Great article. Thanks. This part is frightening for cigar makers right now:
"3. The FDA Could Ruin Everything
If the embargo is lifted and the trademark disputes are worked out, then we can buy Cuban cigars, right? Wrong.
When Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in 2009, regulatory power over tobacco was granted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Initially the FDA focused on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, but earlier this year the agency announced plans to extend its authority to other tobacco products, including cigars.
The FDA has outlined two approaches to doing this. The agency’s so-called “Option 2″ would create an exemption for premium cigars, allowing them to be sold under less scrutiny than cigarettes. The proposed standards for this exemption are problematic in a couple ways, such as setting an effective price floor for cigars and banning all characterizing flavors (see my article in theDaily Beast for details). Despite these flaws, Option 2 would leave the door open for eventual Cuban imports.
The FDA’s “Option 1”, however, would be very bad news for new cigars of all kinds, including Cubans. Option 1 treats cigars just like cigarettes. Under the Tobacco Control Act, any tobacco products that were not commercially marketed in the United States as of February 15, 2007, must receive explicit approval by the FDA before being introduced. Winning approval is virtually impossible. As of my last coverage on the topic for Reason, only two new cigarettes had ever made it through the process, while thousands of product applications continue to languish in bureaucratic limbo.
There were a lot of cigars legally on the market in 2007, but obviously none of them were Cuban. We don’t know yet know which option the FDA will choose, but Option 1 would have a disastrous impact on innovation in the cigar market. All Cuban imports and any new Cuban blends would have to get past FDA regulators, whose record on cigarettes suggests that this would be a very high hurdle. It's plausible that President Obama will be remembered both for helping end the Cuban embargo and for signing the poorly crafted Tobacco Control Act that creates a de facto embargo on Cuban cigars all over again.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for something like Option 2. It is possible that the FDA could move the date for grandfathering in new products forward from 2007; several congressmen, including Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio), recently urged the FDA to do so in light of the law's impact on cigars and e-cigarettes."
F-ing FDA!!! Wish they would spend more money, time, and energy trying to keep Monsanto from poisoning our food supply and genetically altering our grains and veggies. If the FDA takes Option 1, where does that leave all the new brands after 2007? It would wipe out the whole industry. A potential crazy political move by Cubatabaco would be to make sure all the brands post-2007 don't get FDA approval, while all Habanos S.A. brands get fast-tracked through the approval process before the Embargo is lifted!!!
I also read last night that Altadis has a 50-percent stake in Cubatabaco as its worldwide distributor. They produce only two duplicate brands, Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo. So if the Embargo has been lifted, those will be the only brands we will see immediately available in the U.S. General Cigar Co., a subsidiary of Swedish Match, will have to settle their long-contested copyright dispute with Cubatabaco/Habanos S.A./Altadis/Imperial Tobacco before the remaining brands become available in the U.S. market. That dispute will be the stuff of legend. General Cigar Co. will be literally fighting for its life and billions of dollars.
