Be here March 17 to help celebrate the day the world turns green. Shrimp peel, great music and good company make up the schedule.

No cover!

The music starts at 6:30 P.M. w/ Terry Lakes

Bring your friends and wear something green!

* WEDNESDAY 17 – ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARTY 6:30 P.M.

* THURSDAY 18 – TELSON CIGAR EVENT 5-’TIL-9 P.M.

* FRIDAY 19 – SUMTER BRUTON & MIKE PRICE 8 P.M.

* SATURDAY 20 – THE ROCK BLUES BAND 8 P.M.

DINNER STARTS AT 6:30 EACH NIGHT. BRING YOUR APPETITE!

Thursday March 25 from 6 ’til 9 P.M.
The record snow knocked out our last smoker. Sorry about that. But, not to worry. Pop’s and Villiger have rescheduled for Thursday March 25 and it will be bigger and better. We are adding prizes to the drawing and allowing 20% box and box order discounts for this special night only. Bring your friends and let’s kick back and enjoy a super, Buy 2 Get 1 free evening. The 1888 is made in The Dominican Republic of superb international-aged tobaccos. This is Villiger’s first hand-crafted cigar and it is everything you would expect from a 120-year-old cigar Goliath.

“Casablanca Night” will be the first of a series of salute parties featuring the greatest films of all time. Gentleman are requested to either wear coat & tie, tux, military uniform or film costume. There will be prizes for the best dressed and best costume. Especially for the ladies, there will be a “Best Bergman” dressed or lookalike. For the gentleman, a special prize for best “Bogie”.

Keep checking back for more details!

Join Pop’s for our first ever CIGAR LOVERS CRUISE! Set sail with us from the port of New Orleans aboard the fabulous Carnival Triumph for a 7-Day Caribbean adventure, Sept. 11-18, 2010! For more information, CLICK HERE!

Pop's Caribbean Cigar Cruise: Sept. 11-18, 2010

To all of Pop’s customers,

This has been a very tough year for many of you. We at Pop’s Safari Cigars & Fine Wines can truly say we feel your pain; we, too, have suffered from this rotten economy and the addition of burdensome taxes. But our blessings are so overwhelming they far exceed any problem. We have you, our loyal friends and customers, who supported our efforts to create a unique niche for freedom-loving Texans. This year, the cigar industry stood tall in the face of the adverse taxes by introducing more fine products. Cigars are better than ever. Many of the manufacturers chose to absorb the federal tax. Others increased quantity to help offset the tax increase. Most promising is the many new players who chose to enter the arena with unique and daring products. Pop’s supports their efforts for two reasons. New products are a healthy reflection of the future. Two, it is our responsibility to constantly seek out and imcrease your choices.

We can never thank you enough for your patronage. Won’t you please join in one of our events to celebrate the Christmas Season at Pop’s Safari Room?

Sincerely,
Perry & Pat Tong
Pop’s entire staff

We at Pop’s Safari Cigars & Fine Wines feel this article should be shared. It explains one more twist of the facts that are so prevalent in the relentless attack on the Cigar & Pipe Community.

IPCPR Labels Latest Study “Junk Science”

March 12, 2010
Conclusions made by a new study of cigar and pipe smoking by researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center are not supported by the study’s findings, says the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, a non-profit group of premium cigar retailers and manufacturers.

The study, published in the Feb. 15 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, was funded primarily by grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institutes of Health. The study concludes that “physicians should… counsel cessation of pipe and cigar smoking….”
“Nothing in the study justifies this erroneous conclusion. It is prejudicial and preconceived, thereby justifying the labeling of such surveys as corrupt misuse of junk science,” said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR, which is comprised largely of some 2,000 neighborhood mom-and-pop retail stores and family-owned manufacturers of premium cigars, pipes, tobacco and related accoutrement. McCalla cited several features of the study that he said support his group’s position:

Of 3,528 participants in the study, only 58 had ever smoked cigars or pipes and not cigarettes, and only 428 had smoked pipes or cigars along with cigarettes.
Only 47 of the subjects were current cigar smokers, of which only 16 were current cigar smokers who had never smoked cigarettes. Of the cigar smokers, 95 percent were male, but only 34 percent of non-smokers were men.
There was no effort in the study to determine the type of cigar smoked – machine-made or premium, hand-made cigars. The study showed no clinical effect on lung function in cigar smokers.
There were no differences in airflow obstruction between cigar smokers and non-smokers.
Cotinine levels (a form of nicotine) were similar in cigar smokers and non-smokers.
“The study found no clinical differences between cigar smokers and non-smokers and to draw conclusions to the contrary is to participate in a conspiracy of public disinformation and deception,” McCalla said.

This nationally-distributed press release is based on extensive work from your association’s Washington, D.C.-based consultant firm that specializes in FDA and health issues. Following the story’s original release, we felt it necessary to formally refute its unfounded claims and foundations rooted in continued “Junk Science.”

We are taking this opportunity to share with all of you one of the many press releases sent to date. This demonstrates yet another attempt by the anti-tobacco establishment and Tobacco Control at governmental levels to further promulgate hysterical myths, bad science and propaganda in their missions to mislead and misinform.

You may find this article an invaluable resource when writing a letter to the editor of your local paper or state representatives. You may also find it a good source for future testimony, or other uses.

As always, if you should have any questions about this article or other legislative issues, please do not hesitate to contact me.

The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association is a not-for-profit trade association organized as the advocate for the independent retail tobacconist and recognized as the “Voice of Authority and Reason” on premium tobacco related issues.

International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR)
Chris McCalla
Legislative Director

For those of us who like to light up a great stogie or a pipe bowl full of a favorite blend, times have changed. The new federal taxes are in place and most of us are getting used to being ripped off by our very unrepresentative elected officials. We have a lull in the unrelenting attack for a few months. However, the Texas legislators did sneak through a $1.10 per ounce tax on pipe and smokeless tobacco in HB-2154.
This was a very shabby bit of political maneuvering attached to a bill to help medical students. Prepare for the next session and be sure to write your legislators before it starts. The only power we have to combat more oppressive tax is our votes. Make sure they know we want this taxation without representation stopped.
The Texas Legislature only meets every two years and the next session is 15 or so months away. It is said that “they only meet every two years, therefore they can only do damage half as frequently”.

Representatives to watch out for are Myra Crownover of Lake Dallas/Denton County and Rodney Ellis of Houston, authors of Texas Smoking Ban Legislation. They are anti-smoking, but last session agreed to some concessions. Please let them know you want to see bars, smoke shops, cigar bars and adult venues exempted from any anti-smoking legislation.

Pop’s is a supporter of hunting, fishing and conservation. Many of you are one or both. Please go to the Internet and examine HR-45 in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is very dangerous. I have expressed my concern to Congresswoman Kay Granger. She wrote me a letter in which she expressed her support for the Second Amendment to the U.S.Constitution and said she would keep an eye on developments. If passed, this could be catastrophic to the Constitution, especially the Second Amendment.