South Florida is a great place to be in February. Lots of sunshine, warm temperatures, ocean breezes, and of course, cigars. So if you don't already live here, now is a good time to start making plans to come down on February 21, 2009 for Smoke Inn's Great Smoke Cigar Event in West Palm Beach. This is the third year that the Smoke Inn is putting on this event, which will include a live broadcast by Cigar Dave (link goes to 2006 photo), live entertainment, a VIP lounge, over 38 cigar brands with at least 22 principals from the cigar industry, and much more. Visit thegreatsmoke.com for all the details.

More Cigar Events

Some good news - it now appears that an increase in the federal excise tax on cigars to fund an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program will be lower than previously proposed. Instead of a $3 tax cap on each cigar, the latest proposal that is now working its way through the U.S. House includes a cap of 40-cents per cigar. We will continue to monitor this legislation as it works its way through Congress. Read more at ipcpr.org.

• CAO International, Inc. announced that Nobel Cigars, a subsidiary of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (The ST Group), has acquired the cigar factories of the Toraño and Olivas families, known as Latin Cigars Nicaragua and Latin Cigars Honduras, for an undisclosed amount. The Torano family will retain ownership of the Toraño brand, as Carlos Toraño cigars are not part of this deal. In addition, Fidel Olivas and his sons will continue to manage and supervise both factories.



• The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentencing of defendant Juan Penton, who sold an undercover Miami-Dade County police officer boxes of cigars containing an assortment of the registered trademarks owned by Altadis U.S.A.’s subsidiaries, Cuban Cigar Brands, N.V. (“CCB”) and Max Rohr, Inc., and by General Cigar Co., as well as the words “Habana,” “Habana Cuba,” “Habanos SA,” and “Hecho en Cuba.” The boxes were sealed with fabricated Cuban seals and contained inside fake Cuban Government guarantees.



• Alec Bradley Cigars, makers of Tempus and Maxx cigars, have recently redesigned their website. Check it out for yourself at alecbradley.com.



• Tampa Humidor will host acclaimed 3-D Artist Charles Fazzino at a Romeo y Julieta cigar event on January 28, 2009, from 5:00PM to 8:00PM. Tampa Humidor is located at 1418 East Busch Blvd., Tampa, FL (813) 990-8535.



• Proceeds from the Montecristo Cup Charity Pro-Am golf tournament at Casa de Campo were used to benefit The Montecristo Relief Organization, which was founded in 1999 to provide ongoing aid after two hurricanes devastated areas of the Caribbean.

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CAO's newest cigar is their Lx2, which is the company's 11th cigar to get a score 90 or higher from Cigar Insider and Cigar Aficionado. Although we enjoy most of CAO's cigars, we think that some sticks are better than others. Read Dr. Mitch Fadem's full review of CAO's Lx2 to find out exactly what he thinks of these new double ligero cigars.