Cigar Blog

Happiness is a good cigar

Women Cigar Smokers: You Go Girls!

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I’ve written about women cigar smokers before and I am writing about them again now. I cannot overemphasize the fact that cigars are no longer considered to be solely a man’s pastime. In fact, there is an organization called The Association for Women Smokers and their mission is:

To serve as an informative resource for female cigar smokers.
To collect data to help the cigar industry better cater to women.
To provide support to female cigar shop owners.

They recently conducted a survey which aimed to determine if there are significant differences between men and women smokers. The study also aimed to find out information regarding the smoking habits of women smokers. The results were shared by Gary Manelski over at About.com. Let’s take a look at some of the interesting points.

Why Women Buy?
In a question designed to find out what most influences women’s cigar buying habits, ‘personal experience with a brand’ was found to be most powerful. Some 82% of women respondents stated their buying was most influenced by personal experience with the brand. Surprisingly unimportant in respondents’ perceptions were label and box designs. Women described themselves as indifferent to box design (73%) and label design (55%).

Interesting – this breaks the stereotype that women are preoccupied solely with the aesthetic aspect. In this respect – the fact that they value personal experience with a brand – they do not differ from male smokers at all, do they? Indeed, the survey broke stereotypes:

Refuting Stereotypes
When a woman enters a cigar shop, she is often treated as an amateur. Are women cigar-amateurs? The results of this survey suggest not. Not only did women of all ages respond to the survey but many had decades of cigar experience. When asked what their motivations for cigar smoking were, 59% of women said that their motivation was that they like the taste of cigars.

The next time you hear someone say that smoking cigars is not a woman’s turf, point them to this study.

Photo courtesy of Pulpolux

Originally posted on September 18, 2008 @ 6:48 pm

Cuban Cigars – Why Are They Illegal?

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fidel castro
Though there are countless choices for excellent cigars, there is no doubt that when the Cuban cigar is mentioned, the heart of cigar lovers suddenly starts beating much faster. Yet the fact is that Cuban cigars are illegal in the United States. Do you know how this came to be?

Older cigar smokers may be familiar with the story behind the embargo but for the younger ones, here is a bit of history (thanks to About.com):

Way back in February of 1962, President John F. Kennedy established a trade embargo against Cuba to sanction Fidel Castro’s communist regime, which seized control of the island in 1959, and then began to confiscate private property and other assets (including cigar companies).

Castro continued to be a thorn in the side of the United States. In October of 1962, during the height of the Cold War, he permitted the Soviets to construct missile bases on the island capable of striking the Untied States. The U.S. responded with a blockade of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from delivering the materials to complete the project (not to be confused with the Cuban Trade Embargo, which started in February 1962).

As long as Fidel Castro still lives and Cuba’s government is still communist, the Cuban Trade Embargo is expected to remain in effect, despite efforts by some who are trying to build support for lifting the ban. In fact, the embargo was made even more restrictive in 2004. United States citizens cannot legally acquire or consume Cuban cigars, even while traveling abroad. This may be a law that is impractical to enforce, but it is still the law. There are substantial fines and penalties for violators, who are at a higher risk of being nabbed if they attempt to bring Cuban products (especially in large quantities) into the United States.

As you can see, this is not a question of quality or safety but of politics. As the French say, c’est la vie!

Originally posted on May 15, 2008 @ 5:15 pm

The Dilemma Of Cigar Retailers

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cigar shop
You may not be aware of this but your local cigar shop may not be a happy camper right now. Perhaps the foremost reason that would come to mind is the fact that smoking bans seem to be popping up all over the country. This could be true to a certain extent, but not really. The fact is that despite smoking bans, cigar sales continue to be healthy. After all, who can stop people from smoking cigar in their own homes?

So what could possibly be aggravating cigar retailers? According to Cigarcurmudgeon, it is the ordering procedures of major cigar manufacturers that are making the lives of small cigar shops difficult. I didn’t know this but apparently, if a cigar retailer wants to carry a premium cigars in his shop, he is required by the manufacturer to carry lesser known items as well. This means that these cigars are less in demand and will probably not sell as much. This restrictive requirement takes its toll mainly on small retailers, whose clientèle and budget are already limited as it is.

Of course, the bigger retailers are not affected. Even if they are required to carry the lesser known (and therefore less desirable) items, they can still probably shoulder the cost as they have wider operations and bigger operating money to play with. Your neighborhood cigar shop is a different story altogether. How can they stay afloat, much less compete, in this kind of setup? Some changes are necessary, don’t you think?

Photo courtesy of PLCjr

Originally posted on June 15, 2008 @ 6:57 pm