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TOBACCO BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL
JULY/AUGUST 2015
says that Swisher is “cautiously optimistic”
while moving forward. At the Tobacco
Merchants Association (TMA)’s
Centennial Celebration and Conference
held in May, Augustus admitted that
despite some stability in the marketplace
for cigar products and improvements
in state economies, the unknown of the
FDA “keeps many of us up at night.”He
added that the fee structure and the 2007
predicate date are of particular concern
for cigars.
“To suggest that every cigar—size,
shape, blend—has to be submitted
to the federal government before it
hits the market is 1) ridiculous, and 2)
economically infeasible for the industry,”
says Glynn Loope, executive director of
Cigar Rights of America. He adds, “This
effort by the FDA goes well beyond
congressional intent.”
In a commentary in The Washington
Times, Libertarian author James Bovard
recently wrote that if FDA requires pre-
market approval for all products that were
not on the market as of February 15,
2007, almost four-fifths of cigars currently
on the market would be “banished,” and
manufacturers and importers would have to
either stop selling these products or spend
many years and hundreds of thousands of
dollars to obtain FDA approval.
Bovard also questioned FDA’s
consideration of exempting premium
cigars from the commented
that there is little difference in ingredients
between most handmade cigars that cost
$10 per piece and cigars that cost less,then
cited Sam Kazman of the Competitive
Enterprise Institute: “The controversy
over FDA’s distinctions between cigar
categories is a sign that the agency should
keep its hands off cigars altogether.”
Congress is considering two pieces of
legislation, HR 662 and S 441, to protect
both the industry and cigar smokers.
Meanwhile, the show must go on
for the cigar industry—literally and
figuratively. The International Premium
Cigar and Pipe Retailers (IPCPR)’s 2015
trade show and annual convention, held
in New Orleans this July, is going with
the theme “BAND TOGETHER,” a
sign and sentiment of the times.
Victor Vitale, owner of “super
premium” Legacy Brands and Victor
Vitale Cigars, admits to TBI that he’s
been “on pins and needles waiting for
the FDA to make an announcement,”
but adds in the same breath, “I’m coming
on stronger than ever at the show and
beyond. I’m here to stay, and I will
take on whatever is thrown at me as a
manufacturer—whatever fiery hoops of
regulation there are, I am preparing to
jump through them.”
To signify that strength and to put out
more of a “truth message than marketing
message,” Vitale is bringing a new booth
theme with imagery showing “full
integration from soil tobacco to finished
cigars. I want people to see this is who we
are from start to finish, and not just the
finished product.”
Beyond the show, it’s been business as
usual for other formidable players that are
keeping the stogie spirit alive and well, as
they believe it should be.
• Whiskey and cigars make a fine mix.
Drew Estate partnered with Pappy &
Company bourbon distillery to produce
Pappy Van Winkle barrel-fermented
cigars, a handmade long-filler premium
product made in very small batches at
DrewEstate’s factory inEsteli,Nicaragua.
The cigars are available in 10-piece boxes
in two sizes, 5.25x52 Robusto and 6x54
Toro. They feature Kentucky seed and
Kentucky-grown tobacco fire-cured
before being barrel-fermented with
Nicaraguan filler tobaccos, according to
Drew Estate.