The time to act is now

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with the staff of our Delaware Senators and Congressman, and must say I believe they left our meetings with a much clearer idea of the broad scope of potential impacts on our little community of cigar smokers should the FDA pursue its current proposals in regulating premium cigars.

Today I'd like to bring you up to speed on what you must do in order to reinforce their understanding of this issue.

First, understand that the reason premium cigars are being considered for FDA regulation is not so much because we're the bad actors in the tobacco business, but rather because the bad actors have chosen to deliberately modify their products and packaging to allow themselves into a category of products traditionally reserved for premium cigars.

What we're faced with are a number of problems, any of which would effectively change the entire nature of your relationship with your tobacconist, and would collectively turn the cigars we so love into little more than a numbered and itemized commodity.

Under the current regulatory proposal there would be no more access for consumers to walk in humidors. You would simply approach a clerk, look through an available catalog of items, none of which you would be allowed to see, touch, or smell in advance of purchase, and order from the menu. Think fast food drive in window.

What this would mean economically is that the people you've come to rely on for advice and suggestions about cigars would become extinct. They would be replaced with a minimum wage order taker. I don't know about you but I think there's great value to the consumer in being able to peruse products and have an educational discussion about them.

We all love those hard to find limited release cigars which are crafted from exquisite and carefully selected tobaccos available in only small quantities. Folks, those would totally disappear. The proposed regulatory scheme would impose the same scientific testing burdens on a manufacturer making a 100 box limited release as are imposed on mass market manufacturers cranking out a  million boxes a year. You wanna pay $100 or more a stick for limited releases? That's probably what would happen.

In all the time cigars have been manufactured one of the most endearing and beloved aspects of their creation has been the art of the bands and boxes. Scratch that. Black and white with huge warning labels and graphic images just like those proposed for cigarette packaging. That's what we'll end up with.

I could go on a great length, but I'm sure by now you get the picture.

One of the great things about the technological advancements we've seen in the last few decades is that it makes it easy for us to have online petition drives and form letter campaigns.  Guess what? It doesn't work. A box full of computer generated signatures counts no more than the single weeping member of the opposition. It's a single item of input.

If you want to save this industry we all know, love, and are passionate about YOU must act INDIVIDUALLY. Make that call. Send that letter. Send that email. Do your own thing and stop being a member of the complacent and compliant herd that lets "those in leadership" handle the issue for you.

Call, write, or email your own personal United States Senators and Representatives and don't ask, DEMAND, that they sign on board as cosponsors of S1461 or HR 1639 as appropriate. It's common sense, easily understood legislation that strips away FDA authority to regulate us like we're cigarettes.

Don't do this, and I don't want to hear a a word from your whiny, pathetic butt when the feces hits the oscillating blades.