Chesapeake Smoke

Well, it finally happened. I pushed Dave Williams too far, and about two weeks ago, he asked me to turn in my store keys and my humidor key. He never actually “fired” me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get him to say the word. Probably afraid of a wrongful dismissal lawsuit. Given that he’s e-mailed the entire staff telling us that his ex-wife is suing him, I guess he’s getting a bit paranoid about incoming lawsuits. All in all, a good thing. I was tired of working there, tired of his lame BS, tired of paychecks bouncing. But I suppose my inner child didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me quit.

Oh, how I do go on. Time to “look on the bright side of life.” No sooner did I turn in my keys and clean out my humidor (damn, but I had a lot of good stuff stashed in there!) than I got a phone call from Bill Walton, a former colleague at Old Virginia Tobacco Company. It seems that Davidus Cigars, a chain with six shops primarily in the western part of Maryland, is expanding to Annapolis, and they’re looking for staff. The icing on the cake is that they’ve hired Frank Elam, formerly the regional sales rep for General Cigar, as the firm’s General Manager. Frank and I go way back. Bill gave me Frank’s cell phone number, I called, and before you know it, I’m scheduling an interview to work at Davidus’ new Annapolis store.

So last week I drove to Monrovia, MD, where the Davidus corporate headquarters is located, for an interview. A formal interview, by God!! It started with Frank and one of the owners, Steve Castro. About halfway through the interview, brother Dave Castro, the other owner, comes in. I can’t believe I sat in a formal interview, dressed in “business casual,” to do a part-time job in a smoke shop! I was there over an hour. On the way out, Steve Castro was kind enough to give me, along with his business card, a six-pack of quality smokes. Not a dog-rocket to be found. The only disappointment was that they had completely run out of their house brand, so I haven’t yet had a chance to sample that.

And I still don’t know if I’ve got a job there, as they do criminal and financial background checks on all prospective employees. Probably not a bad idea, as theft and shoplifting are major concerns in the retail tobacco business.

So, in the meantime, I am “between jobs.” After ten continuous years of retail tobacco work, it feels funny. I still stop at Titan when Jim or Mike is working. Nice shop, great concept, but horribly executed.

So, now that I’m past the trauma of getting my pink slip from Titan, and enduring some recurring lower back problems, maybe I can get around to posting some cigar reviews from my favorite CCT, Dale Green.

Well, fellow cigar lovers, big brother is at it again. Being a worldly, astute bunch, I’m sure you’ve heard all the news about the S-CHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program)Bill, a piece of proposed legislation ostensibly aimed at providing health care to poor children. President Bush vetoed the bill last year, but with President Obama and a Democratic majority in both House and Senate, it will probably pass this year, despite efforts by the Republican minority to derail it.

A new piece of health care legislation? More spending? Gotta pay for that somehow.

Taxes, that’s how.

As of January 13th, both the IPCPR (http://www.rtda.org/legislation.html) and Stogie Guys (http://www.stogieguys.com/2009/01/01132009-stogie-news-schip-cigar-tax-increase.html) are reporting the following:

Congress has introduced the reauthorization of the SCHIP bill–HR2. The cigar tax proposal is as follows:

52.4 percent on large cigars (most premium cigars follow under this federal classification) with a cap of no more than 40 (forty) cents per cigar. This is far lower than the original proposal from the Senate of $10 per cigar and $3 proposed by the House.

This has been a long, tough fight for all of us, and considering we are still being hit with a tax increase on cigars, our industry feels the proposed 40-cent maximum (cap) is sustainable and certainly better than the original proposals.

We expect HR2 (i.e., S-CHIP) to move smoothly through Congress and will not face defeating opposition. As more news develops we will continue to keep you informed.

Bad news, but not catastrophic. Considering that many of my favorite cigars retail for upwards of $8-10, a 40 cent tax is small, percentage-wise. Worse than the actual dollar cost of the tax, however, is that we are being pushed further into pariah-land. “Tax those damned smokers, they make the little kids sick with their second-hand smoke.” I heartily encourage everyone who reads this rant to stay plugged in to the IPCPR’s legislative action page and write your Congressmen in opposition to this discrimination.