Weekly News (November 25, 2013)

Editor’s Note: It was a busy week at halfwheel, some of that has to do with legislation stories. Here’s the deal.

We are going to cover them, a lot.  At the moment, there is not a centralized place to follow legislative stories (in various stages and states) in one place, turns out we have created one.

If you think last week was some sort of anomaly, you are probably misguided. The reality is, there are a lot of governments from the smallest to the largest looking at changing various laws that affect cigars, and other tobacco products, are smoked and purchased. Particularly of note, New York City’s decision to raise the age to purchase tobacco to 21, something that quickly passed in another county, is being discussed in two major cities and one state. 

• La Flor Dominicana Launches N.A.S. — Return of the Cheroot. Story here.
• Griffin’s 2013 Special Edition Club Series I — A few boxes will make it to the states. Details here.
• Ortega Cigars SE Series Coming — Next year.
• Gurkha Cigar Group Announces Pedro Martin Limited Edition — Press release here, details on how this came about can be found here.
• Arturo Fuente Unnamed Reserves Land in Stores — Fuente is being shy with details, although we’ve asked a few times. There are two sizes in a single box, which confirms what we were told at the show. Pricing is said to be higher than last year and it is of course, very limited. Blend is also different, although, last year’s blend was never really confirmed.
• La Aurora Announces Regional Preferidos Diamond 6 x 58 — Details here.
• Illusione ULTRA to Expand — Perhaps.
• Reinado Grand Empire Reserve Connecticut Takes Shape — Two to be exact. Story and pictures here.
• Victor Vitale Adds Cedros Series to Tortuga 215 Reserva — The first of three new vitolas gets launched next month.
• Sindicato Ships Affinity — Hex and Sindicato delayed. Story here.
• Leaf & Bean by Esteban Ships — Private label from NicaSueño.
• Bodega Eyes December Launch — Here.
• EH Cigars Announces Limited Edition Boxes — Story here.
• E.P. Carrillo x Bespoke Post — Story about a sampler here.
• Davidoff Announces Gift Collection — Here.
• AVO Announces Holiday Collection 2013 — Details here.
• XIKAR Opens Up Design Services — Press release here.
• Alec Bradley Extends Royal Monkey Society — Story here.
• Espinosa Cigars Launches Lounge — Press release here.
• Florida Distributor’s Inc. Sees Attempted Burglary — Another, here.
• Bloomberg Signs Bill Raising Age to Purchase Tobacco in NYC to 21 — Story here.
• Boston Eyes 21-Year-Old Purchasing Requirement — One major cities follows NYC. Details here.
• Washington D.C. Proposes 21-Year-Old Purchasing Requirement — Two major cities follow NYC. Details here.
• Utah Pushing Statewide 21-Year Purchasing Requirement — And a state. Here.
• Hawai’i County (Hawaii) Raises Purchasing Age to 21 — And a county. Here.
• Washington (State) Eyes Another Attempt at Easing Lounges — Third times a charm? Story here.
• Muskegon County Bans Smoking on Public Property — Western Michigan county. Details here.
• Punxsutawney (Penn.) Mayor Vetoes Smoking Ban — Story here.
• San Rafael (Calif.) Enacts Smoking Laws — Details here.
• Fort Collins Sets Smoking Ban — January 2014. Details here.
• Florida Considers Banning Tobacco Use in Vehicles with Children Present — Here.
• Massachusetts Town Eyes Aging to Tobacco Buying Age to 21 — Newburyport is a small town of about 17,000. While there does not appear to be any cigar stores in the town, 17 businesses would be affected and apparently some of the pressure is coming down from the state itself.

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.