Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba’s annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make ... Jump to full article >>

Sale: The BAT Artventure Collection Location: Sotheby’s, de Boelelaan 30, 1083 HJ, Amsterdam. Tel: +31 (0) 20 550 2200 Date: March 8. On view Monday (March 1) -Sunday, 10am-5pm. Catalogue online at www.sothebys.com Need to know: This is the largest and most valuable collection of postwar and contemporary art ever to have come to auction in the Netherlands. Its roots can be traced back to the 1950s when the late Alexander Orlow, then managing director of Dutch tobacco firm Turmac, had the visionary idea of brightening up the monotonous working lives of his employees by hanging paintings abov ... Jump to full article >>

The Canadian women’s hockey team apologized yesterday for a celebration in which some players drank beer and smoked cigars on the ice at Canada Hockey Place on Thursday after winning the gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Games. Photos of Canadian players whooping it up about an hour after their 2-0 victory over the United States made their way onto the Internet late Thursday. That angered Gilbert Felli, the IOC’s executive director of the Olympic Games, who said: “I don’t think it’s a good promotion of sport values.” He also promised an investigation. ̶ ... Jump to full article >>

Whitney Houston’s tour promoter blames the diva’s smoking habit as being the cause behind the singer’s erratic stage performances that have been receiving a great deal of negative media exposoure. Jam reports that Houston’s promoter, Andrew McManus, has finally come clean about the singer’s difficulties, naming her tobacco habit as the culprit. The “Saving All My Love for You” hitmaker has been in Australia with her “Nothing But Love” comeback tour, but the shows have been taking a lot of criticism from fans and critics who claim her performances have been sub par. The R& ... Jump to full article >>

The 20-article Anti-Smoking Law which seeks a ban on cultivation and production of tobacco and tobacco derivatives in the Kingdom is to be looked at by the Shoura Council on Sunday paving the way for it to be referred for royal approval. The law, which would see smoking prohibited in public places, mosque courtyards, places of education and sport, cultural and health institutions; banks, factories, and on land, sea and air transport, would leave tobacco farmers facing fines of up to SR20,000 and their produce being destroyed on the spot at the expense of the violators themselves. Other article ... Jump to full article >>