From Rich Perelman at CigarCyclopedia:

There are many iconic cigar brands, but few cigar people who have risen to become synonymous with their brands and the traits they embody.

Zino Davidoff was such a man.

Born in Kiev, Ukraine in 1906, he would have been 100 on March 11 and the company which bears his name is rolling out a bash he would have been proud of:

• A birthday dinner will be held in Geneva, where Davidoff held court at his store at One Rue de Rive, following in the tradition of his father, Henri, who opened the first Davidoff store in 1911.

• On Monday, March 13, a special anniversary cigar will be delivered to Davidoff appointed merchants. This “Diadema Fina” is a full-bodied, 6 1/2-inch-long perfecto, to be offered in boxes of 10 at about $22 apiece (before local tobacco taxes). Of course, it’s made at the Davidoff facility in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

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Under the heading of “Take That, Anti-Smoking Extremists” comes this story from Chad Binette at the University of Central Florida of a breakthrough that could affect all of our lives. The much-maligned tobacco plant could end up being the miracle health aid of the 21st century.

Tobacco is our friend.

Despite my banter, the story is a serious and important one. Read on:

Enough anthrax vaccine to inoculate everyone in the United States could be grown inexpensively and safely with only one acre of tobacco plants, a University of Central Florida molecular biologist has found.

Henry Daniell, a professor in the Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences, conducted his research on the anthrax vaccine with help from scientists at the National Institutes of Health.

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From Rich Perelman at Cigar Cyclopedia:

Who can doubt that fact is stranger than fiction?

A tale that would be rejected as too fanciful in Hollywood actually took place, beginning in East Brunswick, New Jersey and Tampa, Florida in 1999.

Paul Magier, for just three years the owner of a tiny cigar company called Puros de Armando Ramos, closed a deal to buy 46,000 pounds of tobacco for $2.5 million, an incredible $54.35 per pound.

Expensive?  Yes.  Did he overpay because of lack of experience?  No.

This tobacco was special.

It was Cuban.

And it was legal.

Really.

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From Martin Fricker at The Mirror comes this piece on an upcoming auction of JFK memorabilia–including a couple of humidors still containing the cigars favored by President Kennedy:

This is history under the hammer… a bidding war for some of the most astonishing American memorabilia that has ever come on to the market.

Thousands of items that once belonged to John F Kennedy are up for grabs, many of them on internet auction site eBay.

But the glory pieces will be auctioned off in New York - including the watch he wore during his 1961 presidential inauguration and the flags that flew on his limousine when he was assassinated.

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Interested in learning how to roll a cigar?

Then head on down to the historic Ybor City district of Tampa, Florida.

You’ll have a chance to learn everything you need to know in a Cigar Aficionado certification course that is used to train people to hand roll cigars for the tourist trade there. According to the Chamber of Commerce, three cigar shops and six cigar factories have opened for business in Ybor City in the last six months. Business is booming.

“Our cigar school is not just to create cigar rollers, but to create cigar rollers that know the rich history of Ybor City,” said Jacqueline Conley of International Bazaar, where classes are held.

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Westin Hotels and Resorts is going smoke-free next month and will add $200.00 to the bill of anyone who violates the policy, said Senior Vice President Sue Brush. Smoking indoors and poolside will be banned at all 77 of the chain’s properties in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean beginning January 1. After that date, smokers will have to go to a designated outdoor area, she said.

Eight Westin hotels were previously designated smoke-free, and at least 5 percent of the rooms at the others had been set aside for nonsmokers, Brush said. But market research found that 92 percent of Westin’s guests were requesting nonsmoking rooms, and some of those who couldn’t get them were “quite upset,” she said.

Brush said that customers will be advised about the anti-smoking policy at check-in. If a guest violates the rule — “when we can observe it by smelling it or whatever” — a $200.00 fee will be added to the bill.

Hang on folks, we’re just getting warmed up.

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