What a year it’s been. But enough reminiscing on that. It’s time for 2016 and before you move all of your 2014-purchased cigars into the “vintage” humidor, it’s time to take a few minutes to see what’s on the horizon for next year. This is the sixth iteration of this column—which might be the only thing we’ve done without ever being “late”—and there’s one big change. Since we’ve added Patrick Lagreid’s Graded column, where he looks back at the previous year’s Ten Questions and analyzes how they ended up, it seems fitting to add a prediction portion to the topics themselves. So here it is, 10 cigar industry related questions and predictions. It’s been fun 2015—now head to the clearance table. 1. HOW WILL FDA BE REGULATING CIGARS BY THE END OF 2016? If this sounds familiar, it is. By now you are likely aware that efforts in Congress to exempt premium cigars from control by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) have failed; meaning the regulatory process is just waiting on responses from the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) before the rules are published go in effect. The list of unknowns regarding potential FDA control is virtually endless. It starts with ...
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