Cigars,closure and apps by Frank Seltzer
Another new cigar at this past show comes from Maria Martin. Maria used to work with her father Pedro Martin when they owned Tabacalera Tropical. After the Martins sold the company to Eduardo Fernandez, Maria went over to Camacho where she worked for several years. Longing to get back into the business on her own again, Maria formed Martin Family of Cigars. Last year, she unveiled her initial three cigars, the Ruby, Gold and Corojo. This year, she added with the platinum series, the Royal, M and Fiera. The Royal features a Connecticut wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. The M is a Maduro using a Mexican San Andres wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and fillers and the Fiera which uses a Criollo wrapper over a double binder and Nicaraguan fillers. They run between $6.50 to $8.
Another one bites the dust.
Gallagher’s Steakhouse in New York City opened in 1927. It made it through the Great Depression, but now the eatery filed notice with the government it is closing January 16th. (And this was before Sandy). 92 employees will be out of work. I wonder why Gallagher’s could make it through the Depression and not this Recession….what is different? Oh right smoking.
Gallagher’s was one of NYC’s steakhouses known for their blessing on cigars…right up until Nanny Bloomberg got into town. At the time, Cigar Aficionado reported the 2003 laws (the state came in after the city’s ban to make things worse.)
“Between the price and the space a smoking room would take up, we decided it just wasn’t worth it to convert our private catering room into a smoking room,” said Bryan Reidy, general manager of Gallagher’s Steakhouse, which long allowed cigar smoking in its bar area. “We couldn’t afford to give up the 350 square feet of space for nothing more than smoking. And the cost would be up over $50,000 anyway.”
Another legendary cigar friendly steakhouse in NYC was Frank’s Steakhouse…it closed as well. But remember smoking bans do not affect the economy. (Tell that to the two empty steakhouses here in Dallas and Plano that have been closed and empty since 2004 and 2008 respectively which was within a year of the smoking bans in those cities.)
About those Apps
Many cigar manufacturers have been putting out apps for iphones and the android. They also are active on Facebook, Twitter and the like. I have always felt social marketing comes with a risk (there is virtually no way to do an age verification on many of these sites and apps.) In an unfortunate “I told ya so” comes a study out of Australia which the creeps at Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids are all over. The study says big evil tobacco companies (ok the big and evil is implied) may be using smartphone apps to encourage kids to smoke.
These apps are potential violations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which bans advertising and promoting tobacco products in all media, says the paper. And of course the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids says:
This study should prompt action to prevent smartphone apps from becoming a new means of marketing cigarettes to kids:
Apple and Google should review their policies for approving apps and restricting youth access to adult content and take action to stop apps from being used to deliver pro-tobacco messages to kids.
Philip Morris, whose Marlboro brand can be seen in several apps, and other tobacco companies should act quickly to stop the use of their brands in apps.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other government regulators should investigate this emerging means of marketing tobacco products, including whether tobacco companies are involved, and take action to protect our children.
But in Australia where the study was born, catch this:
The Federal Health Department, which regulates tobacco advertising, said in a statement it was generally an offence to publish a tobacco advertisement on the internet.
“Potentially, many of the apps identified in the study may be tobacco advertisements under the Act, particularly if they promote smoking,” the statement read.
Fortunately this only applies to anything published from Australia. But think about it, if you live in Australia and post on Facebook about a cigar you could be in violation of that country’s law. And don’t think the WHO wants to make that law everywhere.
If you think it is only about Marlboros…guess again. TIME magazine looks at the top 5 smoking apps….Guess what is number 5? Cigar Rights of America. According to TIME:
This app lets users stream audio and video related to cigar regulation, and gives updates on news, events, and ways to get involved with the group.
How horrible. Does the CRA’s app promote underage smoking or smoking in general? No, but remember these are the same people who are convinced about 2nd, 3rs, 4th and 5th hand smoke. Ya gotta be careful…they are gunning for us and we don’t need to hand them ANY ammunition.
