Up In Smoke

Perdomo Event Was a Big Success

Michael J. Gibbs — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:14:08 GMT

Everyone who attended the Perdomo Cigar event at the Tobacco Barn really seemed to enjoy themselves. Special thanks to Chuck for being a gracious host and introducing the denizens of the Barn to some fantastic cigars from Perdomo including the value priced, single-farmed Lot 23 cigars, the fabulous Perdomo Habano cigars as well as the Perdomo 10th Anniversary cigars.

Weren’t able to make the event? Here are some pictures and perhaps you’ll be able to make our next event. Keep an eye on your inbox for annoucements of our next event or in this space as we announce next year’s cigar events at the Tobacco Barn pipe and cigar shop in Lake Forest, CA.

Stop SCHIPS Expansion – A Smoker’s Call To Action!

Michael J. Gibbs — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:59:11 GMT

Don’t let the popular press, and television in particular, fool you. This isn’t just about cigarette smokers and their “drain on the healthcare system”. It isn’t “about the children” as the sound bites might indicate. What it is about is the unfair taxation of a very small portion of the population (less than 10% by some estimates) to fund a program that affects ALL of the citizens of the US.

The following is a press release from the National Association of Tobacco Outlets advising all responsible consumers of tobacco products to make their voices heard on this subject. It is imperative that we all band together and speak out against this unfair taxation of a small segment of society. Why put this on our back?

A Call to ACTION on SCHIP Tax Increases!

If Congress passes a bill early in 2009 to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by significantly increasing the federal cigarette and tobacco taxes, the fallout from this expansion of government subsidized health care will likely include major cigarette and tobacco sales reductions, large increases in the number of store robberies because the value of tobacco products would be so high, a floor stocks tax on cigarette and tobacco inventory adding up to an estimated $5,000 per store, employee layoffs and even store closings.

The SCHIP program is a top priority for Democrats and may result in the single largest tax increase on one industry’s products in the history of the country. With President-Elect Obama a supporter of SCHIP, the possibility of a tobacco tax increase to fund the expansion looms large even though Obama made campaign promises not to increase taxes on any one who earns less than $250,000. The 2007 SCHIP bills proposed the following increases in the federal tobacco excise tax rates:

Tobacco Product

Current Tax Rates

SCHIP Bill Tax Rates

Percentage Tax Increase

Cigarettes

39¢ per pack

$1.00 per pack

156.4%

Large Cigars

20.719% of manufacturer’s price; cap of 4.875¢/cigar

53% of manufacturer’s price; cap of $3.00/cigar

6,000%

Little Cigars

4¢ per pack

$1.00 per pack

2,197%

Pipe Tobacco

$1.0969 per pound

$2.8126 per pound

156.4%

Chewing Tobacco

19.5¢ per pound

50¢ per pound

156.4%

Snuff

58.5¢ per pound

$1.50 per pound

156.4%

RYO Tobacco

$1.0969 per pound

$8.8889 per pound

710.36%

The Time to Act is NOW!!!

NATO’s legislative staff members are sending out to association members customer alert sheets to place on store counters and personalized letters addressed to each retailer and wholesaler’s particular U.S. Senators and Representatives. NATO members need to call their Congressional representatives, urge their employees and customers to do the same and fax the personalized letters to Washington, DC. All the names, phone and fax numbers of the particular Congressional representatives are being provided. NATO members need only dial the phone and fax the letters. Your voice and the voice of your customers need to be heard.

Turbulent Time for Tobacco Requires Grassroots Efforts

No one can say with 100% certainty how the SCHIP legislation will finally be resolved by Congress in 2009. What can be said is that the SCHIP bill is just the beginning of what will be a turbulent year for the tobacco industry. With some in Congress supporting federal cigarette and tobacco tax increases to expand SCHIP and more than 30 states with large budget deficits some of which will also propose higher tobacco taxes as well, NATO wants to remind its members that they must continue to contact their elected officials to be heard on tobacco issues. Maintaining that dialogue and urging customers to make phone calls continues to be an important part of opposing unfair tobacco legislation.

So don’t sit by idly and watch your cigars get taxed by an increase of up to 6000%, write, or better yet, call your local congress person or senator and let them know that this is just plain WRONG!

Perdomo Cigar Event December 11, 2008

Michael J. Gibbs — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 05:54:09 GMT

Please join us Thursday Evening, December 11th for our Perdomo Event

We'll be rounding out the year with our favorite Perdomo rep to talk about the great Perdomo line of cigars.

Lot 23 Cigars - PERDOMO LOT 23® is a medium to full flavored blend that offers a well-balanced, complex smoking experience. The dark Ecuadorian Connecticut-shade wrapper lends not only a stunning aesthetic appeal, but it adds an elegant creaminess which complements the robust Nicaraguan fillers.
Perdomo Habano Cigars - Available in Corojo and Maduro, these cigars combine full-flavored tobaccos from Esteli with aromatic tobaccos from Condega with the naturally sweet tobaccos from the Jalapa Valley for the best Nicaraguan cigar fo the price!
Perdomo Reserve, the 10th Anniversary Cigar - This will be the showcase cigar for this event. Come and learn all about it! The PERDOMO RESERVE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY cigars are made with attractive Cuban-seed wrappers that impart a symphony of complex flavors including almond, coffee and cocoa with a smooth, silky finish.

Here are some of the great savings and freebies you'll find on the day of the event:

Buy 3 Perdomo cigars, Get One Free*
Buy a box of Perdomo Cigars and get your choice of a Perdomo Vector Thundra 3 flame lighter or 4 premium Perdomo cigars FREE*
And of course, we'll have a drawing at the end of the night for all those who've purchased at least one of the packages above. The more you buy, the better your chances!

So mark it on your calendar and plan on being there for our last cigar event of the year!
* While supplies last

Custom Label Cigars – New Examples Available

Michael J. Gibbs — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:04:26 GMT

Looking for that special gift for the cigar lover you know, or perhaps one to give to that killer client? Consider our custom label cigars. We just added a number of new samples in our Custom Labels Photo Gallery. You’ll find examples of great gift ideas like Personal Labels, Military, Corporate or Special Events. Perhaps you’ll find something that spurs your imagination.

Of course we also have examples of all the old stand-by’s: Birth Announcements, Wedding Bands, Bachelor Parties, Birthdays and Graduations.

Here are some of my favorites

Don’t wait too long though as we’ll be accepting orders for custom label cigars up to 7 days before Xmas in order to get them to you on time.

Famous Cigar Smokers

Michael J. Gibbs — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:19:26 GMT

Now this is a mug you probably won’t see on the front of the other cigar magazine’s out there, although the header on Dan Piraro’s blog BizarroBlog certainly looks like out-takes from a magazine cover shoot.

Know his sense of humor (to call it off-beat is a serious understantement) one wonders if he is a brother of the leaf or just poking fun. The cartoon shown on the page at left talking about “Naughty Potato” shows a character, obviously hell-bent on displaying his Smokerism being restrained by a bystander who explains away the actions of the cartoonish-looking man with a cigar as “It’s okay, he’s a cartoon”.

Check it out and decide for yourself and leave us some feedback below and tell us what you think of his work…

Oh for simpler times…

Michael J. Gibbs — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 04:35:31 GMT

When Smokerism wasn’t rampant and you could find such fine commercials on TV.

Dems Pushing for SCHIP Expansion!

Michael J. Gibbs — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:53:55 GMT

Now that there isn’t a Republican in the white house to kill it, Congressional Democrats claim to be making SCHIP a Top Priority. CQ Politcs reported on Friday, November 6th that Democrats in the US Congress plant to move quickly in the New Year to pass a major expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was interviewed on National Public Radio the day after the election and stated that the expansion of SCHIP “will probably be one of the first bills we would put on President Obama’s desk.”

For those who recall recent events, the US Senate and House both passed a $35 billion dollar SCHIP expansion bill TWICE but it was vetoed both times by President Bush and the legislative branch was unable to swing enough votes to over-ride the veto both times.

What Does This Mean To You?

Why is this important to pipe and cigar smokers you may ask? Well, because this bill would be funded almost exclusively on the backs (and out of the pocketbooks) of smokers of ALL types.

Tobacco Prouct	Current Tax Rates	SCHIP Tax Rates	Percentage Tax Increase
Cigars	20.719% of manufacturer’s price; capped at 4.875 cents per cigar	33% of manufacturer’s price; cap of $3.00/cigar	6,000%
Little Cigars	4 cents per pack	$1.00 per pack	2,197%
Pipe Tobacco	$1.0969 per pound	$2.8126 per pound	156.4%

But that isn’t all, the CQ Politics article points out that the tax increase shown above won’t even cover the cost of the expansion of this program. In fact, the congressional Budget Office issued a report in August of this year which found that a five year expansion of the SCHIP program as envisioned by the House and the Senate will cost close to $45 billion, not the $35 billion they are hoping to raise.

The current SCHIP program is set to expire on March 30, 2009 so they are going to move fast on this. We responsible smokers need to speak out loud and clear that this funding proposal is not only unfair, it is UNSOUND!. Not only will it not fund what they want it to do, thereby continuing to grow our budget deficit even further but it also unfairly targets a small percentage (less than 10%) of the US population to pay for something that they claim is a universal need.

Not only will this hit YOU directly in the wallet in these trying times, but it will likely cause for the closure of many tobacconists around the country that are barely hanging on as it is. This, in turn, will dramatically affect the volume of cigars purchased yearly, decreasing the amount of money raised by this tax increase as demand drops; widening the difference between the funds committed to fund SCHIP and the funds available to pay for it.

And if we look out beyond our own selfish needs, IPCPR and many other organizations predict dire results for the economies of the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras as a result of this flawed legislation.

What Can I Do To Help?

Well, we all need to band together and show our elected officials the errors of their thinking in this flawed bill.

Let your US Senator and representative in the House know how the negative impact of this legislation will affect you, affect small businesses in your community and how you feel it will affect our neighbors in cigar producing countries. Make sure that you reference SCHIP in your conversation and how you are rallying your neighbors and fellow business owners to defeat unfair taxation. You should also remind them that as a voting block in their state/district, you WILL remember those that fall prey to the “but it’s for the children” sound-bite mentality behind those supporting this bill.

Helpful Links:

A listing of all the current Senators

How to find your local Representative

Your IMMEDIATE action is the only thing that will keep this proposal from becoming a LAW! Please respond today!

As always, we encourage your responses in the comments section below.

Zippo Manufacturing Video

Michael J. Gibbs — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:49:13 GMT

Every wonder how the most successful and most reliable lighters of all time are made? Check out this video?

CAO's Latest Marketing Videos...

Michael J. Gibbs — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:36:47 GMT

CAO is starting the teases for their new cigar to be launched in Las Vegas this summer. Kind of a little of this and a little of that from other movies. One protracted scene screams of it's homage to Pulp Fiction.

Watch them consecutively.

Don't forget to sit through the credits for out-takes.

Making a CAO America Cigar...

Michael J. Gibbs — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:39:30 GMT

Ever wonder how they get those delicious looking barber pole stripes on the new America Cigar? Check out this video:

Tobacco Product	Current Tax Rates	SCHIP Bill Tax Rates	Percentage Tax Increase
Cigarettes	39¢ per pack	$1.00 per pack	156.4%
Large Cigars	20.719% of manufacturer’s price; cap of 4.875¢/cigar	53% of manufacturer’s price; cap of $3.00/cigar	6,000%
Little Cigars	4¢ per pack	$1.00 per pack	2,197%
Pipe Tobacco	$1.0969 per pound	$2.8126 per pound	156.4%
Chewing Tobacco	19.5¢ per pound	50¢ per pound	156.4%
Snuff	58.5¢ per pound	$1.50 per pound	156.4%
RYO Tobacco	$1.0969 per pound	$8.8889 per pound	710.36%