For the week of December 10-14, 2007

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Los Angeles – It’s almost unimaginable to think that in today’s anti-tobacco climate, a march in favor of smoking could be mounted anywhere. But don’t tell that to the French.

A march of more than 10,000 people whipped through the streets of Paris in late November to protest the imposition of new rules on January 1 that will prevent smoking in cafes.

According to the Associated Press, the protestors wore Day-Glo vests and marched from the Montparnesse train station to the National Assembly to underscore their demands for modification to the law.

In specific, café owners and others are asking for an amendment so puts off the imposition of the law and to allow smoking to take place in cafes in specially-ventilated rooms. According to the AP report, "Tobacconists fear they will lose clients unable to have a cigarette with their coffee and will lose money on other products typically sold in ‘cafes tabacs’ – cafes where cigarettes can be bought. Those opposed to the ban also fear for the survival of cafes in rural areas, often the only community gathering spot for miles around."

France has an adult smoking rate at about 30 percent, compared to about 20 percent in the U.S. A smoking ban on most enclosed public places took effect in February of this year, but did not include cafes.

>> "This has been a more valuable learning experience than we could have gotten from any degree at the May’s Business School."

Nineteen-year-old Jess Fields is speaking about Texas Ave. Cigar, a full-service cigar shop that he and friend Sean Miller opened last September 22 and have turned into a profitable business.

Fields and Miller’s story was featured in a recent edition of The Battalion, the student newspaper at Texas A&M University, where Fields is a sophomore and Miller is in the process of transferring from the University of Houston.

Fields started smoking cigars soon after his 18th birthday and recognized a business opportunity as the head of the A&M cigar-smoking club. He and childhood friend Miller decided the cigar store idea was too good to pass up while sitting in an Irish pub in April. With help from friends, a lengthy business plan and enough patience to go through the tobacco sales regulations in the state of Texas – plus a loan from a local bank co-signed by their parents – they opened in September.

The story noted that students, faculty and area businesspeople make up most of the clientele and with no dedicated cigar shop in the College Station area, they’re doing well. "We got a three-year loan," said Miller in an interview with reporter Rick Rojas. "But we will pay of the loan by next spring."

Fields and Miller may be young, but they know the first rule of real estate: location counts. Their store is in the same shopping center as the popular Harvey Washbanger’s, a popular laundry, pub and restaurant complex.

Thanks to their unique status in the area and their proximity to the campus (across the street), they haven’t had to spend much on promotions. But the store was already the site of an event for the new Kinky Friedman cigar line with the Kinkster himself on hand to sign autographs and sell a few cigars.

"It has far exceeded our expectations," said Fields. "We won’t do this forever. But we look to expand and grow as much as we can."

>> The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on November 28 for and against a Maine law which requires common carriers such as DHL, Federal Express and UPS to check any package of tobacco products (including cigars) against a Maine list of unlicensed sellers, to deliver the package only to the person to whom it is addressed and recipients under age 27 must present identification to the driver.

The impact of this decision will be substantial for cigar smokers and how they can receive cigars ordered from companies which use DHL, FedEx, UPS or similar services for delivery. "Similar laws in several other states definitely would be at risk if the Supreme Court does not rule in favor of the state of Maine," said Dennis Eckhart, head of the tobacco litigation and enforcement section of the California attorney general’s office. A filing by state attorneys general supporting Maine’s case stated that 40 states have some kind of statute in place that restricts or prohibits delivery of Internet-ordered cigarettes.

The carriers believe, however, that if the Maine law is upheld, "any number of states will impose different standards on any number of different products that they deem unhealthy or unsafe." That would lead to a slowdown of the entire package-delivery network in the U.S.

The Court of Appeal decision said that "Worthy motives are not enough" to allow the Maine law to be upheld, noting that any change in the existing law had to come from the Congress.

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Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company. Copyright 2007; All rights reserved.

Cigar Cyclopedia

12/10/07

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