If you had trouble trying to check your favorite cigar sales site on the Internet last weekend, you weren’t alone.

“Many of our customers have been wondering why our websites have been slow or inaccessible for the past five days,” wrote Famous Smoke Shop president Arthur Zaretzky in an e-mail message to his customers sent last night. “The problem was due to a targeted Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, similar to what has recently been happening to some large government websites, financial institutions, and e-commerce sites in the U.S. and abroad.

“These attacks occur when a flood of traffic is deliberately sent to a particular website in an effort to overwhelm the site and prevent legitimate users from getting through. This is exactly what occurred over the last five days to famous-smoke.com and to some of our competitors in the premium cigar industry. WE ARE NOW BACK, and I have taken steps to ensure that this cyber terrorism will never happen to Famous Smoke Shop again.”

The rest of the story is HERE

Los Angeles, April 7, 2009 – Although it took 63 years to get there, Las Vegas, Nevada instantly became a favored site for the annual Retail Tobacco Dealers of America trade show, now known as the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) convention and trade show.

Between the first RTDA show held there in 1999 and the 2008 edition, Las Vegas was the host city five times in ten years and there was considerable talk about making it the permanent site for the cigar industry’s annual meeting. Then came the voter-adopted Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006.

That initiative banned smoking in most public indoor venues, including convention spaces such as the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Sands Exposition Center, where the IPCPR show was held in 2008 (thanks to its being contracted prior to the 2006 vote).

But that might be changing.

Facing considerable losses in the bar and restaurant trade as well as the loss of the IPCPR and the Tobacco Plus Expo conventions, Senate Bill 372 was introduced on March 23 with the aim of narrowing the smoking ban act to allow smoking in essentially adults-only venues.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “If legislators pass the bill, then adults could smoke in bars and restaurants and other public places, as long as people under 21 cannot enter the smoking areas. The smoking areas in those businesses would be closed off from other parts of the business that would be open to children as well as those who prefer not to smoke.”

During testimony in front of the Nevada Senate Judiciary Committee, witnesses stated that the ban has been responsible for the closure of 47 bars in Clark County (where Las Vegas is located) and that the customer base at other locations is off by 25% and profits have been reduced by 15-50%.

In addition, Terry Jicinsky, senior vice president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, told the panel that the loss of the IPCPR and Tobacco Plus Expos had cost the city about $41 million in business. But he also noted, according to the article, that “he has a commitment from the trade shows to return to Las Vegas if legislators pass Senate Bill 372.” Both shows will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana this year because, as one Tobacco Plus Expo executive put it, “you can smoke [in the exhibit hall] there.”

The bill itself faces a deadline of passage out of committee this week to remain alive on the 2009 legislative calendar, but is up for an exemption which would help it continue. As the bill would modify a voter-adopted measure, it cannot become effective for three years following the imposition of the voter-passed law. Thus, if passed, SB 372 would not come into force earlier than December of this year.

Story found HERE.

Rocky Patel announces the Spring Collection from Seasonal line and possibly a new regular line from a past season.

“Let’s just say the wrapper is going to be a Sumatra from Rocky’s special stash.”

That’s about all the information available from Sam Phillips, the director of marketing for Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, about the fourth Rocky Patel seasonal cigar, the Spring Collection, due out in six to eight weeks.

“We’re looking at a little over 4,000 boxes (of 20) in three different sizes,” Phillips noted. “It’s medium-bodied and well balanced.” The sizes will be a robusto, a toro and torpedo, with something more than 80,000 cigars produced in total.

Although a limited-production program, the seasonal cigars – which started with the “Summer Collection” in 2008 – “have exceeded all expectations” according to Phillips. “The Summer and Autumn Collections were very nice and sold well,” he said, “but the Winter Collection was just explosive.

“People just fell in love with; it was a serious powerhouse and it was gone real fast.” A maduro wrapper was promised for the Winter Collection, but the finished cigar actually featured a Pennsylvania Broadleaf wrapper, combined with Nicaraguan-grown binder and filler leaves.

Could it become a part of the regular Rocky Patel line, as the ultra-popular Avo 75 limited-edition was turned into the standard-production Avo Signature Series? “You never know,” said Phillips. “With Rocky, the wheels are always turning.”

Here’s the article from Cigarcyclopedia.  I may have to pick some of these up!  Check out the link below for more information.

The British outfitter Burberry doesn’t have much to do with cigars.

Famous for its trench coat – introduced in 1914 – the venerable firm dates back to 1856 and created its iconic (and trademarked) Burberry Check pattern as a trench-coat lining in 1920. But now a pattern pretty close to the Burberry style is on a cigar!

The “Burberry Perfecto” is a special version of the popular Padilla Habano line made in Nicaragua that’s being manufactured for mega-retailer Cigars International of Bath, Pennsylvania. According to Cigars International president Keith Meier: “This started in our retail store, during a Padilla store event. Our guys asked Ernesto [Padilla] to make something unique to give away during events and something for promotions online from time to time. We got the first shipment recently.”

The normal Padilla Habano line features an all-Nicaraguan blend, with a rich Habano wrapper, offered in three sizes. But the Burberry Perfecto is a wild variation at 5 3/4 inches long by 54 ring gauge shaped like a small Salomon-style cigar, offered only (so far) in packs of five for $35.00. There are actually three different wrappers on the cigar, arranged in a criss-cross pattern to create the astounding Burberry-like effect. Meier reports it burns well, despite the unique construction.

Talk about unusual! It’s a sure conversation starter, but don’t smoke one in a Burberry showroom; it’s not a licensed product, but a nickname for an unbelievable work of the cigar maker’s art.

Article found can be found here.

The Providence, Rhode Island-based Colibri Group, known in the cigar industry for its handsome torch lighters, abruptly shut down its operation, laying off 280 employees. The official announcement was made Wednesday evening by chief executive officer Jim Fleet who stated “The current economic conditions and credit market turmoil are such that Colibri cannot sustain its current operations and as such must close its doors.”

The company has gone into receivership status, a form of bankruptcy in which a third-party is legally appointed to run the company in an effort to recoup as much debt as possible. The move was prompted by Colibri’s major shareholder, Founders Equity, which petitioned the Providence Superior Court for receivership.

“The Colibri Group is simply out of money,” Timothy P. Gallogly, the company’s general counsel, told The Providence Journal. According to Allan M. Shine, Colibri’s appointed receiver, the company owes about $14 million to HSBC Bank and almost as much to Sovereign Bank.

Gallogly attributed the company’s decision to close to the recent economic downturn coupled with a declining demand for cigar accessories.

“It’s an easy purchase to defer when you’re tightening your belt,” he told the Journal. “We tried our best. We just weren’t able to get through this.”

This comes a short period after the Colibri factory closed it’s doors in Providence, Rhode Island back in January.

I came across an old newspaper through my job from May 25, 1918 that contained a rather funny ad for Ricoro Cigars.  The best line I thought was the last one:

‘Ricoro is the pleasantest prescription a doctor ever ordered.’

Also, George Burns at the age of 14 used a 7 cent Ricoro cigar as his main prop.  Sorry about the quality but I had to use my phone since it was an accident I came across the ad at all.  Enjoy!

This question is asked quite frequently by new smokers as well as the experienced smoker.

One theory on the term herf started around 1996 in the cigar news groups.  Someone thought it was a good term to use for when you “draw” on the cigar, instead of the term “sucking.” This is the most common definition often used to describe a social gathering where others can share their love of cigars with a group of friends. 

If you happen to be a member of a cigar fourm, which you definitely should be (check out Cigar Asylum), you may come across a post announcing a herf.  This would be several people getting together to smoke cigars at a restaurant, club, smoke shop or even another member’s house.  Think of it as a “cigar party.”

So now you know, a herf is a cigar gathering, a smoking event or cigar tasting. If you’ve sat down with a group of friends smoking cigars, then you’ve already experienced a herf and didn’t even know it until now.

The next time someone asks you if you want to go to a herf and you haven’t yet experienced this, give it a try.  It’s more than likely if you’re with others that share the same passion, you’ll enjoy it.

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee has passed the State Children’s Health Insurance Program bill.

The excise tax on large cigars will be 52.75% now and caps out at 40.26 cents per cigar.  It was previously reported to be a 50.4% increase.

Additionally, “small” cigars will go up to $1.066 per pack, or $50.33 per 1,000 without any phase-in period.

Check out our previous coverage of this bill found here.

Excerpt from famous-smoke.com:

Shot during a visit to a tobacco warehouse and cigar factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, this video shows you something most cigar smokers never get to see – how a master blender selects the tobaccos for his cigars. Watch as Abdel Fernandez, known for his high-quality premium cigars such as the Rocky Patel 10th Anniversary, among others, goes through the process of finding good wrapper leaf.

Enjoy!

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to extend and expand the SCHIP bill.  The tax on large cigars will include a 750% tax hike.   The wholesale price is being increased from 5 to 40 cents, a  52.4% tax increase.  As unfortunate as it is, this is far lower than the original proposal from the Senate of $10 per cigar and $3 proposed by the House.

Here is an excerpt:

SCHIP Legislation Details

The new tax rates are effective April 1, 2009;

The cigarette tax rate goes from $.39 per pack to $1.00 per pack;
The tax on snuff goes from $.585 per pound to $1.50 per pound;
The tax on pipe tobacco goes from $1.0969 per pound to $2.8126 per pound;
The tax on RYO goes from $1.0969 per pound to $24.62 per pound (not a typo).

If you wish to read the Tax portion of the SCHIP bill, click here.
If you wish to read the Full SCHIP bill, click here.