Tiger Woods Offered $100,000 From Cigar Company

Hello All My BOTL's, here is a some news on Tiger Woods Watch! Not everybody is jumping ship on Tiger Woods! Here is the story in part and my comments are in "Italics" read on and enjoy and I welcome your comments!!!

BlkCigarCzar

An Orlando-based cigar company has offered the world's top-ranked golfer an endorsement deal well below what he's used to: just $100,000. Some brands are running from Tiger Woods as a celebrity endorser but Orlando-based Corona Cigar Co. is running toward him.

As a celebrity "smokesperson" the brand is clearly looking for publicity. Owner Jeff Borysiewicz has said that the company doesn't condone anyone's alleged extramarital affairs but welcomes Woods as a potential endorser.

Woods has visited Corona in the company of Charles Parker before. Some of Woods' core endorsers including Accenture, Gillette and Gatorade have said they will review their association with the golfer and he won't be playing golf for a little while so perhaps he should take the deal for some running around money.

Corona Cigar Co.'s management said they basically are not worried about what Tiger's personal problems were and this gave the little guy a chance to have a big name endorser! Well it's great to see that not everyone has given up on Tiger. Many people were supportive of him when it looked like he could walk on water but now that he has done something that is more human like everybody starts buggin' out!

Tiger Woods fans are always going to be there until somebody an come out and beat him with ease like he has done to so many others! Now all I need is a picture of Tiger and President Obama smoking a cigar and my blog would be set! lol

Come on Mr. President and Tiger, I have a cigar on the house for you too! Padron 1926 45 year should be a great place to start!!! lol

Corona has never made a sponsorship offer before, so will this start a precedence for other cigar companies to go get high profile celebrities to promote their cigars? Cigar Aficionado magazine always has a celebrity of some type on their cover and Tiger has already been there too! (See Issue May/June 2008 - Tiger Woods)

Borysiewicz acknowledged Saturday that it would be "a real fairy tale" if Woods accepted his offer to be the face for the retailer's three cigar superstores and bars, but said he hoped Woods' business team would give it some serious consideration. He faxed a letter to the golfer's agent, Mark Steinberg, but has not heard back.

"There's a lot of synergy between smoking cigars and golfing," said Borysiewicz, who added that many of his customers enjoy both pastimes.

Woods himself has visited Corona Cigar, at least once in the company of his friend Charles Barkley, the former professional basketball player.

(Does Tiger Woods smoke cigars when he is with his friend Charles Barkley whom is a regular at my cigar shop here in Phoenix, AZ.?)

The champion golfer, who lives in Isleworth, also appeared on the June 2008 cover of the magazine Cigar Aficionado.

Woods get $100 million annually from endorsement contracts (Really Big Pimpin'!) and looks like he could become the world's first billionaire athlete.

Orlando Sentinel Full Story
By Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel

Cuban Company Wins Ruling on Cohiba Cigars

(CN) - A Cuban government-owned tobacco company won its 12-year legal battle to stop a U.S. cigar producer from using the Cohiba name and trademark in the United States. A federal judge in Manhattan once again backed up Cubatabaco, which accused General Cigar of "exploiting the reputation and goodwill of the Cuban Cohiba."

VS

By JONATHAN PERLOW

http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/12/16/Cuban_Company_Wins_Ruling_on_Cohiba_Cigars.htm

Cohibas are among the world's most famous and sought-after cigars, and were originally produced exclusively for Fidel Castro. U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet barred General Cigar from using the Cohiba name in the United States, but allowed it to keep using the name on its Dominican-made cigars, pending appeal. Judge Sweet said his most recent opinion was "nearly identical" to his previous finding that General Cigar Holdings had tried "to plagiarize the mark" and engaged in "intentional copying."

His decision was reversed by the 2nd Circuit, which dismissed the federal claims, saying the embargo between the two countries barred the Cuban company from acquiring property in the United States, including trademarks. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. But when New York's highest court clarified its position on what constituted unfair competition, Cubatabaco's state law case was back on. The New York Court of Appeals found that "bad faith" wasn't necessary to prove unfair competition by appropriation, only that "deliberate copying" had taken place.

Cubatabaco argued that on the cusp of the 1992 cigar boom, General Cigar selected the "Cohiba" name for a new line of premium cigars "in order to exploit the reputation and goodwill of the Cuban Cohiba," according to the ruling. Judge Sweet agreed, and said the U.S. company's choice was "in part to capitalize on the success of the Cuban Cohiba brand and especially the good ratings and notoriety that it had received in Cigar Aficionado," a magazine for cigar enthusiasts. The debut issue of the magazine proclaimed Cohibas to be Cuba's finest cigars, in an article called "The Legend of Cohiba."

Cubatabaco further claimed that the Cohiba name was protected under the Lanham Act by the "well-known marks" doctrine, even though the company held no U.S. trademarks. Judge Sweet agreed that this was the case, but said Cubatabaco's challenge of the Cuban Asset Control Regulations was obsolete after the state court's ruling. "The New York Court of Appeals held that plaintiff could be entitled to relief against use of its foreign mark if it could establish deliberate copying and secondary meaning, even though the plaintiff had no U.S. trademark rights," Sweet wrote. "For certain kinds of cases ... goodwill can, and does, cross state and national boundary lines."

Cigars and sex 'boost Cuba lives'

Cuba's high number of centenarians say their longevity is down to laying off alcohol, but indulging in coffee, cigars and sex.

The findings are the result of a study that looked into the lives of 54 out of the more than 100 centenarians who live in Villa Clara province.
More than 60% of them had parents who also lived to be over 100.
Cuba, with a population of 11.2 million, has about 3,000 people who have lived for more than a century.

The results of the study were reported to the National Geriatrics and Social Work workshop in Santa Clara town, the newspaper Juventud Rebelde said.
In the study, the lives of the centenarians were found to be disciplined, but not austere.
None was alcoholic, and they said they loved coffee and cigars, which they consumed in large quantity.

They had a healthy interest in a number of areas, including sex, said Dr Nancy Nepomuceno, who carried out the study.
Most of the centenarians were mentally alert, had a good lifestyle and did manual labour in rural areas.

Almost all ate a diet which included fish, eggs, milk, white meat and vegetables, cooked with little salt and natural seasonings.
The life expectancy in Cuba is 76, but in Villa Clara province, where the study was carried out, it is 78.

You gotta love Cuba!!!

BlkCigarCzar