четверг, 28 июня 2007 г.

CIGARS ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE

Plus: a cigar box computer!

Los Angeles, May 16 - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was a well-known cigar smoker during his time in the White House. Although nowhere near U.S. Grant as the bigger cigar lover in White House history, Clinton enjoyed cigars in various ways during his eight years in office.

That includes at least having - if not smoking - cigars on Air Force One. We found that out from Sam Difiglio, Vice President of Chicago-based Don Salvatore Humidors during the recent Tobacco Plus Expo in Las Vegas.

"Unbeknownst to us, our #1517-2 12-count humidor in Burl was featured in the National Geographic documentary 'Air Force One'" wrote Difiglio. "I discovered [this on] the DVD at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library as it was being played on a monitor.

"I happened to catch the officer in the film who was responsible for Air Force One when Bill Clinton was President. The documentary was filmed during Clinton's final, good-bye ride on Air Force One. They were showing his office on board and the many nuances and special features aboard the aircraft. They opened his maple desk drawer and pulled out the humidor. It was filled with cigars and adorned with the presidential seal. I later found out that the Secret Service picked it out, probably at Georgetown Tobacco, or [at W. Curtis] Drapers in D.C."

You can't buy that kind of publicity! The Don Salvatore Model 1517 (pictured above) is a nice box and easy to travel with, measuring nine inches across by 5 5/8 inches deep. It comes fully equipped with a humidifier and hygrometer, is lined in Spanish Cedar and is offered in four finishes: burl, light mahogany, dark cherry, red and black. And it can be customized with logos or special lettering, just like - well, almost like - the Secret Service did for Air Force One.

Difiglio noted that the size of humidor selected by the Secret Service is among the most popular. "I would have to say that the largest quantity of boxes sold by size is the 12-to-25 capacity," he noted. "The 50-60 capacity is no. 2."

Need a computer?

Shawn Norton was enjoying a cigar at his favorite shop, Lake County Cigars in Delafield, Wisconsin, when owner Don Kane asked if he Norton could design a personal computer with a cigar-shop theme. IllusionPC was born.

Norton now specializes in creating computers inside unusual shells, such as a cigar box provided by Kane. The performance uses top-notch components and IllusionPC offers six standard styles: a cigar box (known as "Smoke Screen"), a football helmet ("Ready to Rumble"), a vintage table radio ("Tuning in Tokyo"), a motorcycle gas tank ("Summer Love Affair") and a photo frame, which cleverly doubles as a monitor ("Reflections").

Prices run from $1,099 for Reflections to $1,299 for Ready to Rumble, but do not include monitors, and all can be customized for your specific needs. Custom projects are also possible; imaging converting one of Altadis's Montecristo-branded pyramid humidors into a computer!

Ten people were charged with smuggling tobacco into a Federal Correctional Institute in Sheridan, Oregon in an indictment handed down late last month.

U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut noted that tobacco was declared contraband in Federal prisons in April 2006, but ten people are charged in a scheme to smuggle tobacco, including both prisoners as well as two prison employees. Apparently, a book in the prison library called "The Billionaire" was used as a drop point for contraband, including not just tobacco, but also narcotics.

Given the level of control in a Federal prison, even a medium-security facility such as Sheridan, it's another example of how Prohibition does not end the issue of use. How long before more people are injured or killed over the prohibition of a legal product?

Tobacco-funded research ban turned back by UC faculty:

In an interesting measure of the limits of academic freedom, the University of California's Assembly of the Academic Senate voted 43-4 to reject a ban on tobacco-funded research.

The vote came at a May 9 meeting, after the UC's Board of Regents postponed its decision and asked for the faculty's view.

According to The Guardian, the student newspaper of the University of California, San Diego, the issue "has been on the regents' plate since September 2006 after UCLA epidemiology professor James E. Enstrom's research, which was funded by Phillip Morris, was used in court by the tobacco company.

"Assemblyman and UC San Francisco professor of medicine Stanton Glantz has strongly opposed Enstrom's research, going as far as calling him 'a damned fool' and his study 'crap' on a KQED radio program in March 2005. Enstrom, despite being published in the British Medical Journal and exonerated of scientific misconduct charges, feels that his reputation and academic freedom have been infringed upon.

"'This is an area where you have advocacy groups and research - it can sometimes have a conflict,' said [UCSD Professor of Pathology Henry] Powell, who said he sympathizes with Enstrom. 'There's a tendency to attack the research of people you don't agree with.' "As the vote shows, many believe that a ban restricting research funding is not in the best interest of the university and can cause a slippery slope for other industries."

The issue, known as RE-89, may come up for a vote before the Regents as early as July of this year. For universities, the thirst for research money is insatiable, but even so, an 11-1 ratio approving funding of studies from a social pariah such as tobacco companies is a bright line in the sand showing that academic freedom still has supporters.

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