Tobacco.org

City high schools declare war on smoking 

Jakarta high school communities will form the front line of anti- smoking campaigns, following a declaration to clear school grounds of cigarette smoke.

Principals from 116 states, 62 vocational and 16 Islamic high schools signed the declaration Thursday to protect every member of school communities from exposure to cigarette smoke on school grounds.

Huzna Zahir, head of the Indonesian Consumer’s Organisation (YLKI), said that all members of school communities — teachers, employees, students, parents and guests — must make an active effort if they are to free schools from cigarette smoke.

Jump to full article »

Cuba, Dominican Republic to Hold Cigar Festivals 

The two largest cigar-making nations will be holding their own separate, unaffiliated cigar festivals next month: Cuba's 11th Habanos Festival and the Dominican's second ProCigar Festival.

The celebrations draw cigar enthusiasts from all over the world, providing a festive education through seminars, factory and farm tours, gala dinners and other cigar-related events intended to spread cigar awareness. Fans of Cuban or Dominican cigars get the chance to immerse themselves in each country's respective cigar culture by visiting the world's cigar-producing epicenters with their fellow aficionados and getting sneak peeks of the upcoming products slated for 2009.

Jump to full article »

Dominican president welcomes White House tobacco veto news 

Dominican president Leonel Fernández has expressed his satusfaction at the news from the White House that the proposed taxes on tobacco would be vetoed.

The president said that this would come as a great relief to thousands of Dominican families who make a living from tobacco cultivation and cigar production and exports.

Jump to full article »

• Dominican president to lobby against taxes on his country's tobacco 

President Leonel Fernandez will ask the United States Congress and the Government not to apply more taxes on cigars from Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras and other Central America countries, said Agriculture minister Salvador Jiménez on Wednesday.

He said the chief executive will visit New York City, where he will meet with Representative Charles Rangel (D-New York) to explain the Dominican position to ahead of the application of new levies on cigars on the part of Congress.

He said Rangel has been very receptive to Dominican Republic’s position in view of intention the U.S. Government to apply a new tax on cigars.

Jump to full article »

Entities join efforts against illicit trade of cigarettes in Dominican Republic 

The General Directorate of Customs and Ports (DGA) and Philip Morris International Management, S.A. signed a cooperation agreement to confront the issue of contraband and counterfeit in the cigarette trade in the Dominican Republic as a result of more than 6 months working together.

The agreement is part of the process of implementing the new Customs policy regarding Intellectual Property that seeks to respond to the requirements of DR-CAFTA.

Jump to full article »

PUCMM, tobacco giant León Jimenes build community works in Santiago 

For the ninth consecutive year Industria de Tabaco León Jimenes and the Pontifical Catholic Madre y Maestra University ratify a collaboration agreement for the execution of the Community Development Program (PRODECO), a social investment initiative coordinated with the PUCMM´s Urban and Regional Studies Center (CEUR), which seeks to strengthen and generate permanent processes of development in the communities neighboring the production installations of Industria de Tabaco León Jimenes, in the northeastern sector of Santiago.

The RD$1.5 million contribution made by the tobacco company and its parent company of Philip Morris International will serve to develop the actions planned within the framework of the program for the present year, ensuring accompaniment by CEUR-PUCMM of the Committee for Community Development of the Northeastern Sector, an entity responsible for community initiatives.

Jump to full article »

• Dominican cigar industry asks the U.S. Congress to reject new tax 

he head of the Senate’s Farm and Agribusiness Commission asked the Congress to reject a new tax on cigars, as it would “condemn the national tobacco industry."

Amílcar Romero (PLD-Duarte) said a new U.S. tax on cigars would cause losses of over US$100 million for the industry, in addition to the loss of jobs in one of the country’s poorest zones.

He said he stays in touch with ambassador in Washington, Flavio Darío Espinal, to lobby on the Dominican producers’ concern in the U.S. Senate.

The Cigar Producers Association (Procigar) stated their concern to Romero on the Dominican cigars’ future, if the new tax is approved. They said they cultivate in the country’s Cibao and Northwest regions close to 20,000 hectares, which can’t be used for any other type of crop.

Jump to full article »

Cigar shop touts authenticity 

But Nicole and Tim Malley say times have changed, and a trip to Cuba no longer is necessary to enjoy the taste of a quality cigar. As owners of The Cigar Factory in Indialantic, they maintain that premium cigars now are made in the Dominican Republic.

"All the best cigar manufacturers in Cuba have left and moved to the Dominican Republic," Nicole Malley said. "It has the same climate and the same soil as Cuba."

However, soon after opening their Indialantic cigar and coffee shop in December 2005, the Malleys discovered there were drawbacks to relying on someone else to transport the tobacco.

Jump to full article »

Blogs | Gordon Mott | How I Almost Did Not Survive My First Cigar Factory Visit 

Marvin Shanken and I headed off the Dominican Republic to tour the nation's cigar factories. . . .

I jumped in with both feet. At one time, I seem to remember having all 12 cigars going at the same time. Puffing on one. Tasting the next one. Jumping to another. In truth, my memory is probably failing, and I didn't have more than five or six going at any one time. But suffice it to say that in an hour, I sampled all 12 cigars, wrote notes, and talked about each one with DiMeola and Seijas. . . .

I stumbled off the plane, and we made our way to the hotel. I was still pretty much forced to hang my head out the window of the SUV, praying that we would get to the hotel as fast as possible. Once we checked in, I lay down on the bed and waited a couple of hours for the feeling to pass.

I found out later that I had been through a not-uncommon experience for cigar tasters: nicotine overdose. Sweats. Nausea. Chills. All are symptoms of getting too much nicotine into your system…and I wasn't inhaling that day, either. I also learned later that there is a pretty simple cure: swallow a sugar cube whole and it will alleviate the worst of the symptoms.

Jump to full article »

Dominican Cigarette Maker Now In Hands Of Philip Morris ($$) 

Industria de Tabaco Leon Jimenes S.A., the Dominican Republic's largest cigarette manufacturer, is now the sole property of Philip Morris International Inc., officials for both companies said Tuesday.

The announcement completes a reorganization plan in which Philip Morris' parent, New York-based Altria Group Inc. (MO), traded its interest in the Dominican national brewery for the cigarette business and $427 million in cash.

Jump to full article »

Philip Morris to take over Dominican E. Leon Jimenez cigarette producing subsidiary 

According to Reuters, Altria Group Inc. said on Thursday that its Philip Morris International business plans to change its tobacco and beer equity holdings in the Dominican Republic later this month, leading to a boost in its 2006 forecast.

Philip Morris International holds a 47.5 percent stake in E. Leon Jimenes C. por. A., which has equity holdings in tobacco and beer operations in the Dominican Republic. Philip Morris International plans to exchange that stake for full ownership of E. Leon Jimenes' cigarette subsidiary, Industria de Tabaco Leon Jimenes SA, and about $427 million of cash.

The reorganization is expected to close later this month.

Jump to full article »

Dominican authorities will close British-American Tobacco for violation 

Local Environment Ministry officials would temporarily close the company British American Tobacco tomorrow, because it ignored the warning to build a structure to house their powerplant.

North Zone Environmental coordinator Domingo Olivo provided the information this morning, affirming that the authorities will be present in the companyâ?(TM)s temporary shutdown.

The official said that the decision was taken because the Bristish American Tobacco executives failed to meet the deadline to build the enclosure, to house the company's powerplant.

Jump to full article »

State Senator Is Accused of Using Nonprofit’s Funds  

Efraín González Jr., one of the longest-serving Hispanic members of the State Senate, was indicted yesterday on federal charges of mail fraud, accused of using $37,000 from a nonprofit organization for personal expenses, including Yankees tickets and membership fees at a vacation club in the Dominican Republic.

Senator González, 58, who represents portions of the Bronx, surrendered to federal authorities yesterday morning and was released several hours later after posting $25,000 bail. . . .

Mr. González has typically shunned the spotlight, and aides say he is more comfortable meeting people in informal settings than he is making speeches.

He has set up his own cigar company, using tobacco from the Dominican Republic, where it is grown from Cuban seeds. The company has yet to begin full-scale operations, but Mr. González sometimes hands out cigars as he works a room.

He has advised the government of the Dominican Republic, where his wife lives, on housing issues.

Jump to full article »

Another time, another country: Dominican Republic 

Where could possibly double for 50s Cuba, the island Andy Garcia left as a child and the subject of his latest film? . . .

'When I decided to direct, the story of Havana was the story I felt compelled to tell," said Andy Garcia, through a curl of Cuban cigar smoke. . . .

The fruit of Garcia's childhood eccentricity is The Lost City, a luxurious snapshot of 50s Havana set against the outbreak of revolution . . .

it was a non-Cuban friend, Carlos Fuentes Junior (of Dominican Republic's Fuentes cigar concern) who solved Garcia's main production problem - the choice of location. . . .

says Garcia. "But the Dominican Republic had everything: tobacco fields, the colonial palace, sugar cane, and a musical pulse similar to Cuba's. And Carlos offered to plant a couple of fields of wrapper-leaf tobacco off-season, too, which meant we could shoot everything at once, as well as getting in some great cigars for the wrap party." . . .

After a hard day of filming, Garcia would unwind in the bar of the Santo Domingo's Renaissance Jaragua Hotel, listening to the house band play a bachata and indulging in a fine cigar -one thing, he says, that the Cubans will always do better.

Jump to full article »

WHY CELEBS UNTIE THE KNOT 

. . . Andy Garcia's "The Lost City," shot in the Dominican with the help of Carlos Fuente, opens the 28th. Fuente, whose tobacco business dates to 1800 in Cuba, played a cameo as a tobacco grower. He says: "Up at dawn, setups, retakes, weather worries was exhausting. Rolling cigars is easier." . . .

Jump to full article »