CRA Member Raffle to Honduras!

[EricDriscoll]

Just wanted to give you guys the heads up on the last cigar raffle trip of the year!


CRA Announces FINAL Cigar Trip Raffle Destination

- Rocky Patel’s Honduran Factory -

Fairfax, VA – For the past eight months, Cigar Rights of America (CRA) whose mission is to protect the freedom to enjoy cigars has been raffling exclusive fantasy cigar trips to different cigar factories around the world. This month will mark the FINAL cigar trip and CRA is proud to announce an exclusive trip to Rocky Patel’s Cigar Factory in Danli, Honduras.

Created to grow the ranks of its membership and to provide members with a deeper appreciation of the artistry and craftsmanship inherent to premium cigars, the trip to Rocky Patel’s Cigar Factory is part of an eight-month initiative that will unite CRA members with leading cigar producers of the world.

Past winners have enjoyed cigar trips to the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the Bahamas from La Flor Dominicana, General Cigar, La Aurora, Tabacalera Perdomo, Graycliff Cigar Company, Drew Estate, and Tatuaje Cigars. And now, one lucky CRA member will experience a trip-of-a-lifetime to Honduras.

CRA will select one member through a random drawing at the end of December 2009 and that winner will enjoy a 3 day / 2 night excursion to Danli, Honduras for two people. The winning member will enjoy luxury accommodations at Rocky Patel’s personal guest house and will be hosted by Rocky himself.

The winning CRA member will be responsible for their airfare, however once ‘on the ground’ all lodging, transportation, food, and tours will be provided by Rocky Patel Premium Cigars.

The Rocky Patel Premium Cigar trip sweepstakes will run until December 31 when the winner will be announced on the CRA web site (www.cigarrights.org). This trip, along with other trips in the CRA Cigar Trip sweepstakes series, is only available to CRA members. Cigar enthusiasts wishing to be included in the CRA Cigar Trip sweepstakes series are encouraged to visit www.cigarrights.org and become a CRA member. Membership rates start at $35 per year.


During the three-day itinerary, the winner will stand alongside cigar industry legends during a private, guided tour of Rocky Patel’s cigar making facilities in the famous tobacco region of Danli, Honduras, and will witness hundreds of highly-skilled hands expertly handling each tobacco leaf. In addition to learning about agronomy and tobacco cultivation in sun-drenched Honduras, the trip includes an opportunity for the winner to blend their own cigar – who knows, that cigar might just be the next Rocky Patel release!

About Cigar Rights of America

Cigar Rights of America (CRA) was founded on the principle of fighting for the freedom to enjoy premium cigars. A consumer-based, non-profit public advocacy organization that works with local, state and federal governments to protect the freedoms of cigar enthusiasts, CRA works with its constituency of members including manufacturers, retailers and cigar enthusiasts to focus on opposing restrictive smoking bans and increased taxation of cigars.

About Rocky Patel Premium Cigars

Rocky Patel Premium Cigars, Inc. manufactures and markets handcrafted cigars for the premium market. Committed to delivering cigars of the finest quality, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars produces some of the most recognized cigars in the world including, but not limited to, Patel Bros®, 1961®, Renaissance®, Decade®, Java®, Vintage® and several other leading premium brands. In addition, the company grows its own premium tobacco. Based in Bonita Springs, Florida, Rocky Patel Premium Cigars sells through tobacconists nationwide. For more information, please visit www.rockypatel.com.

_____________________

Brian Berman

Director of Membership

Cigar Rights of America

(818) 541-1535 office

(818) 541-6865 fax



Join Cigar Rights of America to fight for
your freedom to enjoy cigars!



www.CigarRights.org

 

[uptown_isy]

I can honestly say that taking a trip to Rocky's in Honduras will be a VERY memorable trip.....especially if Rocky's your host.


(let me know if you need directions to the many pharmacies in Danli)

 

[thechenman]

Isy...sounds like there is an interesting story behind this post that you haven't shared yet...

I can honestly say that taking a trip to Rocky's in Honduras will be a VERY memorable trip.....especially if Rocky's your host.


(let me know if you need directions to the many pharmacies in Danli)

 

[uptown_isy]

Isy...sounds like there is an interesting story behind this post that you haven't shared yet...

I can honestly say that taking a trip to Rocky's in Honduras will be a VERY memorable trip.....especially if Rocky's your host.


(let me know if you need directions to the many pharmacies in Danli)

There probably would have been more stories, David....but no one knew how to say "qualude" in Spanish.

 

[jayro75]

I'm sure Rohypnol translates perfectly Is!

 

[uptown_isy]

I'm sure Rohypnol translates perfectly Is!

They didn't have any.... :whistling:

 

[jayro75]

I'm sure Rohypnol translates perfectly Is!

They didn't have any.... :whistling:

leaving the young Honduran girls safe for another day... :laugh: :laugh:

 

[EricDriscoll]

Hey, it's a 3rd world country they need the money. Seriously if you haven't joined CRA it is well worth it and the manufacturers believe in it and are dong their part to fight the powers that be as well.

 

[uptown_isy]

Hey, it's a 3rd world country they need the money. Seriously if you haven't joined CRA it is well worth it and the manufacturers believe in it and are dong their part to fight the powers that be as well.

X2....and I am NOT affiliated with them in anyway.

 

[theroberthogan]

I don't mean to be a fly in the ointment, but I haven't joined CRA yet because I am skeptical of what they are actually doing, besides collecting membership fees. This post is an example of the smoke and mirrors I think CRA is fooling people with.

I did this tour before, and while the accomodations were very nice and the people who took care of us were fantastic, I would not bill the guest house as “luxury accomodations.” The claim that this trip is only available to CRA members is flat out BS, and I guarantee you that the “winner” will be taking this trip with a group of at least ten other people. Rocky welcomes groups to his guest house on a weekly throughout most of the year and gives them this tour. These trips are usually organized through a B&M, and the only thing the guests have to pay for is airfare, everything else is provided by Rocky.

CRA is not going out of their way to give you something here. Any B&M that carries Rocky's product can arrange this same trip. If CRA was really trying to give something away, they would at least pick up your airfare. Sorry if this sounds like I'm pissing in someone's Cherrioes, but I can't stand it when an organization that says they are looking out for a particular group consistently fails to live up to their promise through their actions.


LET ME BE VERY CLEAR: This post is my critical opinion of CRA, not EricDriscoll. From everything I have seen, Eric is an upstanding BOTL, doing what he can to fight the good fight.

 

[bimmer635csi]

There probably would have been more stories, David....but no one knew how to say "qualude" in Spanish.

Isy, she was looking for vicodin, not qualudes

 

[uptown_isy]

I don't mean to be a fly in the ointment, but I haven't joined CRA yet because I am skeptical of what they are actually doing, besides collecting membership fees. This post is an example of the smoke and mirrors I think CRA is fooling people with.

I did this tour before, and while the accomodations were very nice and the people who took care of us were fantastic, I would not bill the guest house as “luxury accomodations.” The claim that this trip is only available to CRA members is flat out BS, and I guarantee you that the “winner” will be taking this trip with a group of at least ten other people. Rocky welcomes groups to his guest house on a weekly throughout most of the year and gives them this tour. These trips are usually organized through a B&M, and the only thing the guests have to pay for is airfare, everything else is provided by Rocky.

CRA is not going out of their way to give you something here. Any B&M that carries Rocky's product can arrange this same trip. If CRA was really trying to give something away, they would at least pick up your airfare. Sorry if this sounds like I'm pissing in someone's Cherrioes, but I can't stand it when an organization that says they are looking out for a particular group consistently fails to live up to their promise through their actions.


LET ME BE VERY CLEAR: This post is my critical opinion of CRA, not EricDriscoll. From everything I have seen, Eric is an upstanding BOTL, doing what he can to fight the good fight.

Bob...The CRA pays 2 salaries..that's it. They use the money from the membership dues to pay for lobbyists in many states, just as the NRA does. One example is FL. Due to the heavy lobbying by the CRA, the proposed tax of $1 per stick was never passed. And your statement that "any B&M that carries Rocky's product can arrange the same trip" is dead wrong. There are MANY retailers that carry Rocky's cigars that haven't made the trip, and probably never will. While the trip may very well be arranged with another store, to think that anyone who sells Rocky's cigars are "entitled" to go is not true. In another week or 2, the CRA will be releasing a year end report that will detail where and how all the money was spent. I think you should wait to read the report before pissing on the CRA. Just an opinion from someone NOT affiliated with them.

 

[theroberthogan]

Bob...The CRA pays 2 salaries..that's it. They use the money from the membership dues to pay for lobbyists in many states, just as the NRA does. One example is FL. Due to the heavy lobbying by the CRA, the proposed tax of $1 per stick was never passed. And your statement that "any B&M that carries Rocky's product can arrange the same trip" is dead wrong. There are MANY retailers that carry Rocky's cigars that haven't made the trip, and probably never will. While the trip may very well be arranged with another store, to think that anyone who sells Rocky's cigars are "entitled" to go is not true. In another week or 2, the CRA will be releasing a year end report that will detail where and how all the money was spent. I think you should wait to read the report before pissing on the CRA. Just an opinion from someone NOT affiliated with them.

Isy, I totally respect you and didn't mean to offend. As a fraud accountant, I am skeptical of most things till I see the numbers. Thanks for keying in me into the report, I will be interested to see how much those two salaries are in comparission to how much is spent on the actual lobbying work. From what I have been able to see so far, all CRA seems to be is a way for two guys to hang out with cigar manufactors and reps while getting paid for it. I hope their report can prove me wrong, but we'll see.

As far as the trip, I am sorry if I miss spoke. I was under the assumption that any shop that carried Rocky's products could arrange the trip. It still doesn't change the fact that CRA isn't really giving anything away here. They are asking me to join their group with the hope that I might be selected to pay $500 to fly down to Honduras. Remove my skeptisicsm about CRA, and look at this from a purely economic viewpoint, and there is just not enough incentive there to get me to join. I would much rather take the cash I would spend on the membership fee and support my local B&M by purchasing from them. At least then I know what I am getting for my money, and best case scenario, I save myself a $500 plane ticket.

 

[uptown_isy]

Bob...The CRA pays 2 salaries..that's it. They use the money from the membership dues to pay for lobbyists in many states, just as the NRA does. One example is FL. Due to the heavy lobbying by the CRA, the proposed tax of $1 per stick was never passed. And your statement that "any B&M that carries Rocky's product can arrange the same trip" is dead wrong. There are MANY retailers that carry Rocky's cigars that haven't made the trip, and probably never will. While the trip may very well be arranged with another store, to think that anyone who sells Rocky's cigars are "entitled" to go is not true. In another week or 2, the CRA will be releasing a year end report that will detail where and how all the money was spent. I think you should wait to read the report before pissing on the CRA. Just an opinion from someone NOT affiliated with them.

Isy, I totally respect you and didn't mean to offend. As a fraud accountant, I am skeptical of most things till I see the numbers. Thanks for keying in me into the report, I will be interested to see how much those two salaries are in comparission to how much is spent on the actual lobbying work. From what I have been able to see so far, all CRA seems to be is a way for two guys to hang out with cigar manufactors and reps while getting paid for it. I hope their report can prove me wrong, but we'll see.

As far as the trip, I am sorry if I miss spoke. I was under the assumption that any shop that carried Rocky's products could arrange the trip. It still doesn't change the fact that CRA isn't really giving anything away here. They are asking me to join their group with the hope that I might be selected to pay $500 to fly down to Honduras. Remove my skeptisicsm about CRA, and look at this from a purely economic viewpoint, and there is just not enough incentive there to get me to join. I would much rather take the cash I would spend on the membership fee and support my local B&M by purchasing from them. At least then I know what I am getting for my money, and best case scenario, I save myself a $500 plane ticket.

Bob.....With all due respect, the CRA is giving away something that was DONATED to them by Rocky Patel. Rocky isn't obligated to give these trips away to anyone, including the retailers. Rocky Patel, as well as several other manufacturers, have donated these trips because they support the CRA and what they're doing. But let me ask you something....how much do you think it would cost to stay in a hotel, drink and eat until your body couldn't handle it anymore, AND the transportation to and from the factory (which is close) and to and from the fields, which is an hour and a half away? It's too bad you weren't happy with the accommodations. While you don't consider them luxury accommodations, in Honduras, it is considered luxury. Keep in mind that you were in one of the poorest countries in the world. Unfortunately, there isn't a Mandarin or a Four Seasons in Honduras. I'm sure you would have been much happier in one of those places. But then you would have had to spend your money on the unlimited beer, rum, and cigars that were available to you FOR FREE.

 

[EricDriscoll]

theroberthogan Icon, in response to your comments I would say that the CRA is working as a grass roots movement as modeled by the NRA in first working to garner member support in order to provide lobbyists with further tools to stop anti-tobacco legislation across the country. There is strength in numbers and if you are familiar with politics you know it is a numbers game as politicians will support initiatives in which a large number of their voting populace is for or against. Politicians want to keep their jobs and if they feel that they have a strong voting group lobbying for an issue they will either support it, compromise or just back off. That is the goal of CRA to support our Cigar smoking rights and they will be providing an end of the year report to show members and the people what has been done thus far which is a great thing for us to see. As a non-profit organization and meeting Brian and Glynn, their efforts, time and monies are working hard on these goals.

As for the trip raffles, manufacturers have offered up these trips to consumers to view their factories, provide them a place to stay, all their food and drink as well as MANY cigars for free. Yes you pay for airfare however if you went to any of these places once you got there you would have to pay for EVERYTHING. As a nonprofit organization CRA is offering these trips via the manufacturer and the CRA does not provide the monies for the stay, that is on the them to take care of the individual the entire time which is nice offer. CRA does not spend any monies on this as that would defeat the purpose of being nonprofit and take away from the cause. These trips have taken members/consumers on trips to the DR, Nicaragua, and the Bahamas with everything covered when they got there. Not a terrible trip to be on. Also the cigar companies offer 2 CRA blended cigars for members who join. Plus if you let me know you joined and send your address to me I will send you a stick out of my humidor myself. This applies to any new member that contacts me. I think these offers are more than fair all in the name of supporting our Cigar smoking rights to top it all off. I would suggest you check the CRA end of the year report and make your decision on what is best for you.

 

[uptown_isy]

VERY generous of you, bro....I knew there was a reason I liked you! :laugh:

 

[EricDriscoll]

My pleasure Is! It's no problem as I us the 0 dollars a year I get from CRA to buy the smokes.

 

[tomthirtysix]

Robert,

There was a thread a few months back that asked what, exactly, CRA was doing to help the cause. Two people from CRA signed up, the Director of Membership and the Executive Director.(Their posts begin here)Maybe their posts will help clear it up for you a little more. It's a shame neither of them saw any value in remaining on CP, since they both went inactive shortly after the discussion in that thread.

 

[theroberthogan]

Isy, my intention is not to piss you off. CRA called these luxury accommodations, which I feel is an example of the misleading statements I see them using. Yes, if you were a typical resident of Honduras, the accommodations would be luxurious, but CRA is recruiting American members, and a potential member who reads the press release would have a much different idea of luxury accommodations than what is offered at Rocky’s place. I absolutely agree that the Rocky trip was amazing and one hell of a bargain. The people were generous and treated us better than service you could get at a five start hotel. I count myself fortunate that I was able to go, and would do it again in a heartbeat.



Eric, I have worked with a variety of different non-profits and my initial opinion is that, at best CRA is a money grab and at worse a flat out fraud. Of course, they are suspiciously secretive about what they do, as evidenced by Brian’s responses in the link above, so it’s hard to know what it is they really do. I honestly hope that the report they release proves me wrong. I would love to have an organization fighting for the rights of cigar smokers, but what has CRA done to this end?

If CRA is serious about developing a strength in numbers movement, they should let people join for free, and then make donations to support the cause. But they can’t do that, because CRA is a not a non-profit organization and as such cannot legally collect donations. Seems to me that when the income from the $35 membership fee wasn’t enough, they created this $100 Ambassador program to squeeze more money out of their membership.

As illustrated in the post from tomthirtysix, the two guys who run (and from what I can see, are) CRA are not directly explaining what it is they do. Doing a news search on the CRA produced one hit, a comment made by Glynn Loope in a Roanoke Times story titled, “Smokers lament law they say is a drag.” I can’t find any proof that CRA is actually fighting a smoking ban anywhere in the country.

If CRA is legit, then their report should be able to tell us what their legal structure is, what the salary of Glynn and Brian are, who are the lobbyists and lawyers CRA is paying for in each state, and what has CRA actually accomplished and what do they plan to accomplish in the near future.

I know that I am not going to change the mind of those of you who believe in the CRA. If their report proves they are a legit organization, then I will be more than happy to join the cause. If CRA is an organization that is truly living up to their mission, then cigar smokers everywhere will benefit from the work they are doing, and I can fully support that. On the other hand, if CRA is a scam or fraud, it will set back any progress that is being made on overturning and preventing smoking bans and taxes.