Archive for the ‘SMoking means jobs’ Category

Davidoff Goes All In, Camacho Goes Bold and Smoking = Jobs by Frank Seltzer

Wednesday, June 19th, 2013

Davidoff is expanding its core business—that is cigars.  Last week,  the Oettinger Davidoff Group released its 2012 results (basically its cigar brands grew at about 5 percent).  But the company is now changing its strategy.  Previously, Davidoff was a branded house, meaning it focused on the Davidoff label.  The company under the leadership of Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard it is becoming “a house of brands” which will include Davidoff, of course, but also the Camacho and Zino Platinum flagship brands along with AVO and Griffin.  The company also will continue to expand its stores and is seeing large growth potential in Asia.

Camacho goes Bold

 

With its launch by Christian Eiroa in 2000, the Camacho label has been known for its full body.  The original Corojo was one of the first stronger cigars in the market.  Since that time, others have joined in the higher strength league and Camacho has added several other lines which provide flavors to all taste profiles.  In 2007, Eiroa’s marketing director Dylan Austin convinced Christian to re-do the packaging for the lines while it rolled out the Triple Maduro.  The next year, Christian and his family sold Camacho to Davidoff.  Dylan Austin stayed with the brand and once again re-launching it.

 

The official debut of  “Camacho The Bold Standard” is this Thursday at a big party in Dallas (how convenient for me).  The event will be hosted by legendary coach Mike Ditka (who has his own cigar called the Throwback being made by Camacho), Room 101’s Matt Booth and screenwriter Rob Weiss (HBO’s Entourage).  One of the most visible changes is new bigger bands, which now run lengthwise, and the Camacho logo now has a scorpion on it.  The boxes also are changed with a more modern look. According to Austin, the idea is to create a bolder brand identity.

 

As part of the move, Camacho is slimming down its portfolio  to six blends and re-blending four of the lines or as they call it an upgrade.  The original Corojo is one of the blends that will be upgraded along with the Diploma line.  According to Austin,  “We kept what was great, like our Authentic Corojo, and made it better. For our famed Corojo, a top-grade fifth priming wrapper is now standard – it’s back to knock your socks off level.”

 

The former Havana blend is now going to be called what it is Criollo for its wrapper and under the new formulation it will have Dominican Piloto Cubano in the filler. The Triple Maduro and Connecticut will not change except for the bands and boxes.

 

The Dallas party on Thursday is the official release, although the new blends will not really go on sale until the industry trade show in the middle of next month.  Camacho expects the cigars to be in stores nationwide around the beginning of August.

 

 

 

Want Jobs? Allow Smoking.

That is the message Las Vegas mogul Sheldon Adelson is sending to Spain.  It makes sense since you may recall the story on Revel Casino in Atlantic City, which was proud of its non smoking policy.  That policy stayed until Revel hit bankruptcy and THEN decided to allow smoking.  Adelson is now working on a new project in Spain for gamblers.

 

Adelson is proposing a development called Eurovegas on the outskirts of Madrid.

Eurovegas would become one of Europe’s biggest construction sites, creating tens of thousands of jobs in a country where the unemployment rate is expected to hit 28% by the end of this year. But Adelson wants gamblers to be allowed to smoke inside the complex – something that is against Spanish health laws.

According to The Guardian, the anti-smoking laws came from the previous socialist government in Spain and now with a new conservative Prime Minister Adelson thinks the time is ripe to change the law to allow smoking in the casinos.  Adelson met with the Spanish Prime Minister to make his case.  The development would cost upwards of 9 billion dollars and when complete could create nearly a quarter million jobs.  It will be interesting to see what Spain does.

Glendale Nixes Smoking

 

The California city of Glendale has decided to reach into private homes and ban smoking.  The council voted last month to ban smoking in condos and apartments.  The catch is that the law is for new construction.  It means for now, they cannot ban it in existing buildings.  But there is another side to this…

 

One of the biggest problems with Glendale’s smoking rules has been enforcement. Police or code enforcement officials can’t cite a smoker if they don’t catch them in the act. City officials said giving private citizens the right to sue smokers for breaking the rules is another tool to add more teeth to the smoking restrictions.

If found guilty, violators could be fined $250 for every day they violate the law, according to a city report, although they would first have to violate the law twice and receive a written notice before being sued. The smoker could also have to pay for the costs of the lawsuit if found guilty.

 

Gee wonder if the ACLU would defend the smokers?

 

 

 

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