Weekly News (February 18, 2013)

Editor’s Note: The cigar industry has a disclosure problem. It’s nothing new and beginning to be a well-documented complaint as the level of knowledge amongst a minority of consumers increases. At every juncture, the cigar industry collectively seems to get away with not disclosing more than most seem logical: blend changes, tobacco origins, production sizes, factory locations are all oftentimes undisclosed, and sometimes even worse—lied about.

While all of these are obvious issues for me, time and time again I see manufacturers not disclosing something else, much smaller, much less significant, but entirely necessary.

Earlier this month Stogie Guys published an editorial discussing the need to pay attention to when a cigar was rated and made a strong case as to why it’s key, something I agree with. But it’s also time for manufacturers to start also including where something was rated.

Now, more often than not, cigars are simply described as “93 rated,” and not “93 rated from…” It’s bad, misleading and at times laughable. I’m of the belief that ratings are a bit overhyped in the industry, but if one is going to use ratings in marketing material, let’s do it properly.

The other day I saw a manufacturer tweet that a cigar was “cigar of the year.” I can’t tell you where that cigar was listed as cigar of the year, I looked. And I’d like to think that I have a decent grasp on the lists that were produced this past year, or at least the relevant ones.

Disclosure is going to be something the cigar industry fights against, it already is, and so it will be a long road in order to get manufacturers to fess up to blend changes, but letting the industry get away with new types of non-disclosure is not a good idea because information really just becomes misinformation.

• Room101 Master Collection — Story here.
• J.D. Howard Reserve Coming from Crowned Heads — Here.
• L’Atelier LAT 46 SS Scheduled for March, Maduro Ships in May — Story here.
• Black Market Punk Coming from Alec Bradley — Story here.
   
• La Aurora 107 Maduro Nears Arrival — The new 107 Maduro gets closer to a release. Via Barry Stein.
• Limited Edition Casa Martin Coming — Details here.
• Intemperance Lonsdales Coming — Details here.
• Chesapeake Cigar Gets La Aurora 107 8 x 60 — Details here.
• La Barba Cigars Sees September Release — Details here.
• La Gloria Cubana Adds Serie R Little Belicoso — Here.
• Alec Bradley Prepares Nica Puro Shipment — Details here.
• East India Cargo Chest Ships from Gurkha — Here.
• La Aurora Gets Own Rum — Expected to debut this week at ProCigar. No word on U.S. debut.
• IPCPR Tables Consumer Day, Increases Dues — Here.
• H.R. 792 Replaces H.R. 1639 — Details here.
• Legislative Victory in Oklahoma — Story here.
• Romeo y Julieta Churchills Reserva 2008 Prepares to Ship — Press release here.
• La Palina Decreases Prices — Press release here.
• General Cigar Launches New Website — Press release here.

Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.