The Grand Rapids Cigar Society

Finally!!!

EASTON, PA — March 31, 2011 — If you’re an American cigar smoker who’s been champing at the bit to buy Cuban cigars legally, your ship may be coming in – literally! Thanks to a temporary license issued by the U.S. Treasury Department, you may be ordering your Cuban Cohibas, Montecristos and Bolivars from Famous Smoke Shop sooner than you think.

After almost three years of legal wrangling and a mountain of paperwork, Famous Smoke Shop, the nation’s leading cigar cataloger and retailer of premium handmade cigars, has been granted an “exception” by the Secretary of the Treasury under Title 31 C.F.R. Part 515 – Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Subpart B-Prohibitions, specifically with regard to §515.204 “Importation of and dealings in certain merchandise” which states:

(a) Except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury (or any person, agency, or instrumentality designated by him) by means of regulations, rulings, instructions, licenses, or otherwise, no person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States may purchase, transport, import, or otherwise deal in or engage in any transaction with respect to any merchandise outside the United States if such merchandise:

(1) Is of Cuban origin; or
(2) Is or has been located in or transported from or through Cuba; or
(3) Is made or derived in whole or in part of any article which is the growth, produce or manufacture of Cuba.

Famous began contacting U.S. State Department and Treasury officials shortly after President Barack Obama eased American travel restrictions to Cuba in April of 2009. But it was Cuba’s recent devaluation of the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), now pegged to the U.S. dollar, which gave the Treasury Department the ability to approve a pilot program to help them estimate Cuban tobacco import tax revenues. Under the new provision, the Easton, PA-based cigar store was granted “exclusive authorization” to import up to 10,000 Cuban cigars a year for a two year period. The license will be effective starting July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013.

“If the program works for Famous Smoke Shop, we will consider expanding it permanently, which will allow other U.S. tobacconists to apply for the licenses.” said a Treasury Department spokesperson.

Arthur Zaretsky, president of Famous Smoke Shop-PA, Inc., who received the fortuitous phone call from Washington this past Tuesday, was ecstatic at the news.

“This is the biggest shot in the arm we could ever have hoped for,” said Mr. Zaretsky. “Our customers are going to be bowled over by the opportunity to get Cuban cigars without having to go outside the law.”

Due to the limited supply of Cuban cigars Famous will be allowed to import, the company is trying to work out the fairest way to get them into as many of their customers hands as possible.

“Our first idea was to auction the cigars, but we decided against it,” said Famous Marketing Director, Mike Vandenstockt. “For one, we thought that might be a little too greedy. And since we’re required to send sales figures to the Treasury Department, they wouldn’t be able to get an accurate number for estimating the tax dollars.”

Famous decided the best way to level the playing field was to make up Cuban 5-packs and limit sales to one pack per customer. However, it was also decided that Famous Smoke Shop’s best customers will get first dibs on the Havanas via a private email campaign.

“I believe charity begins at home,” said Mr. Zaretsky. “The customers who have opened their wallets for us the most deserve to go to the head of the line.” But he also assured he will do his best to see that as many customers as possible get a chance to add some Cuban cigars to their humidors.

For now, the company has posted a landing page on their web site where customers who want to purchase the Cuban 5-packs can input their names, email addresses and customer numbers. The landing page also has details explaining exactly how the Cuban 5-pack program will work.

From the Famous Smoke Shop:

Here’s a nifty topic that crosses my path every now and then – rotating your cigars. According to aCigarAdvisor.com poll, 54% of cigar smokers surveyed said they rotate their cigars on a regular basis. So what is “rotating,” and what are its benefits?

Not unlike the way tobacco leaves are rotated on pilonsin the cigar factory during fermentation, rotating is simply moving the cigars in the lower rows of yourhumidor to the upper rows. There are areas in your humidor that can restrict moisture from getting to your primos. And because air circulation is important during the aging process, rotating allows your cigars to get a more equal distribution of moist air. This is also why it helps to leave some space between your cigars. Trying to pack them in tightly like they are in their factory cigar boxes can be detrimental to their survival. There’s no specific method to rotating cigars, as long as you’re able to shift the majority of the sticks from point A to point B.

Here’s how I do it: About every 6-8 weeks, I bring the humidor out to a table where I have plenty of room to spread out. Because I’m kind of a neatnik, I lay the cigars out by row on either paper towels or wax paper. The latter is better because wax paper won’t leave any lint on the cigars. Noting which cigars were taken from the top row, I begin placing them back in the humidor. Sometimes I replace them by size, but mixing them up can also help create more air flow around the cigars.

One hitch is, if you happen to have a high-capacity humidor that’s well-stocked, it can take a while before you get through all of them. So, sometimes I enlist the help of my younger son, and he actually enjoys it because he says they remind him of Lincoln Logs. The other hitch is, if you remove the cellos from your cigars, you have to be careful. I’ve damaged several good sticks during the process over the years, so now I keep the cellos on my most expensive cigars.

Although it’s still a good idea to rotate your cigars on a regular basis, if you can get the air circulating in your humidor 24/7 you may not have to rotate them as often. Some cigar smokers actually add small computer fans to their humidors to help circulate the air. However, Cigar Oasis, a company that makes electronic humidifiers, includes fans in all of their models.

Many aspects of enjoying premium cigars have to do with patience, and though rotating your cigars may be a bit time-consuming, as the saying goes, “The end justifies the means.”