So in a nutshell and being very general, Any cigar blend that was produced at or before the 2007 date will be exempt. Anything after that will have to go through FDA testing and that involves a huge amount of money per blend (from what I understand its like 200K+) Smaller manufacturers will disappear and or will join up with larger corporations who will put the blends through the testing based on if they thing it will continue to basically make money. We looked at the cigars in the shop and about 70% of the stock would be gone. The have 2 years to move the stock but if/when this passes, the regulation starts that day. Crazy and sad but remember its a war not a battle so keep pressing your congressman and keep up with all the emails/requests from your tobacconist and associations. Every vote/email/message/call counts.
Interesting thing that I was thinking of was that since the embargo, none of the cuban blends have been legal here so even with the embargo possibly lifting, if this passes, every blend would have to all go through the FDA testing and if so, I don't see cuban cigars ever making it to retailers here unless something changes in the wording of the ruling. G1