Arnold Schwarzenegger puffs on a cigar from behind the wheel of a military cargo truck

He is known for his action man roles in countless films including Predator, Conan The Barbarian and The Terminator series of films.

And Arnold Schwarzenegger proved that it isn't all an act.

The 68-year-old actor looked every bit the tough guy from behind the wheel of a large military cargo truck in Los Angeles on Monday.

As if driving around in a desert off-road vehicle was not cool enough, Arnie could be seen puffing on a cigar.

Action man: Arnold Schwarzenegger was spotted driving around Los Angeles on Monday Read More>

Senate to take up new tobacco regs

Legislation that would raise the state's legal tobacco purchasing age to 21, ban tobacco sales in pharmacies and regulate e-cigarettes will be debated in the Massachusetts Senate next week, according to the Senate's top Democrat.

"The next big matter before the Senate will be raising the legal age to purchase cigarettes from 18 to 21, and also do some additional regulation on e-cigarettes, I think they're called," Senate President Stanley Rosenberg told the News Service Tuesday.

Based on eight separate tobacco bills filed by House and Senate lawmakers this session, the Joint Committee on Public Health put together a bill (S 2152) dubbed "An Act to protect youth from the health risks of tobacco and nicotine addiction" that is now before the Senate Ways and Means Committee and slated to hit the Senate floor in formal session on April 28.

Sen. Jason Lewis, a Winchester Democrat who co-chairs the Public Health Committee, described the bill's three main provisions -- a three-year increase in the age for tobacco sales, a ban on sales in pharmacies and the addition of e-cigarettes to the state's anti-smoking laws -- as "proven strategies for reducing nicotine addiction among young people. Read More>

Taxing tobacco and the new vision for financing development

As part of the 2016 World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings held this past week in Washington, D.C., a fascinating panel discussion, A New Vision for Financing Development, took place on Sunday, April 17. Moderated by Michelle Fleury, BBC's New York business correspondent, it included World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim,  Bill Gates, Justine Greening (UK Secretary of State for International Development),Raghuram Rajan (Governor of the Reserve Bank of India), and Seth Terkper (Minister for Finance and Economic Planning of Ghana).

The panel was in consensus about the current challenging economic and social environment facing the world as a whole.  That environment includes low rates of economic growth across the world, drastic reductions in the price of commodities that are impacting negatively low-and middle-income countries, rising inequality, frequent natural disasters and pandemics, increased number of displaced populations and refugees due to conflict and violence spilling across national borders and continents, and the ambitious United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A question debated in the panel was, Where will the resources be found to address these challenges? This question is critical under the current scenario if countries are to continue to build on the progress achieved over the last decade and maintain previous gains.

Gates noted that new and innovative tools are required alongside the promotion, adoption, and adaptation of good practices to make a difference in dealing with these challenges. Terkper advocated for maintaining official development assistance commitments and adopting flexible risk-sharing financial instruments by multilateral organizations to help countries attract and leverage private investment. The importance of investing in the development of healthy and productive populations as key engines of economic and social development over the medium and longer terms was stressed by Kim, who argued that many governments have to be convinced to invest in "soft sectors" — health, nutrition, and education — compared to the "hard sectors" —  roads, ports, and energy infrastructure. Read More>

Cellar Anton’s legacy inspires owner of the new Havana Phil’s Cigar Company

Last fall, a Facebook post hinted that the iconic Anton’s restaurant, also known as Cellar Anton’s, on Battleground Avenue was being torn down.

The erroneous post elicited hundreds of outcries of anguish, memories of meals past and demonization of developers for erasing a slice of Greensboro.

Finally, Phil Segal, the guy who bought the building not long after the restaurant closed in 2014, set the record straight. Anton’s was gone forever, but the building itself would live on for many decades to come in its new incarnation, Havana Phil’s Cigar Company.

Yes, Segal is Havana Phil, having assumed the moniker when he opened his first cigar store five years ago farther down Battleground Avenue, beside Lowe’s.

When he got word that the property in the triangle between Battleground Avenue and Northwood Street was on the market, he called his friend, Bob Isner, who owns Greensboro Contracting Corp., and the two went to have a look-see. Read More>

McDowell to offer growlers at Old Havana Cigar Bar

Rome’s Alcohol Control Commission approved on Monday a new beer package license for the Old Havana Cigar Bar, 327 Broad St. Owner Steven McDowell said he hopes to get his state permits lined up and be ready to start pouring 32- and 64-ounce draft beer to go within the next 30 to 60 days.

Growlers are containers that can be filled with draft beer and sealed on location, for the customer to carry out.

Just last month the ACC approved its first growler permit for Georg Hubenthal, who is opening the Foundry Growler Station at 255 N. Fifth Ave. Hubenthal still has major renovations to complete in his location at the corner of North Fifth Avenue and West Third Street.

McDowell’s Old Havana Cigar Bar already holds a beer and wine pouring license and has offered between 100 and 125 types of beers to his customers. Read More>

Wells Fargo Cigar Bar

The Cigar Bar is located on the Club Level of the Wells Fargo Center. Prior to doors opening for an event, the Cigar Bar is accessible through the P.J. Whelihans entrance on the south side of the building or via the VIP Entrance on the north side of the building. Once doors are open, members may enter the building through any entrance and access the Cigar Bar via the VIP elevators. For admission to the Cigar Bar, all guests will need to have the appropriate Club sticker or logo on the connecting event ticket or possess a guest pass for the Cigar Bar.

* Hours of operation are subject to change due to management discretion.

By becoming a member of this Premium club you will be able to enjoy the following amenities:

• Brand new LCD televisions to view all the local and national sports action
• Premium cigar menu available
• Convenient and courteous waitress service
• Top shelf bar and food menu selections from Club Level Bistros
• Personal, humidified locker. Read More>

9 Masterful Sticks for the Course

I like cigars when on the green, I like them when I play eighteen, I like to smoke them in the cart, I bring a bundle cuz I’m smart. I light one when I’m on the tee, I puff one on a long par three, a double bogey’s not so bad, I take a puff and then I’m glad.

Cigar smoking on the golf course is one of the wonderful joys in life for us lovers of leafiness. Now, people say golf is supposed to be relaxing; but go ahead and tell me that after you shank your wedge shot into that algae covered pond on the final hole of the day. To me, cigars on the course bring an amazing level of relaxation no matter how your game is going. Sometimes I honestly think my cigar is my favorite club in my bag.

When I pick out the golf cigars I’m going to bring for my day on the links, I honestly take my time and choose carefully and with a purpose. First off I ask myself is my partner or foursome avid smokers like myself, or, casual smokers, like only when they’re out for a round. The main reason I consider this is because I personally always bring enough sticks for all to enjoy. I’m a giver, guys, what can I say. So knowing their tastes for cigars is important. Read More>

Unclear if smoking ban in Meriden parks would include Hunter Golf Course

Elected officials are waiting to take a vote on a proposed ordinance to ban smoking in city-maintained recreation areas until they know for certain whether it would include Hunter Golf Club.

The ordinance, proposed by the city’s health and human services department, would prohibit the use of tobacco products — including cigarettes, pipes, cigars, chew, snuff, as well as e-cigarettes and other nicotine delivery systems — in all city-maintained parks and recreation facilities.

It was passed unanimously by members of the council’s health and human services committee, and passed with one dissenting vote in the public works and parks and recreation committee last week.

All but Deputy Council Minority Leader Walter A. Shamock voted to table the matter Monday. Shamock voted against tabling it because he opposed the ordinance at its root.

During discussion on the issue, Mayor Kevin Scarpati asked whether the ordinance would cover Hunter Golf Club, which the city owns.

“I think given the purpose behind this, I think the majority of people are in agreement with this, as am I,” he said of the proposed ordinance. “However, I had to ask the question because there is some serious concern about the golf course.” Read More>

Malawi’s Ten Oxcarts Worth of Development

Surrounded by children in the village of Chikasauka 50kms north of Lilongwe, Kamzawa, 64, tells us that he would like to be selected for the Integrated Production System – known universally as the “IPS” – to boost his tobacco farming. Using fertiliser and seed supplied by the local tobacco trading houses, and the expertise of their “leaf technicians” criss-crossing the country on their 125cc Chinese-made motorbikes, this would raise both the yield and quality of his burley leaf, and hence his income.

But his immediate problem is that he has not been selected as part of the programme. The world's tobacco market is just too small, and there are too many tobacco farmers in Malawi to accommodate everyone in the IPS. His wider problem is that government intervention in the maize market means he cannot get a commercial price for his crop and is thus condemned to a life of hard work and poverty.

Michael, and many like him, are getting smoked because Malawi is not getting its agricultural act together. Read More>

Warming Cuba ties spark Cuesta family’s hopes of recouping loss

In the 1950s, Tampa’s internationally renowned Cuesta cigar family wanted out of the tobacco industry.

They successfully sold most assets, including their Cuesta-Rey cigar brand to Tampa’s J.C. Newman Cigar Company, which still owns it today, and their factories in West Tampa and Jacksonville.

But they couldn’t find buyers for their Havana factory or their controlling stock in the El Rey del Mundo cigar company in Cuba.

Then the Cuban government took over that factory and stock through Fidel Castro’s efforts to nationalize all American-owned property for redistribution to the people of the island nation. The Cuestas received nothing in return.

 

Now, as the U.S. and Cuban governments work toward normalized relations, the Cuestas have hope they will be compensated for their loss, which has since been certified by the U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.

But the question the Cuestas and other certified claimants face is how to proceed in order to receive the fairest reparation. Read More>

Dearborn City Council approves smoking bans in parks

Call it a compromise, or just a good start. The Dearborn City Council approved a measure banning smoking in some of its parks, and limiting it in others.

On Tuesday, council members unanimously approved the change that will restrict smoking within 15 feet of the outermost edge of any play structure in a community park. That will be the rule for the city’s 20 neighborhood parks.

In the city’s miniparks, where there are Playscapes, smoking is completely banned.

Miniparks include Cherry Hill, Dearborn High, Martha-Myrtle, Tannahill, Palmer-Jerome, Riverdale and Morningside.

City leaders had been studying the issue for more than a year, trying to find an equitable solution to the problem of providing a healthy environment for children and not infringing on the rights of people who smoke. Read More>

Tobacco ban brings culture change to Rays

Rays reliever Dana Eveland went to junior college in Texas. That’s where he began chewing tobacco.

“Everybody in Texas chewed,” he said.

So does Eveland’s dad, Jim.

“My dad did my whole entire childhood,” Eveland said. “So I was always around it.”

 

But Eveland didn’t begin chewing until he attended college.

“Guys were always offering a dip. ‘Try it out. You got to try it.’ I got peer-pressured into it,” Eveland said. “Hated it the first five times I did it, and for some reason kept doing it, and I started to like it a little more, and here we are, 15 years later, whatever it is.”

On Tuesday, the Rays begin a three-game series in Boston, one of four major league cities to ban smokeless tobacco. The others are New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The road trip continues to New York next weekend, so by law, this will be a smokeless tobacco-free trip for the team. Read More>

Devalue Kwacha to Raise Tobacco Prices

Economics and agricultural experts are urging the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) devalue the kwacha during this tobacco selling season to raise up the dwindling leaf prices that has put farmers in anxiety.

Professor of economics at Chancellor College Ben Kalua said the government, through the Reserve Bank of Malawi should consider devaluing the kwacha to help tobacco farmers realise better tobacco prices.

He said the tobacco industry is the back bone of the agriculture industry therefore hurting it through unfavourable tobacco prices would further cripple the already sick economy.

Chairman of the Agriculture committee of parliament Felix Jumbe said his committee has since been granted a meeting with the Reserve Bank governor Charles Tchuka and his officials on the same issue. Read More>

A (Mostly Men’s) Club for Cigar Aficionados on Long Island

Cigar smokers don’t get much respect. In movies and television, there is no prop so directly associated with villainy as the cigar. From Gordon Gekko to Tony Montana to Yosemite Sam, whenever a character fires up a stogie, you can be pretty sure you’ve found your bad guy.

There is also the smoking-ban movement, which achieved a law in New York State in 2003 that covers all enclosed workplaces, including bars and restaurants. Then, in 2011, a New York City ordinance banned smoking at public parks, boardwalks, beaches and pedestrian plazas.

Even at home, men and their cigars are often shooed out the door to the patio, or sometimes beyond. I know one cigar smoker who is obligated to keep a distance of 20 feet from his house. Read More>

In response to Macalester’s tobacco-free policy

In this letter we aim to question the reasoning and motives behind Macalester’s recent campus-wide tobacco-free regulation, a policy made in congruence with a nationwide movement to ban smoking from college campuses. We focus on e-cigarettes as our point of contention — we believe their inclusion reveals an ulterior ideology behind this policy that is more complicated than a general concern for health. We consider three parts of the policy.

1.First we ask, “Why did Macalester go tobacco free?” This is the response provided by Macalester’s “Tobacco Free at Mac” policy webpage:

“The tobacco-free campus policy is part of the college’s commitment to creating a healthy and sustainable environment for all members of our campus community, and is designed to be positive and health directed. In addition to health benefits, benefits of a tobacco-free policy include a reduction in fire hazards and chemicals on campus, creating cleaner grounds and air that support our college sustainability efforts.” Read More>

New Davidoff Cigar Bar offers insider-program VIP cards

The first 100 early birds at the launch of Davidoff Cigar Bar’s insider program won free VIP cards made from stainless steel to reflect the chic, upscale design of the curved boutique building on the forecourt of Fashion Show mall.
The benefits include a 15 percent discount off boxed cigars, pre-sale opportunities for new cigars and priority reserved seating on the 50-seat patio.

The Las Vegas Davidoff Cigar Bar is the latest evolution of the premiere cigar brand and includes a walk-in humidor and multiple 80-inch HDTV screens and bottle service from stocking-clad cuties.

The 1,500-square-foot experience is the company’s seventh licensed boutique in Las Vegas with the Las Vegas-based Arcella father-and-son team. Read More>

Bond… James Bond

The first thing you notice when walking into Sidestreet Fine Cigars & Luxury Accessories in the Napa Riverfront Building, is the absence of a distinct cigar aroma.

It’s there, but faint, and blended with the smell of wood and leather, creating instead a calming atmosphere. Owner Shawn Dougherty, while immaculately dressed and a man of obvious style, is down to earth and unassuming.

Dougherty created Sidestreet as two businesses– a retail shop, featuring cigars and gift items, and an exclusive, private members only club. Both are extremely well thought out and executed.

Sidestreet is an homage to his grandfather, an airline pilot in the 1950s and ‘60s. “My grandfather believed in the Glory Days, when people would dress up to go out or entertain,” said Dougherty.

Growing up, Dougherty ate breakfast with this grandfather nearly every day, listening to stories from that era while Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey and the Big Bands of the day played on the stereo. Read More>

Tobacco farmers stare at unsold crop worth Rs 3000 crore

Staring at a loss of crop worth of Rs 3000 crores after bidi, cigarette, gutkha producers stopped production under new norms; the apex industry bodies representing close to 4.5 lakh Gujarat’s tobacco farmer and 1.5 lakh Gujarat micro retailers selling tobacco products, came together on Friday to demand the roll back of the 85 per cent of mandatory pictorial warning rule on tobacco products.

Tobacco farmers in state claim to be staring at Rs 3000 crore of unsold crops lying at home which are in danger of being destroyed by the ensuing monsoons in Gujarat.

 

Recalling PM Modi rolling back the 12.5 per cent VAT on raw tobacco in 2007 during his stint as CM, officials from the Gujarat Tobacco Merchants Association and Ahmedabad & Vadodara Paan Bidi Vikreta Association appealed to PM Modi to take a moderate and balanced stand on the issue by quashing the 85 per cent warning rule on all tobacco products levied by the Central government since April 1.

“Around 8 years back, when Narendra Modi was CM, he had waived a VAT on raw tobacco after he heard our appeal and understood plight of tobacco farmers here.  Read More>

Tobacco Deliveries Increase As Prices Firm

TOBACCO deliveries at the auction floors have increased by 66 percent as prices continue to firm, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has said.

Latest TIMB statistics show that by day nine of sales, there was an increase in deliveries from 4,4 million kilogrammes valued at $9,7 million during the same period last year, to 7,3 million kg valued at $16,9 million.

Auction floors opened on March 30 this year.

The statistics also show that the average price has increased from $2,21 per kg last year to $2,32 per kg this year.

Since the opening of the marketing season, the volumes of the crop that has been rejected by buyers has also declined.

TIMB statistics indicate that 8 percent of tobacco has been rejected, a decline from the 15 percent that was rejected last year. Read More>

Time for some plainspeak on tobacco

When Umesh Narain Sharma’s public interest litigation (PIL) was being heard at the Supreme Court, he was battling for his life, recalls his advocate Aishwarya Bhati.

An advocate with the Allahabad High Court, Sharma had been a tobacco consumer for several decades. He was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2010. And just weeks ago, he had to undergo his second surgery after the cancer relapsed.

Sharma’s PIL is against the Centre’s delay in implementing plain packaging norms for tobacco products to make them less attractive to young people. The effort is to stop tobacco products from being “cool” for the next generation so they are protected from getting addicted, says Bhati, who had taken with her to Court a foreign plain pack tobacco product and the locally packed ones to illustrate the difference. The Centre now has to give its response to the Court. Read More>

Labor seizes on reports the government is planning a tobacco tax hike

Labor has seized on reports the Coalition will head to the election with a pledge to raise revenue by increasing the cost of cigarettes, a Labor policy the government once vehemently opposed.

Fairfax Media reported on Thursday that Treasurer Scott Morrison's first budget would contain an increase to the tobacco excise, a measure former Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticised as a tax on "smokos" and workers, when it was first proposed by Labor in 2015.

When asked about the report on ABC's 7.30 on Thursday night, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann did not rule it out, saying that smokers would have to "wait and see."

"I'm obviously not going to comment on measures that may or may not be in the budget on 3rd May," he said.

"The budget will be delivered on 3rd May. There's always a lot of speculation in the lead-up to any budget, so let's just wait and see what will be in the budget on 3rd May," he said.

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen, who fought against internal opposition to the idea, told Lateline later that night it was clear the government would be heading to the election fighting for a Labor policy. Read More>

First Federal Budget to reportedly include tobacco excise rise

AS the Turnbull government faces the risk of Australia losing its AAA credit rating, an increase in tobacco excise will reportedly be part of this year’s Federal Budget.
Scott Morrison’s joy of an unexpected drop in the jobless rate will have been quickly dashed by a stark warning that Australia’s triple-A credit rating could be at risk after his first budget.
One of the world’s major credit rating agencies is not happy with what it is hearing from the treasurer just weeks out from the May 3 budget.

Moody’s Investors Service notes the treasurer has excluded revenue-raising measures when talking about his budget aims, and given the government’s previous difficulties in reducing welfare benefits, it believes actual spending cuts may be modest.

“Without such measures, limited spending cuts are unlikely to meaningfully advance the government’s aim of balanced finances by the fiscal year ending June 2021 and government debt will likely continue to climb, a credit negative for Australia,” Moody’s says. Read More>

Untaxed tobacco, bootleg products at 10 Sleeping Tiger Imports stores puts owner behind bars

A Walker businessman who sold counterfeit name-brand clothing at 10 Sleeping Tiger Imports stores across Michigan and violated state tobacco tax laws was sentenced Thursday to 10 months in the Kent County Jail.

Timothy Roger Szubinski in February pleaded guilty to selling counterfeit goods and to violating Michigan tobacco tax laws. The felony offenses are each punishable by up to five years in prison.

Michigan State Police last summer searched his 10 Michigan stores and a Grand Rapids warehouse, where they found thousands of products determined to be illegal knock-offs of brands popular with millennials – from Monster Energy T-shirts to Fox Head necklaces.

The investigation was originally launched over tobacco tax violations. Read More>

Oncologists welcome govt steps to curb tobacco consumption

The pan-Maharashtra cancer specialists, called Maharashtra Cancer Warriors, have welcomed the steps taken by government to curb tobacco consumption that includes enforcing new pictorial warning on tobacco. In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the cancer surgeons have expressed their appreciation for the enforcement of section 7 of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) for seizure of tobacco, worth Rs 300 crore.

Satish Sonawane, Co-Ordinator, Maharashtra Cancer Warriors said at least two crore people in Maharashtra are  addicted to some form of tobacco that is causing epidemic proportion of fatal diseases such as heart attack and stroke apart from cancers. Mouth cancer is the commonest cancer in men in the state due to rampant chewing habit. Maharashtra was the first state to ban flavoured chewing tobacco and supari apart from gutkha. Read More>

Delhi Government Bans Sale Of All Forms Of Chewable Tobacco For 1 Year

The Delhi government has banned for one year the sale, purchase and storage of all forms of chewable tobacco, including "guktha, pan masala, khaini and zarda", in the national capital.

The Department of Food Safety on Thursday issued a notification in this regard.

According to the notification, unpackaged products of chewable tobacco, too, are covered under the ambit of the ban.

"The manufacture, storage, distribution, or sale of tobacco which is either flavoured, scented or mixed... and whether going by the name or form of gutka, pan, masala, flavoured/scented tobacco, kharra, or otherwise... whether packaged or unpackaged and/or sold as one product, or though packaged as separate products, sold or distributed in such manner so as to easily facilitate mixing by the consumer" is prohibited for a period of one year, the notification stated. 

Health department officials said a notification was issued by Delhi government in September, 2012, in pursuance of a series of directions from Supreme Court for a ban on 'gutkha' in the city. Read More>

Qcity Events: Day parties, wine tastings, cigar socials, and more

Spring is here. There’s something about this time of year that makes you just want to get up, get out and do something. Luckily, there are plenty of events happening in the Qcity.

Get a jumpstart on your weekend fun tonight with Thursdays at the District and enjoy low-country cuisine, premium cocktails, music and hookah on the patio at 7th District, one of the Qcity’s newest hot spots.

Take a look at what else is happening in Charlotte this weekend, and don’t forget to check out our Qcity Entertainment Calendar for more events not listed below:

Kicking off the 2016 series of the Cigar Social, The Urban Stick is adding a new twist with gourmet brunch and mimosas in an eclectic atmosphere featuring live music, beautiful people and, of course, cigars.  Menu selections include chicken & waffles, French toast & eggs, shrimp & grits and a fruit station. Tables and seating are first come, first serve. Early arrival is encouraged. Read More>

Cuba and Honduras Come Together in the New Yargüera H. Upmann Line of Cigars

Hybridizing seeds is a delicate and time-consuming process, but a common one. With native seeds from dozens of countries to play with, cigar makers are always trying to create new and exciting leaves by marrying the properties of one to another. Altadis U.S.A., which produces and distributes the non-Cuban H. Upmann brand, has added a new line of all-Honduran cigars with a hybrid background.

The new Yargüera H. Upmann Cuban-Honduran hybrid cigar line is named for the Honduran farm where this special hybrid tobacco is grown. But while the tobacco’s origins may be split between laboratory and lavish field, it’s its heritage that’s most exciting. Altadis U.S.A. paints a portrait of an estate situated in the crook between two mountains, where in the 1960s the Arias family planted tobacco seed they’d brought from Cuba. That seed was later hybridized with a common Honduran seed—Criollo ’98—and over several years they perfected a balance of the sweet-tasting Cuban seed’s best properties and the Honduran’s robust, hearty notes. This new seed was first planted in 2013 at the Yargüera farm; the resulting leaf is exclusive to Altadis U.S.A. Read More>

Bob Baffert’s Cupid charms bettors’ hearts at Arkansas Derby

The Road to the Kentucky Derby enters the late stages Saturday. The final two prep races — the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park and the Lexington at Keeneland — will set the final point standings.

Right now, the 20th horse in the Derby point standings has 32. The two favorites in the Lexington — Swipe (12) and Collected (11) — will get only 10 points with a win. They would need the help of six horses skipping the Derby to move up into the top 20.

Cupid (2-1) from the Bob Baffert barn is the Arkansas Derby favorite. He won the Rebel at Oaklawn last out. Baffert has one other Kentucky Derby horse in Mor Spirit, who just ran second in the Santa Anita Derby.

Baffert has won the Arkansas Derby twice with American Pharoah (2015) and Bodemeister (2012). Bodemeister ran second in the Kentucky Derby. American Pharoah won the Triple Crown last spring. It would be a tremendous feat for Baffert to win the Kentucky Derby two straight years. Read More>

Ybor City cigar shop, jazz club back in business after Amphitheatre fire

Before the nightclub next door burned and water flooded their Ybor City cigar shop, the Ogando family was already dealing with a far greater tragedy.

Mayra Ogando, a co-owner of Nicahabana Cigars on Seventh Avenue, died of cancer at age 51 on April 5. A day later, the Amphitheatre nightclub caught fire. Firefighters doused the blaze for more than six hours.

A lot of that water poured into Nicahabana, ruining seven bundles of tobacco leaves worth $7,000 and shuttering the shop for three days.

But after watching the fire rage just beyond the store's eastern wall, the family expected far worse.

"She helped us out," Yordany Ogando said Wednesday of his late mother, convinced her spirit was watching over the business her family started in 2009.

Except for the Amphitheatre and its boarded up shell, the businesses on the 1600 block of Seventh, in the heart of Ybor, have returned to some sense of normalcy after the fire forced them to close. Read More>

Mutharika Calls for Better Tobacco Prices

President Professor Peter Mutharika has urged tobacco buyers to offer farmers better prices to help empower smallholder farmers in rural areas.

Mutharika made the remarks in Lilongwe on Wednesday during the official opening of 2016 tobacco market season at Kanengo Auction Floors.

He said, "Every year, we always agree on pricing and yet you always abandon our agreement. This year, we told you to suggest the minimum prices yourselves, I did that deliberately. I am a democrat who likes dialogue.

"But you should also know that a person who doesn't listen is not worth being listened to. Listen to us: I know you have the integrity and honestly to keep your own words. We respect you as investors and that you are important to our economy. But will not respect any exploiters among you, investing in a country is not exploiting the country." Read More>

Nothing Like a Good Cigar

As a native of Wall and a graduate of Villanova University, Steve Zengel’s career took many interesting turns, from a stint on Wall Street to coaching basketball to serving as a high-level administrator in the educational system. But for him, nothing was quite like the experience of smoking a cigar.

“I had my first cigar in 1997 and fell in love with them,” the 45-year-old Howell resident and married father of twin sons said. “I loved how relaxing they were and how they helped reduce my stress level.”

Far different than smoking a cigarette – “you don’t inhale the smoke from a cigar; instead, you take cigar smoke into your mouth and exhale it,” explained Zengel, who’s not a cigarette smoker – Zengel said that cigars aren’t a five-minute process but rather an experience that can last an hour and a half.

“People assume that cigars are only for the wealthy, but cigars are a great equalizer in that they bring people together from all walks of life,” he said. “I especially love that aspect.” Read More>

Cigars and the little joys of life

It is the little joys in life that constitute much of our happiness. Unlike the unique joys of getting married, attending the birth and later the wedding of a child, attaining a major career milestone, etc., little joys can be experienced just about every day. 

Among these little joys in my life is smoking a cigar (and a pipe). Every day that I am home (except Shabbat), and whenever possible on the road, I smoke one or both. I have been doing so since I was in high school. 

For the record, I never smoke cigarettes, the smell of which I dislike and which I acknowledge to be dangerous.

As regards to the health danger of cigars and pipes, most nonsmokers are simply unaware of the fact that, unlike cigarette smokers, virtually no cigar or pipe smokers ever inhale when they smoke.

Therefore, the only danger of cigar smoking is some form of mouth cancer. This is, however, so rare as to compete in frequency with death by lightning. In fact, I believe that my cigars — given all the joy and peace they induce — are more likely to prolong my life than terminate it. My late father smoked more cigars a day than I ever do and died at age 96.  Read More>

Tampa Will Always be Cigar City

TAMPA BAY - The President and CEO of Visit Tampa Bay, Santiago Corrada, discusses how craft beer, the RNC, sporting events has given Tampa international notoriety. Tampa is now known for there budding Craft Beer scene but Corrada explains being nickname Cigar City is part of the city and it will never die. "City City is part of our heritage but I can tell you craft beerscene has lead to distinction."

Corrada discusses the growth of Tampa:

Click Play:

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How to Pick a Good Stogie

Cigar smoking has never been trendier than it is today. One might even say it’s become downright sexy.

Celebrities from Halle Berry and Jennifer Lopez, to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Madonna have all been photographed enjoying fine cigars. And where would guys like Mark Twain, Fidel Castro or George Burns be without their trademark stogies?

But if you’re new to the world of cigars, it’s hard to know where to start. Walk into any cigar shop and there are almost too many choices. Cohiba or a Montecristo? A Punch or a Mini?

“Look for the country first,” advises Sutha Nada, Director of Express News & Smokes tobacco shops, the top cigar retailer in the Lower Mainland. “The best cigars, and the cigars of the highest quality are those coming from Cuba, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. That is where ‘real’ cigars come from. Not these flavoured things.” Read More>

Health groups ask Obama to issue delayed tobacco rule

Dozens of health groups sent a letter to President Obama Wednesday, urging him to issue a long awaited final rule that allows the Food and Drug Administration to regulate all tobacco products for the first time, including cigars and electronic cigarettes.

Thirty groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, told Obama his leadership is needed to finish the rule, which was first proposed almost two years ago.

“When you signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law in 2009, FDA finally was given the tools to significantly reduce the 480,000 deaths caused by tobacco products each year and the $170 billion in health care costs attributable to treating tobacco-caused disease,” they wrote. “Yet it is now seven years since the statute was enacted and your administration has yet to assert its regulatory authority over all tobacco products.”  Read More>