Los Angeles – Although the Democratic Party’s elected representatives in Congress are trying hard to regulate and tax the tobacco industry out of existence, there will be plenty of the party faithful who will be enjoying Rocky Patel cigars at one of the bigger parties being put on during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States will be throwing an eagerly-awaited bash on Monday, August 25, with themed cocktails to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of Prohibition in 1933. The evening program includes a smoking lounge, for which Rocky Patel will be supplying 800 of his Decade brand, with a suggested retail price of $9.00 to $10.50 each, depending on size, right at the top of the price range for Patel’s cigars. It’s hard to know why the Wall Street Journal noted that the cigars for the event "will be lower-grade than in previous years."

Patel isn’t playing favorites, however. The Distilled Spirits Council will be back in action on Monday, September 1 (Labor Day) with a party in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republic National Convention. This time, attendees will be able to enjoy one or more of the 800 ITC 10th Anniversary cigars that will be offered. These have a retail price range of $6.25-7.00 each.

No word yet on whether either party has contacted Patel to make a victory cigar in November.

>> Miami Cigar & Co. has been the long-time distributor of brands from the La Aurora factory in the Dominican Republic, but they’re aggressively branching out. The highly-respected Felipe Gregorio lines will be distributed by Miami Cigar, giving Philip Wynne a rest from the sales end. "I was far more valuable to the company in the factory than out selling cigars," he said.

Wynne’s cigars are made in the Dominican Republic and his brands include the popular Felipe Gregorio "blue band" line, the potent Felipe Power, Felipe 1957 and the new Petrus Prestige Sublime line which garnered considerable interest at the IPCPR show. For the first time, Wynne’s brands will be directly represented by a dedicated sales force, which should increase the visibility of his brands nationally.

>> Figures compiled by the Cigar Association of America showed that June imports of premium cigars into the United States totaled 19.39 million units, way down from the 2007 figures of 30.47 million that included an unknown number of little cigars. Highlights:

=> Honduran imports, most of which are handmade, actually increased in June to 8.11 million cigars against 7.31 million last year. For the first six months of 2008. Honduran imports are ahead of last year’s pace at 37.58 million against 32.51 million in 2007, a gain of 15.6 percent.

=> Nicaraguan imports, which are all handmade, were not as strong as Honduras, but totaled 5.31 million units, a little less than the June 2007 total of 5.61 million. For the year to date, Nicaraguan cigar imports are 5.2 percent ahead of 2007 at 31.53 million compared to 29.97 million for January-June 2007.

=> Dominican imports of premium cigars were well down at just 5.85 million, well below the Honduran total and barely more than a third of the 16.81 million total from June of 2007, which certainly included some little cigars. For the year, Dominican imports are down almost 40 percent against the little cigar-inflated total of 2007, 46.02 million to 76.28 million.

Although the premium-cigar totals are down, it’s hardly panic time. Judging by the 2007 import pattern, the first six months of the year represented about 42 percent of the total imports for the year. Using that as a guide, the six-month total of 116.22 million would – at the end of the year – be about 276.7 million, which would still rank as the seventh-highest import total ever with only the Cigar Boom years of 1997-98 and the renaissance years of 2004-07 ahead of that total (albeit with some number of little cigars in the total).

Overall cigar imports, including machine-made and little cigars, show that the cigar trade is reasonably healthy, with total imports up a remarkable 20.9 percent. Large cigars, which include both hand and machine-mades, are up a sensational 23.1 percent from 399.51 million to 491.64 million so far this year. Little cigars have continued their climb, up 15.7 percent from 165.86 million to 192.19 million.

All together, some 683.82 million cigars of all types have been imported into the U.S. in the first six months of 2008. Despite the economic, legislative and taxation challenges facing the industry, that’s pretty good.

>> Short fillers: Find our latest tasting review, of new cigars that were the stars of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association convention & trade show, in our News & Views archives for August 22.

Want more? Join us for daily coverage of cigars, accessories, people and issues at www.CigarCyclopedia.com.

Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company of Los Angeles, California, USA. Copyright 2007; All rights reserved.