Backpackers who love cigars.

“I have been buying cigarettes mail order--no troubles yet.”

“Big cigar smoker here. I routinly keep 500-600 in stock in the house at any given time. Anyhoo:


YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ORDER CIGARS BY MAIL IN THE NEAR FUTURE!

As early as tomorrow, the House Judiciary committee will be considering House Bill HR2824. In fact, this bill is listed to be considered for mark up tomorrow, Wednesday, January 21, 2004 at 10AM on their website at:

www.house.gov/judiciary

Why is this important? Because its sister bill, S1177, which has already passed in the Senate eliminates your right to order cigars by mail!

The House Bill #HR2824 does NOT presently contain the "cigar" and "all tobacco products" language as contained within the Senate bill. Neither the Senate bill, nor the House bill have anything to do with cigars, it is all about combating cigarette counterfieting, but that didn't stop someone in the Senate from sneaking in the cigar related references that were added at the very last moment. If it could happen in the Senate, it definitely could happen again in the House...

So it is critical that we let the House Judiciary Committee know to NOT add "cigars” and “all other tobacco products” provisions to their House Bill HR2824 as were added to the Senate Bill at the last moment. Because if they do, "our goose is cooked”, and mail order cigars will become illegal!

Below is a list of the Congressmen on the House Judiciary Committee who should understand our plea to keep cigars and non-specific "tobacco product" references out of HR2824.

They are scheduled to consider this bill tomorrow, so we are asking everyone that does not want their right to receive cigars via mail order to contact the House Judiciary Members listed below immediately.

It is critical that all cigar smokers e-mail, phone, or fax these representatives and request that "cigars" and "all other tobacco products" NOT BE ADDED TO HR2824.

House Judiciary Committee

Spencer Bachus, Alabama
www.house.gov/bachus

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
www.house.gov/blackburn

Rick Boucher, Virginia
www.house.gov/boucher
ninthnet@mail.house.gov

John Carter, Texas
www.house.gov/carter

Steve Chabot, Ohio
www.house.gov/chabot

Howard Coble, North Carolina
www.house.gov/coble
howard.coble@mail.house.gov

Tom Feeney, Florida
www.house.gov/feeney
tom.feeney@mail.house.gov

Jeff Flake, Arizona
www.house.gov/flake
jeff.flake@mail.house.gov

J. Randy Forbes, Virginia
www.house.gov/forbes

Bob Goodlatte, Virginia
www.house.gov/goodlatte
talk2bob@mail.house.gov

Mark Green, Wisconsin
www.house.gov/markgreen
mark.green@mail.house.gov

Melissa Hart, Pennsylvania
www.house.gov/hart

John Hostettler, Indiana
www.house.gov/hostettler/
john.hostettler@mail.house.gov

Henry Hyde, Illinois
www.house.gov/hyde

William L. Jenkins, Tennessee
www.house.gov/jenkins

Ric Keller, Florida
keller.house.gov

Steve King, Iowa
www.house.gov/steveking

Mike Pence, Indiana
mikepence.house.gov
mike.pence@mail.house.gov

Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Virginia
www.house.gov/scott
bobby.scott@mail.house.gov

F. James Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin
www.house.gov/sensenbrenner
sensenbrenner@mail.house.gov

Lamar Smith, Texas
lamarsmith.house.gov
lamar.smith@mail.house.gov

Melvin L. Watt, North Carolina
www.house.gov/watt
nc12.public@mail.house.gov


Below is a form message you may want to copy and send. Please feel free to write your own, we just wanted to make this as simple as possible. Whatever you do, please make it fast! We cigar smokers are running out of time and we need to make our voices heard!!!


======================

The Honorable _________________
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515


Dear Congressman:

On December 9, 2003, the U.S. Senate cut a last minute deal to ban all sales of cigars through the U.S. mail. This provision was quietly slipped into the cigarette anti-counterfeiting bill (S.1177), even though the rest of the bill had nothing to do with cigars. The House Judiciary Committee will soon consider its version (H.R.2824) of the same bill.

I need you to keep cigars out of this bill! There is not a counterfeit cigar problem in this country. There is not a youth cigar smoking problem in this country. This is another example of a big government solution in search of a problem that does not exist. Please do the right thing and don’t let the federal government tamper with my right to receive legal cigars through the mail.



Sincerely,

=====================

Thank You,

Steve Saka
'Live Free or Die'”

“Teens don't smoke cigars, fat-ass middle-age white dudes smoke smelly cigars.”

“These bills outlaw that for sure, I think, MP...”

“Actually... the bill was originally targeting cigarettes. At the last minute they threw in the "cigars and other tobacco products".”

“True, TT, which is why the reason for adding the language including cigars is bogus.

Signed,

Fat-ass middle-aged dude who smokes smelly cigars.”

“bitpusher, ya left out, "white".”

“But by the strictest definition, I ain't white, brutha!”

“There is a huge problem with counterfiet cigarettes and of course many are black market and blue market cigarettes that no tax is being paid on them. This is not the case with cigars. Cigars are taxed by the states at the wholesale level (as well as sales). So taxes are paid even by the mail order and internet companies just for receiving the cigars. THAT is why including cigars in the bill is bogus. By adding "cigars" the the diction of the bill it is essentially turning the bill from one that is trying to combat tax evasion to one that insteads eliminates consumer choise for no reason except that cigar smokers ae a minority and non-smokers can pretty much dictate the law.”

“did I tell you ...I quit 8 month and 1 day ago. :)”

“Quit ciggs or cigars? Do you avoid bars”

“lol, I quit cigarettes. I do smoke a cigar once in a while (like once a year or so)”

“...suck the binachi balls...

...pass the bong dude....”

“Thanks DeoreDX, I knew I saw that somewhere. As for the letter from JR...I already attached a copy of my drivers license to it and mailed the form back. :p

Gem...HANG IN THERE GIRL !”

“I smoke cigars and I love them so screw what they say I buy mine in the Cigar Shope anyway.


8)”

“Okay, add me to the list.”

“Pick up a new habit, Phaedrus?”

“yes, dammit.”

“But without vices, we'd live forever, and who wants that?”

“Fuente 858 and Opus X are my go-to cigars.”

“Like they said on The Onion today:

Boy, I'd hate to get a disease and die at 60 instead of enjoying those extra three decades of livin' la vida nursing home.

Anyway, I suggest you visit JR Cigar, he usually has a good selection of cigars at reasonable prices. I keep an eye on the Weekly Special, sometimes it's too good to pass up, which is why my humidor is currently full.”

“I met Lew Rotham (Owner of JR Cigars) and had a tour of the JR Warehouse in Burlington. Something like 3/4 of the US's cigars make their way through that warehouse. It's amazing.”

“A friend recommended the blue label churchills from Cigar.com for a filler for the new humidor.

I've had one, and couldn't tell the difference between it and the one I liked at the cigar bar. I'm a newbie to this whole business, obviously.
last edited: 4/06/05 2:01:18 PM”

“The biggest difference between no-name bundles and brand name cigars I've noticed, at least since the cigar boom ended, is that with the brand-name cigars, you're less likely to get one that's plugged. Also, you're less likely to get one where the tobacco wasn't aged properly. I've got a bunch of bundle cigars slowly aging out the harshness in my humidor right now.”

“Cigar Boom?

Plugged?

I'm a cigar idiot.”

“Cigar Boom: The period from roughly 1997 to 2001 when the popularity of cigars spiked, leading to high prices, low availability, and a general drop in quality of cigars. Before said boom, one could purchase a good cigar for less than a buck. Today, the same cigar costs about $3, even though demand has slacked off dramatically.

Plugged: A cigar that has been rolled too tightly, or with a twist in the filler tobacco, such that the cigar is hard to draw. Sometimes plugging can be relieved by massaging, but you're also likely to split the wrapper this way. Also, some enterprising individuals have invented tools which essentially cut a hole down the middle of the cigar, provided a channel for smoke to pass.”

“Thanks, bit, you're my best vice-educator.

:)

So far, the friend that recommended these to me has agreed with you in the aging of the tobacco. The idea is to get them for the humidor to keep the humidity level right while they age, and to keep the top level of cigars with the ready-to-smoke ones.”

“Yup, that's a good plan.

Did you get some propylene glycol solution for your humidifier?”

“I am a fire fly”

“Yeah, I got wetting solution and a digital humidifier.”

“OK good. Now, once you charge your humidifier with the solution, you can use plain old distilled water to wet it for a while. The PG gets into the oasis material and sticks around.

Most humidifiers are just a plastic case with some floral "wet oasis". I bought a block of it at a local hobby store and I've made my own humidifiers with it.”

“Hmmm... Mine's one unit. It has an idiot light for when to add wetting solution.”

“I like Kalua Cigarillos..... :-)

BTW-- what do you do if the cigars dry out? Can they be revived? or is it a lost cause?”

“Depends on how dry they get, pink. If you let your humidor drop down to 50%RH for a couple weeks, no big deal really. Slowly bring the RH back to 70%. If a cigar's been out of a humidor for, oh a month or more, well, most of the oils have evaporated too, so you lose a lot of the taste of the tobacco. You can bring those back, slooooowly, but they will never taste the same.

You could probably still use distilled water in your unit, Phaedrus. Your "wetting solution" almost assuredly 50% PG/50% water. Recharge with the solution every three months or so and you should be okay. If you're nervous about it, every month then. Using the solution all the time won't ruin your cigars, it just gets expensive.”

“Oh, and it depends on the cigar, too. Europeans smoke a lot of "dry cured" cigars that don't require humidification supposedly. I've never had one, so I have no idea what they're like. Schimmelpinninck is a popular Dutch brand of "dry cured" cigars.
last edited: 4/06/05 3:54:45 PM”

“Cool, thanks, Bit. The wetting solution is pretty cheap, so I'll probably just continue with that, but if the thing ever breaks, I'll make my own.”

“A nice semi sweet mellow cigar, as you sit on a rock overlooking the still waters, and hear the first loons of the evening cry out as Mother Nature paints her evening sky.

Listen

Look

Draw

Blow out a long slow cloud as you simutaneously sigh.


Oh yeah.”

“Did I mention I just got two boxed of Partagas Serie D No 4's (i.e. cubans) :D

Yum Yum Yum. Box code says they are December 04's. Gonna have to wait at least a year before I smoke em. :(”

“Cigars are on my backpacking list!!!”

“What would be a good neewbie cigar to take on a trip this weekend? I used to smoke the occasional maccanudo Portofino.”

“Macs are real good. One of my fave sizes is the Duke of Devon. Get it in the original wrapper color, it's mild and tasty.”

“What about eau-de-monica as a wetting solution :-)”

“The organics will clog up your humidifier.”

“This seems like a very good deal to me, now that I've already bought my humidor... dammit.

http://secure.thompsoncigar.com/default.aspx?sid=uql0ghvwodrmihavs024op55&uid=1026&CategoryID=54&page=product
last edited: 4/07/05 8:53:53 AM”

“If you plan on keeping that many cigars around, sure. Your humidor should be sized to the number of cigars that you plan to keep at any one time. It's easier to keep a full humidor at the right humidity.

Also, the humidors that come with those "deals" are often not all that great to begin with. But I imagine that a lot of them are still left over from stock that wasn't sold during the "boom".”

“Hmm... there's this too:

http://secure.thompsoncigar.com/default.aspx?sid=uql0ghvwodrmihavs024op55&page=product&sender=rightside&qtype=best&uid=584”

“That's a good size. Big enough for a few boxes of your fave cigars and a smattering of others. Not sure about the glass top though. You certainly wouldn't want it to be in the sun, that's for sure.

You know about beetles, right?”

“Yeah, great band.”

“lol, no, tobacco beetles.

If your humidor temperature gets above 74-75F, any beetle eggs in your cigars will hatch, and the beetles will eat little holes in all your cigars. It's happened to me before. I know that JR freezes all the cigars that they receive before they store them in their warehouses, so it's not usually an issue for them. But I did get some beetles from some cigars my mother-in-law bought for me in Curacao. I should have frozen them myself.”