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“Depressing” is one word used to describe the cigar-smoking situation in England, where a ban in indoor smoking – except for tobacco shops – went into effect in June.
Neil Clark, writing in the Spectator, however, found that elements within the 800,000-strong cigar-smoking population are not only not resigned to defeat, but beginning an offensive:
“Popping outside for a quick Marlboro Light on the pavement is one thing, smoking a Montecristo in such circumstances is something else altogether. Cigars are meant to be savoured, not rushed: something which the ban makes almost impossible outside of one’s own home. Gentlemen’s clubs have been badly hit. The ban has completely changed club culture as the post-prandial smoke is no longer to be enjoyed. I think it makes it much more difficult to really get to know someone,” bemoans Piers Russell-Cobb, managing director of Media Fund. For female cigar smokers, the situation is even worse. “In the past I’ve had to get used to the fact that some people see cigar smoking as unfeminine,” says Sallyann Everett, a tobacconist. “Now, I’m worried that whenever I light a cigar I might be committing a crime. The ban has made me feel paranoid.”
“However, all is not lost. After a depressing four months in which smokers, in the words of Sallyann, have been made to feel ‘like third-class citizens’, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. The fightback against New Labour’s particularly noxious brand of killjoy illiberalism is being led by the charismatic figure of Ranald Macdonald, elder son of the 24th Captain of Clanranald. Macdonald has worked tirelessly, over 19 years, to build his wonderfully cosy Belgravia club/restaurant Boisdale into an oasis for cigar smokers. Boisdale has the largest selection of cigars you’ll find in such an establishment (19 brands and over 120 different sizes and vintages). But the ban has hit business hard. ‘My sales were 15 per cent down in September,’ Macdonald told me over a Hoyo de Monterrey smoked on the little seated area outside his restaurant. “The evening trade has been badly affected. We have live jazz every night and jazz and cigars go together. You can listen to jazz without a cigar, but it’s somehow not quite the same.”
Macdonald’s assault is two-pronged. On 1 November, Boisdale opened Britain’s first cigar terrace, a 6 x 9 metre roof area, where patrons will, once again, be able to smoke their stogies legally. At the same time, Macdonald, together with fellow cigar aficionado Jemma Freeman, managing director of Hunters & Frankau, Britain’s exclusive distributor for many cigars, is launching a new single-purpose campaign to gain exemptions from the ban for bars, pubs and clubs. “Seventy-four per cent of the population in Scotland favour exemptions,” says Macdonald. “It’s a question of convincing the politicians that such a move would have public support. The lie put out by the pro-ban lobby was that Britain was only following the European example in imposing a total ban. It wasn’t. Other countries have worked out compromise solutions.” Macdonald prefers to use the phrase “bully state” to describe the sort of country Britain has become: “nanny state sounds too middle-class”. “We’ve certainly become a lot less tolerant than we were 30 years ago. I’m afraid there are a lot more unhappy people out there who seem to derive pleasure in telling people what not to do.”
Hunters & Frankau has led the fight for exemptions to the law and has done significant work to encourage restaurant and pubs to – if possible – create what it calls a “Cozy Outdoor Smoking Area” or “COSA.” The Boisdale example is a template which can be followed if the right outdoor space is available.
If the concept catches on, a national network of such patio cigar bars could be created. It would have to be called, of course, the “COSA Nostra.”
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Democrats who control the U.S. Senate have voted to override President George W. Bush’s veto of the SCHIP bill, but saw the House of Representatives come up short. So they did the next best thing: they banned tobacco sales in their own Capitol Hill store.
“The Senate was operating as a discount cigarette outlet. It was time to shut it down,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, one of the most ardent anti-smoking activists in the Senate. He joined with four other anti-tobacco Democrats – Tom Harkin of Iowa, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Jack Reed of Rhode Island – in sending a letter to California Senator Dianne Feinstein on August 4 requesting that Senate sundry shops no longer sell tobacco products.
Feinstein, whose Rules and Administration Committee oversees such matters, issued a letter banning the sale of any tobacco products in Senate restaurants and stores.
Because tobacco was priced in these locations free of Federal or District of Columbia taxes, they were less expensive than in surrounding stores. But, of course, instead of correcting the price differential, Democrats went for a ban. Is there a preview here of future legislation?
The situation in the House of Representatives relative to sales of tobacco products is unchanged, however, since one side of the Congress cannot regulate the other.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 19 November 2007 )
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“We knew the Punch figure was rare and would generate interest, but the final sale price exceeded our wildest dreams.” 
That was the reaction of auctioneer Philip Weiss to the sale of a 19th Century, five-foot-tall figure of Punch credited to Samuel Robb on October 21 in Oceanside, New York. Estimated to bring in from $100,000 to perhaps $150,000, the hammer finally came down at a staggering $542,400!
Weiss reported that the identity of the actual winner of the item is unknown as a representative of the Kennedy Galleries in New York did the actual bidding. The bidding started at $50,000 and ran up in increments of $500, finally stalling at $400,000, but got going again with a bid for $405,000 and ran on to the final total.
The Scottish-born Robb was a well-known carver of tobacco-shop figures, with Punch and American Indians his most common subjects. The Punch figure sold was reported to be in very good condition, but had some chipped paint thanks to its age.
The figure came from the personal collection of Joseph Kedenberg, a musician known as “Keden on the Keys,” who died in 1983. His enormous collection of advertising memorabilia of all kinds had never been exposed to the public and the two-day sale included 1,600 lots and grossed more than $1.6 million.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 07 November 2007 )
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The town of Escanaba, Michigan will hold elections on November 6 and local attorney Richard Clark is urging voters to find leadership that will find new economic stimuli for the community and not return to the mistakes of the past. He wrote in the Escanada Daily Press that new concepts are what drive prosperity . . . and drove cigar-making out of Michigan:
“The automotive industry wasn’t always Detroit’s main industry.
“At the end of the 19th century the economic powerhouse in Detroit was ... cigars. The cigar industry began in Detroit in the in the middle of the 19th century. Individual mom and pop operations hired individuals, called buckeyes, to make each cigar from start to finish.
“As the 19th century progressed the cigar industry grew. Before Henry Ford developed the assembly line for automobiles cigar makers organized workers into specialized tasks. Each worker performed one step in cigar making. One person didn’t know how to make a whole cigar, only one part of the process. It was efficient and a cigar made in Detroit became a symbol of quality.
“At the turn of the 20th century Polish immigrant women became the cornerstone of the cigar-making business.
“Detroit cigar workers were in demand. To entice and hold workers cigar manufacturers provided hot lunches. To make lunch time a more positive experience companies brought in musicians to play music in the cafeteria.
“At the beginning of the 20th century cigar makers weren’t able to adequately supply enough workers to supply the demand. Soon automation came to the industry. Machines began performing the work of those Polish immigrants. Eventually cigars were made in other places and the industry so important to Detroit and Michigan ran its course.
“Fortunately, Detroit embraced a new industry, automotive manufacturing. Henry Ford used the assembly line concept to make cars. The new industry attracted talent and workers. Detroit prospered.”
Clark’s essay makes the point to look forward and not back. But the history lesson was good, too. Cigars from Detroit were all the rage 100 years ago? Who knew?
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