Earlier this month, J.C. Newman launched “Save Cigar City,” a grassroots campaign to highlight how America’s historic premium cigar industry is seriously threatened by excessive FDA regulation. A century ago, Tampa was known around the world as “Cigar City.” At that time, there were 150 large cigar factories in Tampa that rolled more than 500 million cigars per year. Today, J.C. Newman’s 108-year-old “El Reloj” factory is the last cigar factory left in Tampa.
“We are very grateful to Commissioner [Scott] Gottlieb and the FDA for their willingness to take a fresh look at regulation of premium cigars and for giving us this new opportunity to submit comments,” said Drew Newman. “We also greatly appreciate all of the premium cigar retailers across the country who are helping us spread the word about FDA regulation and encouraging their customers to submit comments to the FDA.”
The postcards are pre-printed with a message asking the FDA to exempt premium cigars from regulation and save J.C. Newman’s historic cigar factory in Tampa, Florida. The message also supports more detailed comments that J.C. Newman, the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association, Cigar Rights of America, and the Cigar Association of America are filing with the FDA that explain the issue in more depth. As J.C. Newman is paying for the postage, consumers just need to sign their names and drop the postcards in a mailbox to make their voice heard. Consumers can also submit their comments to FDA electronically, by going to SaveCigarCity.com.
Cigar retailers who would like a set of postcards for their store can contact their J.C. Newman/Arturo Fuente regional sales manager or call (813) 248-2124.
