From Scott Barancik, St. Petersburg Times:

A famous wartime photo of Winston Churchill shows the former British prime minister moments after a photographer snatched a stogie out of his mouth. Churchill appears glum and ornery.

It’s the sort of look you might have seen on the faces of cigarmakers and tobacconists in 1998, when a five-year boom in the sales of premium, hand-rolled cigars abruptly ended, leaving industry players with a glut of inventory it would take years to unload even at cut-rate prices.

Today, sales of premium cigars — insiders call them ‘’sticks'’ — remain well below their 1997 zenith. But for the first time in years, industry players are grinning again.

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Now, both cigar fanatics and neighborhood cigar stores can buy their cigars just like the big boys. CigarAuctioneer.com has begun auctioning boxed and bundle cigars in bulk “Wholesale Lots.”

Wholesale Lot auctions are English auctions containing multiple identical items in which each bid placed is for the entire lot and sold to the highest bidder. The “Wholesale Lot” auction is simply an English auction containing multiple identical items. However, unlike a Yankee auction, which also involves multiple items, each bid placed is for the entire lot. If a cigar smoker usually buys a particular brand and size in quantity, they’ll now be able to bid on three, four, five boxes or more at once. Local “Mom & Pop” cigar stores, who normally buy in this manner, will also be able to take advantage of these auctions for brands that they already stock, or can’t get through the manufacturer.

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From Richard Hendrix at the Blank Mind Blog comes a review of the Don Tomas Cameroon Collection Perfecto No. 2:

Here’s an excerpt:

After applying the flame and a few drags the stick was off and running. The initial draw was tight, probably due to the small tapered head. Once the head had burned, the draw could not have been better. This stick began with a spicy, earthy tone and hint of cinnamon. The spiciness built up throughout the entire smoke. Once I passed the half way mark I was able to detect a leathery vanilla tone. This smoke produced a wonderful mix of tones.

This is one I haven’t tried yet, but Richard’s description has me wishing I could light one up about now. Unfortunately, I’ll have to wait until the cigar shop opens up tomorrow. You might want to do the same thing after you stop by Blank Mind and sample his great review.

News from Cigar Flavors and the CF Dominicana line:

Something new has been added to the successful “Cigar Catering” service of CF Dominicana. If you aren’t familiar with the company, their current service features cigar rollers who personally hand-roll CF Dominicana cigars for customer special events while guests look on. The popularity of Cigar Catering has been so overwhelming that the company now has cigar rollers in 15 cities.

Now just in time for the holidays, the company is introducing CF Cigar Servers. These cigar-knowledgeable ladies float the room of an event and serve cigars to the guests, reminiscent of speakeasies during Prohibition. This pleasant visual lends the perfect touch of style and beauty to an upscale affair.

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From Jeanne Morris at the Manchester Union Leader:

It has been illegal to buy, sell or import Cuban tobacco products in this country since the 1960s, which is why more than a 100 stogie lovers turned out to puff on Cuban cigars being sold at Holy Smoke House in Manchester.

These Cuban cigars are legal because the tobacco was imported into the United States in the 1950s before the embargo, store owner Mike Johnson said at a special gathering Saturday night. It was only recently that heirs settled on release of the 46,000 pounds of leafy gold. The $15.99 Pinar 3000 cigars hit the market last year.

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Via Paul Harris at the Guardian Unlimited:

It’s good news for traditional American men. The metrosexual is dead: long live the übersexual.

After dominating US style and fashion for several years, the ideal of the modern male as someone who cared about fashion and skin care as much as a woman did is about to be swept aside by a return to old-fashioned, masculine values: fine wines, cigars and red-blooded heterosexuality.

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