Weekly News (July 16, 2012)

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Editor’s Note: A year ago Friday, July 20 to be more precise, Brooks and I sat down for dinner after the third day of IPCPR and we discussed the idea of halfwheel–or what was to become halfwheel. Like so many great ideas for the site, Brooks thought of it first and it took me a [...]

News: Prop. 29 Recount Requested

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According to a report Friday in the Sacramento Bee, a request has been submitted for a recount of the votes cast for Proposition 29 in parts of Los Angeles County. Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan confirmed to the paper on Thursday that the request was filed, with 191 precincts being selected for the recount. According to [...]

Weekly News (June 25, 2012)

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Editor’s Note: After a few weeks of craziness, we seem to be catching up. There are a few technical changes being introduced to the site, if you have any issues, please contact us. Brooks posted the first new Icons of Cigars™ portrait on halfwheel, one of Steve Saka of Drew Estate. In addition we are [...]

The Cigar Industry Reacts to Prop. 29′s Defeat

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The cigar industry made no secret of their feelings of relief in the wake of the expected defeat of Proposition 29 in California, a proposal that would have raised taxes of premium cigars and pipe tobacco by 73%. In one of the first press releases issued following the announcement that 100% of precincts had reported, [...]

News: Associated Press Calls Defeat for California’s Prop. 29

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The Associated Press has called the results of California’s Proposition 29 and is declaring that the measure will go down in defeat. In a story published at 3:27 PM EDT on Friday, the AP reports that “the measure failed by 50.3 percent to 49.7 with about 5 million votes cast, The Associated Press determined Friday. [...]

Weekly News (June 11, 2012)

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Editor’s Note: Seems like we are doing this every week. Here’s the lengthy state of halfwheel. We aren’t going anywhere. Unfortunately, after returning from Nicaragua, Brooks and I were both fairly ill for an extender period of time, as such — nothing really got done as far as reviews. Our reviews are not only delivered [...]

News: Cigar Smokers Win in California, Prop 29 is Defeated

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California voters narrowly rejected Proposition 29, which would have raised taxes on various tobacco products, including cigars. The measure would have raised California’s state OTP tax from just over 33% to just under 55%, a nearly 75% increase. Fortunately for California, the measure was rejected last night by a margin of over 60,000 votes, meaning [...]

Weekly News (May 14, 2012)

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Editor’s Note: Despite this tweet, it was somewhat of a slow week in terms of cigar news per say. Perhaps the largest news was the introduction of the Tobacco Tax Equity Act, which would inevitably increase taxes on various types of cigars. This comes only a few weeks after concerning language in a recent Senate appropriations [...]

Press Release: IPCPR Commits Resources to Defeat California Tax Increase Ballot Measure

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March 20, 2012 — To assist in the defeat of Proposition 29, IPCPR is committing significant financial resources to help California’s IPCPR members and our industry allies defeat Prop. 29. IPCPR sees Prop. 29 as more uncontrollable bureaucratic spending in a state fraught with wasteful spending and misdirected tax dollars. Prop. 29 puts the fate [...]