The smoking ban that went into effect recently In Montreal, Quebec, has claimed a very high profile victim. The Davidoff boutique has closed its doors after serving the city for the last twenty-five years.

The closing comes as a result not only of the anti-smoking legislation but also an ambitious expansion plan that came at exactly the wrong time and ran head-on into the anti-smoking legislation.

Jasmin Legatos of the Montreal Gazette provides more details:

Inside the doors of the Davidoff boutique on Sherbrooke St., the spicy and full aroma of pipe tobacco is immediately noticeable.

There are few other places in Montreal where cigar enthusiasts can walk into a bedroom-sized humidor for their pick of high quality Cuban or Dominican specialties boutique, manager Vince Bourgoin said.

But a quarter-century after David Cigars Corporation of Canada, an importer of tobacco products, began operating the store, it has decided to close.

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From Peter Vincent at the Sydney Morning Herald:

In an era where cigarette smoking is in decline for its health effects and faces increasing social censure, there has been quiet growth in the popularity of the cigar.

The theory goes that cigars are about more than just smoking. Sure, aficionados will praise the complex taste of the world’s best cigars, which are made around the Caribbean. But it’s also about how and where you smoke them.

“For me, a cigar is not an everyday thing, it’s something I spoil myself with,” says Spiro Ellul, a Melbourne collector and cigar smoker.

“I spend up to two hours smoking one, with a nice glass of red or a port and I’ll drift off and reflect on my daily life and organise my thoughts.”

Ellul spent about $15,000 last year collecting cigars. He has about 50 boxes in storage. True aficionados leave cigars to age for at least a year in a controlled humidity of between 65 and 75 per cent.

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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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