Malone,
Sorry about the injury. Been traveling on biz (LA, Chicago). Nothing like a good Siglo VI to help manage the pain, I always say. Add to that a fine Sauterne and whoooopeeeee.
Just a note of interest: There appears to be some pricing pressure occuring among licensed House Habanos, S.A. dealers in Europe. (Not that HHSA is dropping their prices - they've tacked on another 4% since the first of the year). List box price, on most Cohiba, Partagas and Bolivar, to name 3, has actually gone down some 8-12% from last year. That's not to say they are "on sale" or even "cheap" by any stretch of the imagination.
I had dinner with a friend in LA who is a cigar collector. His theory: pricing is under pressure because of rapid growth in Hong Kong (tobacco tax free status) and a huge pickup in activity in the Canary Islands (as players in the Cuban product market) (both areas vis-a-vis the internet). Canary's have been a free market zone, i.e., not subject to many taxes and tarriffs placed on other goods; HHSA has tripled the number of licenses to that area (Read: Fidel is feeling very poor again!)
Get to feeling better, soon.
cian
