Cigar and snuff maker Swedish Match AB (SWMA.ST) posted a 38 percent rise in second-quarter earnings and predicted higher second-half sales and operating profit, lifting it shares on Friday. “It is a surprisingly strong report. The cigar margin is incredibly strong,” said Rolf Karp, an analyst at Ohman Fondkommission. Pretax profit rose to 791 million Swedish crowns ($101 million), adjusted for the divestment of a South African pipe tobacco and snuff operation. The mean forecast for pretax profit in a Reuters poll which included the divested business, was for a 705 million profit. ... Jump to full article >>

TAMPA – When the landmark cigar maker Hav-A-Tampa announced plans to shut down operations in its namesake city, those smitten with Tampa’s reputation as Cigar City lamented the loss. Stogies helped transform “Tampa town” from a sleepy fishing village with 700 residents in 1885 to a thriving city of 108,000 two decades later. Back then, 159 factories employed some 13,000 workers as cigar rollers and tobacco strippers. A century later, only one major cigar manufacturer remains, leaving some to wonder: Is Tampa still the Cigar Capital of the World? “That’s bee ... Jump to full article >>

BRADENTON, Fla., June 23 /PRNewswire/ — The Oettinger Davidoff Group, headquartered in Basel (Switzerland), has acquired from the Chiusano Family the Bradenton, FL based company Cusano Cigars, operated by DomRey Cigar, Inc. The acquisition of Cusano Cigars allows the Oettinger Davidoff Group to tap a new source of revenue in the USA, the largest market for premium cigars in the world, in which around half of all the world’s hand-made cigars are sold. Cusano Cigars is the second American company to join the Oettinger Davidoff Group within a matter of months, thereby further extendin ... Jump to full article >>

When Nevada passed a law banning smoking in places that serve food, Susan and Jeff Melvin discovered it created a niche for people looking for a smoking option. The Melvins opened Jimmy G’s Cigar Bar in downtown Carson City on June 5. While they don’t serve food, the option for patrons to light up is good for business. “The nice thing is, people can choose,” Susan Melvin said. “If they want to go somewhere where there is no smoking, they can, or where people can smoke, they can.” Melvin said customers can order lunch or dinner from nearby Garibaldi’s o ... Jump to full article >>

Last week, Hav-A-Tampa Cigar Co. announced the closing of its iconic cigar factory, which has been operating in Tampa since 1902. Hav-A-Tampa’s closing is devastating for its nearly 500 employees. The factory’s demise is also tragic for our community. There has never been a product that has promoted Tampa more than legendary Hav-a-Tampa cigars. For more than 100 years, Hav-A-Tampa has incorporated our city into its world-famous brand name. Soon the factory will be gone. It is a sad day for the city of Tampa and its historic cigar industry, but the greatest tragedy is that this fact ... Jump to full article >>

Tampa hasn’t been the Cigar City for many decades. The cigar-manufacturing plants that provided the community a national identity long before the Bucs, the Lightning or even MacDill Air Force Base have been closing or relocating from the area for more than a generation. Still, it’s sad to see the closing of Hav-A-Tampa’s Seffner plant, which produced the product so closely associated with a community that once hosted the Cigar Bowl. The company will continue to produce cigars in Puerto Rico. But close to 500 local jobs will be lost. Hillsborough’s sole cigar operation n ... Jump to full article >>

HARRISON Ford got pulled into a wacky publicity stunt the other day when two hotties in black tank tops, shorts and high-heels sneaked past security on the set of his movie, “Morning Glory,” at 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue. “He was in between takes with Rachel McAdams when these girls came right out of the blue to present him with a $750 Gurkha cigar,” a spy told us. “He got a big kick out of it and thanked them.” Turns out the generous cuties were promoting a service called delivery.com. source: nypost.com ... Jump to full article >>

So I was sitting in a leather couch at El Cid’s, watching my cigar smoke drift upward and listening to the guys talk about politics and stuff that really matters in life, like the tobacco tax going up again. El Cid’s has been a nice place to go to hide. No editors at the old Rocky, may it rest in peace, knew about it. And, by God, the tobacco-less creatures would never venture into North Denver to find it. El Cid’s is on West 44th Avenue, just east of Sheridan. If you had a fair throwing arm, you could hit Wheat Ridge with a rock. But why would you want to? I enjoyed my visit ... Jump to full article >>

An old adage cautions us to be careful what we wish for lest we get it. The idea is that we’ll get everything that comes with the object of our desires. Entire sitcoms have centered on hapless individuals who give little thought to the full results of their actions. A new car might be nicer than that old, but reliable, flivver in the driveway, but it also comes with payments, higher registration fees and higher insurance premiums, all things that should be considered before opting for the shiny new one. Folks face the same decisions when they want government to fix some perceived problem ... Jump to full article >>

China has increased taxes on tobacco products, the government said on Saturday. Taxes went up on cigarette cartons costing 70 yuan or more to 56 percent from the previous 45 percent rate, the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) jointly said. Tax for cigarette cartons costing less than 70 yuan rose from 30 percent to 36 percent. “The move aims to ‘moderately’ increase financial revenue, and ‘perfect ‘ the taxation mechanism”, said the document released on the SAT website. The tax on cigars rose to 36 percent from 25 percent. Mea ... Jump to full article >>

WASHINGTON — Kentucky burley tobacco farmers and the state’s congressional delegation are seeing smoke over a plan by the Canadian government to ban fruit and bubble gum flavors and other similar additives in cigarettes and cigarillos. The lawmakers and the roughly 8,100 Kentucky farmers who cultivate burley tobacco say the proposal, designed to curb youth smoking, would decimate the market for American air-cured burley tobacco, which is used to make most of Canada’s cigarettes. “One of the biggest things it does is it effectively bans almost all flavoring used in pr ... Jump to full article >>