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8 SMOKESHOP August 2016 E. Edward Hoyt III Editor & Associate Publisher Lily Coleman Art Director Melinda Ayala Production Coordinator Thomas Briant Contributors Ira Lapides, Glynne Loope, Mark Pursell, Frank Seltzer, Craig Williamson LOCKWOOD TRADE JOURNAL CO., INC. Robert Lockwood President & Publisher Frederick Lockwood Vice President Rob Lockwood Executive Director Roxanne Cordova-Melendez Accountant SMOKESHOP MAGAZINE Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc. 3743 Crescent Street, 2nd Floor Long Island City, NY 11101 Tel: (212) 391-2060 Fax: (212) 827-0945 Website: www.smokeshopmag.com Editorial submissions: Send new product announcements, corporate news, calendar events, letters to the editor, or story ideas to The Editor, editor@smokeshopmag.com SMOKESHOP (ISSN 0146-9266 print edition; ISSN 2331-8562 online digital edition), established in 1970, is published bimonthly (February, April, June, August, October, and December) by Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc., 3743 Crescent St., 2nd Floor, Long Island City, NY 11101 U.S.A. Postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offic- es. Annual sub scrip tion rates: United States, $24; Canada, $34; all other countries $49 by surface or $69 by airmail, payable in advance. 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LETTER Editor's Facing Bleak Future Under New FDA Regulations, Cigar Industry Picks Up Pace of New Launches It been openly noted that the largest company with the greatest financial resources are the ones most capable of complying with the FDA's newly enacting deeming regulation, which—if left unchallenged—put into place high barriers for entry into merchandise categories that have grown used to constant innova- tion. Others are left with deal with a "predicate" or grandfather date nearly nine years in the past as a line in the sand for meeting daunting review standards that will determine whether hundreds, perhaps thousands of products across the tobacco and vaping industries that are currently in commerce will be permitted to remain on the market. The deadlines for compliance with the 499 pages of newly-minted FDA deem- ing regulations are staggered over the course of the next few years, but as each goes into effect, the true enormity of this disastrous regulatory monstrosity will become very evident to those who perhaps haven't fully embraced the reality. Despite this landscape, for now premium cigar makers continue to roll out a veritable festival of new cigars leading into the annual International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) annual trade show and convention opening on July 24 in Las Vegas. Whether it's a "last hurrah" for many of the smaller companies facing a very unfair playing field in the future, a big push to blast out new products temporarily in advance of the August 8 effective date for the first wave of deeming regulation compliance remains to be seen, but the anguish is already palpable. Consider the mixed emotions of Gaby Kafie of Kafie Trading Company, in announcing his newest premium cigar blend from Honduras: It is with great melancholy that I send you this email, as it is the last time we submit information on a new blend. With the FDA deeming regulations at play the future is gray. As a company we have taken all preventive measures to ensure the longevity of our brand in the coming years. Our alliance with a factory with multiple grand- fathered brands allows us to file Substantial Equivalence applications. This puts me at ease, but none-the-less we are doing everything in our power to fight new FDA regulations. Our family and our company have partnered up with Cigar Rights of America to introduce a coffee line from Honduras. We pray and hope that premium cigars will be exempt of FDA regulation. We all know that hope alone won't slow down the massive onslaught of government regulation that threatens age-old traditions and basic freedoms that allow adults to make decisions about their lifestyles. The stated goals of the FDA in building its massive regulatory monstros- ity with the deeming regulation is to protect health, but if our government approached every last risk with the same zeal, we would have very little self-de- termination left. Life isn't perfect; in fact, it's down right daunting at times, and one man's abhorrent behavior is another's solace. Can our respective industries fight back, or will regulation consolidate them into a new reality, where only the big players survive, and the cost of doing business and complying with government demands is simply absorbed among those who are left, and those who can afford to buy the expensive merchandise that is left? E . Edward Hoyt III