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Scotland's indoor smoking ban passed earlier this year dictates that the celebrated Second World War British prime minister be portrayed using a plastic replica rather than smoking an original despite the producers believe that to effectively cuban cigars depict the well-known statesman the swirling smoke should be there. "He was a serial cigar smoker and it is known that he is always puffing," said Brian Gilbert, director of the play, in an article in The Sunday Times -- Scotland. "I do think that the ban is ridiculous. It's staggering that it won't be allowed on cheap cigars online stage." The play, called Allegiance, is about a little-known meeting between Churchill and Michael Collins, the Irish revolutionary. According to The Times article, the script includes many cigar references including one scene where Churchill uses a cigar as a peace offering to Collins. A spokeswoman for the Scottish executive, the country's governing body, said: "We have made it clear that if smoking requires to be represented in film, TV and theater performances, realistic alternatives can be used or developed, if the industry feels that they are not suitable." Producers of Allegiance are planning on asking the Scottish executive for an special exemption. Cigar makers burned by fakes Miami.- Cigar smokers beware: Those handmade Montecristos, Cohibas and Romeo y Julietas buy cuban cigars may not be the premium smokes they seem. Law enforcement and cigar industry officials say counterfeiters are marketing millions of dollars in fake upscale cigars, some pretending to be authentic Cubans that are illegal to sell in the United States. A recent crackdown has uncovered several major counterfeit operations, including one in Miami that resulted in the seizure of more than $20 million in fake cigars, labels and packaging.
'The person that's hurt the most is the consumer,' said Theo Folz, president and chief executive officer of Altadis USA, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is the world's largest maker and distributor of cigars. 'We have developed products and built up on image and built up an expectation among the consumers. Guys put their money down. They want the real thing.' With its proximity to Cuba and the Caribbean and large population of Cuban expatriates, South Florida has become a national hotbed for cigar counterfeiters. U.S. and state law enforcement discount cuban cigars officials, at the request of Altadis, have made more than a dozen arrests over the past six months with investigators now focusing on higher- level organizers. 'We're getting into the bigger targets and the ones who try to conceal it better,' said an undercover U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, who agreed to be identified only as Ramon to protect his identity. 'I think there's a lot more. We have only gotten the lower-level guys.' Still, what was seized late last year from several warehouses in Miami astounded both the police and industry officials. There were enough counterfeit cigar bands, boxes, cellophane online cigars store and other materials for between 30 and 50 million cigars - sufficient to make a significant dent in the legitimate premium market. 'We've all gotten an appreciation that the counterfeiting problem is much greater than we thought it was,' said Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America in Washington. According to U.S. government statistics, Americans smoked about 5.1 billion large cigars in 2005 and spent about $3.2 billion on all cigars. Of those, about 321 million were classified as premium - that is, they were handmade, usually of long tobacco filler instead of chopped tobacco, and retailed cohiba cigars montecristo for at least $1 apiece. Such cigars can run upward of $30 each. Altadis USA, a subsidiary of the Spanish tobacco giant Altadis, holds the trademark rights to many of the best- known Cuban cigar brands including Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta and H. Upmann. General Cigar, based in New York, holds the rights to Cohiba, Partagas, Macanudo and other premium brands. Because cigars from communist Cuba cannot be sold legally in the United States, Altadis makes its Cuban heritage cigars marketed in this country in the Dominican Republic. The Spanish parent, however, can market the real Cuban cigars around the world under the same brands.
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