Before Hurricane Irene set it’s site on the east coast of the Unites States it brought its wrath to the home of Graycliff Cigars. The Bahamas felts the strength of Irene with excessive winds, a surging tide, and excessive amounts of rain. But like the resiliency of many, it survived. As the Hurricane set it’s sites on New York they reached out to me to wish me luck, and to run a contest.
This contest is different, as you can accumulate entries in the following manner:
Posted in Cigar Reviews 
Tags: Bahamas, Cigar Reviews, connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Graycliff Cigars, Hurricane, Irene, Maine, Maryland, Massachusettes, New Hampsire, New Jersey, new york, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington DC 
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As we all sit in New York and wait for the Assembly to vote on bill A1093 and hopefully approve the tax cap for cigars at $1.00, the only worthwhile news to come out involved flavored cigars. The New York State Assembly banned the sale of flavored cigars and tobacco in non cigar shops by a score of 102-0. This will protect brands like ACID and Tatiana. In recent weeks the bill was re-worded to protect cigar shops from selling tobaccos of this type. The bill made it illegal to sell flavored tobacco and cigars in places like drug stores, convenience stores, and bodegas. The move was made to limit the amount of product being sold to non-traditional smokers in an attempt to stop teens from rolling blunts.
Update: The State Senate has yet to pass this, and it is currently blocked and won’t become official to next go around, if at all as the senate is no longer in session.
The State Assembly will reconvene on Friday, June 24th at 9:30 or 10:00 am. Live coverage can be seen via the State Assembly website.
On December 20th, 2010 La Aurora Cigars launched their latest blend which is specific for the New York market called Broadway. The cigar which I reviewed last week was met with much fanfare by those in attendance. Those who smoked the cigar at the event that I got a chance to talk with raved about the cigar.
This past summer the stte of New York passed a 75% OTP tax which has effected the cigar prices tremendously. According Guillermo León…
Posted in Events & Recaps Tags: Broadway, Cigar Inn, Guillermo Leon, La Mangeorie, Nestor Miranda, new york, Rene Castenada, Tobacco Tax 4 Comments »
As more and more manufacturers come out with cigars for the New York Market which is suffering from a 75% tobacco tax I wonder how long before some other states ask for the same treatment. The latest New York exclusive is from Gurkha who this week released the Para la Gente (For the People) cigar with a big party at De La Concha in NYC. Sadly, I was unable to attend the event but my friend Danny from Tobacco Plaza in Long Island managed to secure me a couple of samples.
I never met a Gurkha that I liked and I was hesitant to smoke today’s cigar but I was happy to see that Gurkha had the consumer in mind and these cigars which are available in bundle format are cheaper than the other releases to come down the pike lately. The Gurkha Toro for instance is $8.00 however, it is available as a bundle only and not in the lavish boxes Gurkha is know for.
Posted in Cigar Reviews Tags: Brazailian Mata Fina, De La Concha, gurkha, new york, Para la Gente, To The People 2 Comments »
I write this review sitting in my freezing apartment. About 6 weeks ago my building was sold to new owners who have been far less then generous with the heat. The thermometer on my desk says the room is currently 59 degrees. My fingers are cold and despite wearing socks and shoes so are my toes. I have to wonder if this is some sort of plan of the new owners. It seems prior to them buying the building the old ownership did not rent out new apartments, and at last count there were about 7 empty apartments out of 96. Well once the sale was completed the empty apartments remained and no effort has been made to rent them.
Such is the life in New York. 75% tobacco taxes and having to fight for heat on a 27 degree night
Posted in Cigar Reviews Tags: AB-NY, Alan Rubin, alec bradley, Barry Blonder, Criollo 98, new york, nyc 4 Comments »
interested in going to visit Rocky Patel check out this entry over at the Ron Melendi Blog. As of Wednesday there were 7 slots available and It does not matter where you reside to book this trip.
Also in New York City is a scheduled hearing on the outdoor smoking ban that would ban smoking in pedestrian plazas, beaches, and city owned parks. What bothers me the most about this is that once the plan was first announced there has been no sighting of any of the tobacco groups in the mainstream news other then a debate on the local news channel New York 1.
Posted in News Tags: alec bradley, Drew Estate, Illusionie, new york, Nosotros, old school cigars, rocky patel 2 Comments » There is more to cigars then just smoking them, and I felt it was time for this website to take a turn for the better. We will on Saturdays begin a new feature called The Week In Review where we will post some news that has broken over the last week. This new feature has been inspired by my friend Tom who has one of the better new sites out there called CigarReader.com but it turns out as I wrote this Tom already beat me to it. Check it out when you get a chance because we are all one big community and I believe in that.
It is getting down to crunch time in New York state as we battle the government and there desire to levy a 90% tobacco tax on small business owners. In no other industry is there a tax that doubles the wholesale cost of a product. We as a whole must stand up tot the bullies of Albany who want to force feed their anti-smoking agenda down our throats.
As we celebrate this Memorial Day where soldiers fought for our freedoms we must stand tall to protect those freedoms and choices that make this country so great. We also must remind government officials that bigger taxes do not mean bigger revenue. Call you local congressman today or write them a letter. But do so in a polite and respectful manner.
I do not condone gambling but let’s face it. Boston and New York is such a rivalry between sports fans it is very rare you find two people that can get along cheering at opposite ends of the spectrum. As a die hard Yankee fan, when I was first contacted by the tea lover from [...]
