After a few years of a lot of new product from Arturo Fuente and J.C. Newman, the two family-owned companies seemed focused on things other than the new cigar products. For Fuente, the 100th anniversary celebrations are now over and so the companies returns to some bit of normalcy, which likely means less new product. For the Newmans, it was all about one thing—preserving the company’s Tampa-based cigar operations. Saving Cigar City was largely the talk of the town in Las Vegas, highlighted by an article in The New York Times, which ran in the middle of the trade show. As is the case most years, Arturo Sandoval, a good friend of the Fuente family, joined the booth in the closing hours of day four, playing his trumpet as the trade show wound down. Save Cigar CityFor the cost of a signature, J.C. Newman would gladly hand you a button. It’s a reference to the tobacco strippers, who literally strip the veins out of the tobacco. The company is working hard to make sure that it’s Tampa factory is included in a potential exemption regarding FDA regulation. The proposed definition for “premium cigar” does not include the machine made cigars ...
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