Although that sounds like the punch-line of the world’s strangest dirty joke, today’s headline is no laughing matter in Oakland, California. This report comes by way of Hal McCoy of Cox News Service and Scott Miller of CBS Sportsline

For the last five years, a humidor at Coors Field has kept baseballs in a 70-degree and 50 percent humidity environment, which didn’t help Oakland’s visit to Coors last week.

The Athletics were shut out twice in a row, prompting catcher Jason Kendall to say, “I feel there should be an investigation of the humidor.”

Does he think the Rockies are storing contraband Cuban cigars in it?

Well, humidors to store baseballs may soon come to a ballpark near you.

Major League Baseball is considering the use of humidors in more parks, according to Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB’s executive vice president of baseball operations and humidor guru. “This is the wave of the future. We will talk about putting humidors in other major-league parks at our operations meetings. The Rockies are ahead of the times.”

Rawlings stores its manufactured baseballs in Missouri at 70 degrees and 50 percent humidity, along with a few boxes of executive cigars.

Why a humidor?

To combat a problem that once plagued George Costanza, in an entirely different way.

The problem is shrinkage. And this is a “rest of the story” that you’re not likely to hear from Paul Harvey.

More after the jump.

[more…]

First, let me warn you that clicking on some of the links in this post will take you to view things that are definitely NSFW (not safe for work).

This part of the post is PG-rated, unless like many in our over-politically-correct time, you think that cigars and smoking are R or X-rated subjects by themselves. The European television advertisements shown on the next page, however, would never get on the air in the U.S.A. even if they weren’t advertising tobacco products.

More’s the pity.

They are quite funny and very well done. They are advertisements for Independence Cigars, and the link to their website is also safe. Independence cigars are short-fillers, and I’m not sure if they have a North American distributor. The company is owned by Arnold André, one of the leading German manufacturers of cigars and cigarillos that was founded in 1817, and they seem to have learned quite a bit about marketing in that time.

The NSFW ads are below the fold.

[more…]

Cigar Jack points out a Forbes article that explores how teenagers are turning to cigar smoking in record numbers, and decries the consequent health risks.

Putting aside the issue of how dangerous to your health proper cigar smoking is, since I’ve covered that recently in another article, we ought to turn to the issue of whether what today’s teens are smoking are really cigars. As Jack puts it:

“A new name needs to be thought up for those cigars canine fecal matter sticks sold at gas stations. I’ve smoked ACID and CAO Flavors and I’ve yet to come across grape flavored premium cigars. Did I just say premium flavored cigars. heh… This was another sign they were discussing that cheap gas station crap.”

You know, despite those harsh words, perhaps there is something to this flavored cigar thing that I’ve overlooked. In the interest of reaching out to a new generation of cigar aficionados, perhaps I ought to expand the review section here at Cigar Envy to include the cigars that this younger generation knows and loves. Why just focus on those crusty old standbys like Partagas, Romeo y Julieta, Punch, Davidoff, Arturo Fuente and the like? You have to move with the times, change or be left behind.

So don’t be surprised if you see a full-blown review here soon of a White Owl Wild Apple or a Philly Blunt Mango.

(…blogger…journalist…media whore…decisions, decisions.)

In the meantime, while I struggle with career issues, check out Cigar Jack’s comments.