Herrera on Cigar LawTM Returns
First published in 2009, the blog went quiet in 2018. The law did not. Here is why it is back, what it will cover and the new tools built to keep readers current between articles.
Herrera on Cigar LawTM was first published in 2009. It later moved to WordPress, where the last posts date from 2018. They covered FDA's grandfather determinations, a state tax case and the trade shows of the day. Then practice took over, and the blog went quiet.
The law did not. Since 2018, a federal court has carved premium cigars out of FDA's deeming rule and settled the definition that decides which cigars qualify. A Supreme Court decision ended one tariff program, and two others took its place within six months. Cuba policy has tightened twice. Europe has brought cigars into its traceability system and is now debating a much higher minimum excise. Each of those changes reached the businesses I represent in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Europe and the United States.
What this blog is for
There is no shortage of cigar news. What is in short supply is careful reading of the law behind it: what a rule actually says, who it reaches, what it leaves out and what a company should do about it. That is the job here.
Every article will follow the same principles:
- Primary sources first. Court opinions, Federal Register notices, agency letters and statutes are linked at the end of every piece, so readers can check the work.
- Plain language. The audience is the person deciding what to ship, what to file and what to fix, not other lawyers.
- A date on everything. The law described in each article is stated as of a specific date, and that date is shown.
- A view. Analysis is only useful if it reaches a conclusion. Where the law is unsettled, I will say so and say what I would watch.
Built to stay current
A blog is a poor tool for following issues that change month to month, so this one comes with two others.
The Cigar LawTM Tracker lists the major rules, cases and trade measures that govern premium cigars, with a plain status for each and a link to the analysis behind it. When something moves, the tracker changes first.
Key Dates collects the deadlines and effective dates ahead, from refund windows to tariff increases to EU implementation dates. It is also published as a calendar feed, so the dates can sit in your own calendar and update as the list does.
New analysis and tracker changes go out by email briefing, and the site has full RSS and JSON feeds for readers who prefer them. For video, there is Cigar Court.
Where to start
The launch articles cover the areas that shape the business today:
- FDA: the premium cigar exemption after the remand
- Trade: the three tariff regimes of 2026
- Cuba: what changed on September 30, Helms-Burton after the Supreme Court, Havana Club and COHIBA and the sanctions behind Habanos's ownership
- Europe: the coming cigar tax decision
- States: the 2026 tax map, lounges, birth-year bans and local flavor rules and the flavor map
- Trademarks: lessons from Fuente v. Vaporous
There Is Only One Cigar LawTM. It is good to be writing about it again.
About the author
Frank Herrera
Frank Herrera has counseled the premium cigar industry since 2001. A Florida attorney and Managing Partner of H New Media Law International, he has spent twenty-five years in state and federal litigation, regulatory and transactional practice. His clients make cigars in the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras and Europe. He has published Herrera on Cigar LawTM since 2009 and hosts Cigar Court.
The law described here is current as of October 5, 2026. This is general information about the law, not legal advice for any particular situation.