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TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
organization,” Morris explains. “We don’t
look at them in terms of financial power,
we look at them and see they have heart;
they believe in the military.”
Cigar retailers interested in maintaining
a donation center can go to www.
cigarsforwarriors.net for more information.
Table 36 and National Smoke
a Cigar Day
Did you know March 6 was declared
National Smoke a Cigar Day just this
year? In response to the increase in
smoking bans, burdensome taxes and the
threat of federal over-regulation, relatively
new cigar manufacturer based in St.Louis,
Table 36 Cigars, made the date to play
on its name (3/6) after a smoking ban
hit in its city to “register protest at what
we believe to be misguided, yet targeted,
attacks against brothers and sisters of the
leaf,” says Bob Atchisson, president. On
that date especially, cigar enthusiasts are
encouraged to heed the call to “light ’em
up!” in shops, on patios and at curbsides
nationwide.
For seven years, Atchisson and a
group of fellow cigar enthusiasts met
regularly at a local steakhouse with a
standing reservation at its number 36
table. Atchisson explains that Table 36
Cigars then became the name of the cigar
company he started a year ago because “we
wanted to replicate that feeling of ‘come
right in, sit down, and make the night
your own with a cigar.’ Then the smoking
ban hit us in St. Louis and we lost the
ability to meet at the original table 36—
so we wanted to do something because
we know this is not exclusive to us, it’s
happening everywhere in the country.”
So now, National Smoke a Cigar Day is
gaining fame on its Facebook page. And
with enthusiasts as far away as Puerto
Rico, Berlin and even New Zealand
expressing interest in participating, plans
are underway for next year “to re-brand
March 6 as International Smoke a Cigar
Day,” says Atchisson.
Fellowship was Table 36’s first cigar
offering andbilled as“medium-bodied,but
decidedly cheated to the fuller side of the
spectrum.” It is produced in cooperation
with Alec Bradley at the famed Raices
Cubanas factory in Honduras and offered
in four sizes. Next up and seen at the
show is Table 36’s Integrity, with pure
Nicaraguan flavor and handcrafted at
Plasencia Cigars in Esteli, also in four
sizes. The cigar had limited availability
starting in May; its wide release was
right after the show in August. Finally,
stay tuned for Table 36’s The Peacemaker,
available starting in October.
Toraño Family Cigar
Company and limited
editions
Not since 2008 has Toraño had a
limited edition cigar, but now it is
making way for the Exodus Finite 2013:
a limited edition cigar that is part of a
new line that will replace its former
Tribute line, according to Carlos Llaca-
Toraño, director of operations.
“Finite is going to be our new limited
edition franchise—the next cigar might
be a Master Finite—and we will only
have three sizes with a thousand boxes
of each size.That’s all we’re doing and it’s
such an elegant blend,” he says.
Why hasn’t the company done a
limited edition since 2008? “When we
make a limited edition it is because we
found such select tobacco that is not
in high supply—so we can only make
limited runs,” he continues. “So for us to
do that, [we need] to set aside time to
play with it, [and] if we did that every
year, how limited is that? So once it is
done, there is no more tobacco we can
access.We did the Tribute in 2003, 2004
and 2008, and now Finite is our next
foray. We do limited editions only when
we have very special tobaccos set aside
that can really produce something that is
outstanding for us.”
TB
“In fact, retailers with just one store are our
bread and butter—the individual mom-and-pops
are the core of this organization. We don’t look at
them in terms of financial power, we look at them
and see they have heart; they believe in the military.”
