shipping Le Carême Pastelitos LE 2023
• Deadwood The Girl With No Name Robusto Extra Lands at Famous Smoke Shop
• E.P. Carrillo TAA Exclusive Box-Pressed Toro Slated to Arrive in June
• El Mago Adding Three New Cigars Next Month
• Epic Teams Up With Bigg Golf for New Cigar
• Espinosa’s Murcielago de Oro Ships Early to TAA Retailers
• General, Forged Increase Prices
• George Rico El Enemigo Soft Launches at Select Stores
• H. Upmann 1844 Special Edition Barbier Arrives in Stores
• Intemperance Volstead VO 1920 Soft Launching Next Month Ahead of Summer Release
• Two New JFR Lunatic Maduro Vitolas Head to Stores
• Aged La Gloria Cubanas Become TAA Exclusive
• La Palina Creates White Label Figurado for TAA Retailers
• Mitch Zeller, former FDA Tobacco Czar, joins Inhalable Nicotine Company — via Tobacco Reporter
• Plasencia Alma del Fuego Cortez Named Company’s First TAA Exclusive
• Quesada Adds Box-Pressed Casa Magna Liga F as TAA Exclusive
• Rocky Patel The 1865 Project Toro
• S.T.Dupont Creates Ligne 2 High Roller, Koi Colorways
• First Sancho Panza TAA Exclusive Shipping in June
• Scrim by HutcH Releases New Hawaiian Koa Wood Cutters
• Tatuaje’s Lomo de Cerdo Heads to Stores on Monday
• Wildfire Ships The Intro, Wanderer

Regulations 

Federal

• House Oversight Committee Investigating FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products

International

• Serbia Proposes Smoking Ban for Restaurants/Bars — via RadioFreeEurope

State

• Kansas Tobacco 21 Bill Heads to Governor (Update)
• New Hampshire Premium Cigar Tax Bill Dies

Reviews

• Cavalier Genève US Regional Exclusive Petit Robusto
• La Flor Dominicana TAA The Golden Salomon Natural
• Liga Privada Único Serie Year of the Rabbit
• Oscar Valladares Ciseron Edition
• Perez-Carrillo Allegiance Wingman
• THiCket Raygun Torch

Deals From Our Sponsors

• Atlantic Cigar Co. — Oliva Serie V Melanio Maduro No.4 (Box of 10, $50.56)
• Cigar Hustler — Viaje Honey And Hand Grenades Falchion Corojo (Pack of 5, $66.88)
• Cigars Direct — Asylum 10 11/18 Perfecto (Pack of 5, $105)
• Corona Cigar Co. — Tatuaje Lomo de Cerdo (Bundle of 25, $269.75)
• Famous Smoke Shop — Oliva 6 Cigar Sampler (Sampler of 6, $29.95)
• Gotham Cigars —Espinosa Creamy and Dark (Sampler of 10, $79.99)
• JR Cigars — 25 Percent OFF  (Code: APRIL)
• LM Cigars — Craftsman’s Bench Stainless Steel Cutter ($24.95)