Cigar Aficionado

The text messages and phone calls came in a flurry, from a host of cigarmakers. “We won the case,” read one message. “We won!” came a call. It was August 19, and it turned out to be a landmark day for the handmade cigar industry. The reason for the jubilation was the decision by Judge Amit P. Mehta, of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, ruling in favor of cigarmakers in their long, expensive fight in the court case known as Cigar Association of America, et al. v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, et al. Judge Mehta said that the FDA, the agency that oversees all tobacco products sold in the U.S., violated the American Procedure Act in its …