Cigar Industry Report: Volume 5, Number 48 (10/22/16)

The Cigar Industry Report is a one stop place to catch up on the activity here at Cigar Coop and Stogie Geeks. It is a combination of our news reports, cigar reviews, and assessment updates we do throughout the week. We will also recap what happened on our Stogie Geeks show. Finally, each week we will look back at Cigar Coop history. Look for this report every Saturday morning at 8am Eastern time.

Cigar Industry Report: Volume 5, Number 48 (Edition 197 10/22/16)

Feature of the Week: British American Tobacco Proposes Merger with Reynolds American

The Embargo wasn’t lifted. British American Tobacco has announced a proposal to merge with Reynolds American Inc. The merger would create the world’s largest tobacco company. While not a direct impact on premium cigars, this could have longer term effects on smaller tobacco companies such as premium cigar makers who are being impacted by new FDA regulations.

Feature of the Week: Marco Rubio Visits J.C. Newman Cigar Company Factory

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio visited the J.C. Newman Cigar Factory and reaffirmed his support for the premium cigar industry against FDA Regulations. We recapped the visit and his remarks here.

Feature of the Week: Ban on Cigar Donations by Cigar Companies to the Troops Confirmed

After months of speculation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has confirmed its position that cigar donations by cigar companies are now prohibited. This was in response to an inquiry by U.S. Congressman Duncan Hunter.

News Recap

Drew Estate: New offerings in the Pappy Van Winkle Family Reserve Barrel Fermented line have been announced with the new Churchill and Pappy Drew Limitada offerings.
Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust: Steve Saka’s company announced it a wider release of the Muestra de Saka Exclusivo is coming.
Black Label Trading Company: The company announced it will be producing this year’s Throw Down Cigar offering between Cigar Federation and Reddit.
Ciguardian: The Arizona based humidification company is adding effective dates to some of its products.
Fratello Cigars: Omar de Frias is leaving his job at NASA to focus on his cigar company full time.
Miami Cigar & Company: The Nestor Miranda Collection Corojo, a cigar launched at the 2016 IPCPR is now heading for General release

Legislative News

Senate Bill S. 441: S. 441 is the Senate Bill to gain an exemption from the FDA on premium cigars. This week, no new co-sponsors were added. The total sponsor count remains at 21.
House Bill HR 662: H.R. 662 is House Bill to gain an exemption from the FDA on premium cigars. This week, no new co-sponsors were added. The total sponsor count remainsat 169
House Bill 2058: H.R. 2058 is the House Bill to change the effective date for cigars subject to FDA regulation from 2007 to 21 months following any proposed regulations are put into effect. This week no new co-sponsors were added. The total number of sponsors remains at 78.

Assessments

Stogie Geeks

This week was Episode 205 for Stogie Geeks. We welcomed Chris Topper of Topper Cigars as our in-studio guest. For our Debonaire Ideal, we talked about Oktoberfest, Cigars, and Beer. Finally we had our Stogies of the Week which included:

Stogie Geeks Shorts

This week’s topic was on Culebras.

Stogie Geeks News

This week on Stogie Geeks News, we look at the new Nestor Miranda Collection Corojo, Omar de Frias’ decision to leave his day job, and Ciguardian’s decision to include an effective date on its products.