Final Exam Insurance

UPDATE:  We are extending Final Exam Insurance until July 4, 2020.  We are very pleased with the success and feedback on this program and glad to see it is not being abused or overused by our apprentices.  Above all, we are focused on maintaining the integrity and credibility of our certification programs but we are also very conscious of the financial burden faced by our students.  Final Exam Insurance is helping us maintain our standards while alleviating some of the financial stress created by having to pay for final exams and certifications.  We hope this program helps give you a little peace of mind and relieves a bit of stress from the test taking process.  Best of luck!

Happy New Year 2020, and welcome to one of our most exciting offers ever!  Starting now, and until February 29th, 2020 we are offering Final Exam Insurance to any apprentice taking the final exam - more specifically, anyone who purchases their exam by 2/29/20.  This means if you don't score the requisite 90%, we will allow you (CRT, CCT, CST) to take the test one more time for free!  Please take advantage of this very special opportunity before it disappears...

While we prefer not to divulge our exam failure rate, we can tell you that it is a double digit percentage.  Those who don't pass the first time usually attempt the final exam again and others simply fade away.  We hope this opportunity relieves some of the emotional and financial stress that our students face.  Not everyone is a good test taker, so this should help many of you get over the hump.  Good luck!

CIGARS 101.0: Fundamentals First

Here are a few important things to know about cigars before you begin to learn about cigars...

LEGAL & TAXATION ISSUES
Cigars are heavily taxed and age restricted products.  In addition, indoor/outdoor smoking laws vary at the municipality and state level.  In the U.S., there are a couple of states with no taxes and other states where the retail price of cigars is double the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) because of taxation.  

In the U.S., there are states where you can smoke inside retail tobacconists, bars and restaurants and states where you can't.  There are even many municipalities where it is illegal to smoke outdoors.  The rules and regulations governing cigars vary everywhere and impact everyone, for better or worse.... mostly for the worse.          


SANITARY STANDARDS
Cigars must be cared for with strict sanitary standards.  Because consumers place cigars in their mouths, they must be treated like any other food product.  Cigars and their boxes should never be placed on the floor, or touched with dirty hands.  In addition, cigars should not be placed in the nose or mouth by customers or tobacconists.  If your retail tobacconist does not appear to keep things clean and sanitary, pick another retail tobacconist.  

Click here for cigar shop cleaning tips...

CARE & MAINTENANCE
Cigars must be kept at 70% relative humidity and at 70ᐤF.  The humidity will preserve the essential oils which contain and convey the flavor (taste+aroma) of the tobaccos, while the cool temperature will keep microscopic larvae (Tobacco Beetles) from hatching and destroying the cigars.  Proper temperature and humidity must be maintained at all times.  If you find yourself in a store that is hot and/or the cigars feel dry, find another retail tobacconist. 

DON'T INHALE
Cigars are not meant to be inhaled, they are meant to be savored...

Tasting Seminar Master Class

In the Fall of 2019 we released our R&D Cigars Tasting Seminar Master Class.  These seminar packs include an educational spec sheet, 2 large vitola (robustos) and 2 Puro Component 5 packs: which are individual small cigars made of premium leaf from the individual ingredients in the large cigar.  These are the only cigars in the world you need to pass an exam and be certified to sell!  These Tasting Seminar Master Class packs are designed as a D.I.Y. tasting seminar that consumers can do independently, or as an in-store event with their local Certified Retail Tobacconist.  It is an unprecedented opportunity to expand your mind and palate!

Sadly, R&D Cigars will be impossible to make in the future because of the draconian FDA regulations burdening our industry.  In 2014 we created this special R&D Brazilian Corojo Serie 1 and followed up with the R&D PA/CT Serie 2 in 2015.  While we had plans and research done for an Organic Nicaraguan (2016) and a Mexican Broadleaf (2017), our plans for these R&D Cigars were halted by onerous regulatory hurdles.  

Today, this Brazilian Corojo Serie 1 + Puro Component pack is all that remains of our historic project, and they are smoking perfectly since being rolled in 2014.  We encourage you to ask your local Certified Retail Tobacconist about these special cigars.  This is the last time you will be able to smoke like a cigar maker and learn how individual components come together to make a finished cigar.  This educational experience will enhance your enjoyment of premium cigars forever!

Visit the R&D Lab on the TU website to learn about the cigar makers, factories, farms, growing regions, and leaf varietals used in these extraordinary blends.

Certification FAQ

Everyday we get emails and phone calls with questions about our certification programs.  Here is a helpful table to help you compare, contrast and understand the differences between our programs.  You can always email or call if you have any other questions.

You can also visit the GET CERTIFIED section of our website to get all the details.

The Tobacco Business Magazine Article

We appreciate this excellent article in Tobacco Business Magazine by Antoine Reid.  This link will take you to the full article.  There is a lot of insight, history, and new news!  This is a great way to wrap up 2018 and we can promise you 2019 will be our greatest yet!

Online CRT Final Exam

After more than twenty years of educating and certifying tobacconists and administering paper exams with a proctor, we are announcing our most historic and revolutionary service ever:

ONLINE FINAL EXAMS

for CRT Apprentices!

Now, all CRT Apprentices can take the final exam on the TU website.  

Gone are the days of waiting for a CST to visit your store (if you were lucky enough to have one in your area), or paying $100 for a skype exam (and coordinating your schedule around a convenient time), or traveling to our offices in Princeton, NJ, or waiting for the annual tradeshow and wasting valuable time that could be spent with your vendors: now you can take the final exam at your convenience online!

Our new online exams feature 100 varying and improved multiple choice questions, instantaneous grading, immediate conversion of your listing to "certified" and rotation on our homepage, and a diploma you can print yourself if you pass!   In addition, you can purchase the exam and take it whenever you are ready - there is no time limit or expiration date as long as you remain an apprentice with your company.  However, once you have paid for the exam and log in to take it, you must finish it.

Take note, the final exam price is $50 and it is a one time only, non-refundable fee.  We strongly recommend you study the Final Exam Review links featured on the right side of this blog so you don't fail.  Lastly, for security purposes, the apprentice who will be taking the exam must be the person to purchase it because login credentials will be required.  If you are interested in making a bulk purchase for multiple apprentices/employees, please contact TU via info@tobacconistuniversity.org. 

Visit our Campus Store to purchase your Online CRT Final Exam

The History Of Cigars: The Rite Of Tobacco (Cohoba)

In 1492 Christopher Columbus discovered the new world. During his first contact with the Taino Indians (indigenous tribes that inhabited the Caribbean islands), he noticed, as he described on his navigational diary #85, transcribed by Spanish historian Bartolome de las Casas, to have seen these indigenous with a “tizon” (Like a branding iron) in their hands, made of dry leaves (buncher), and wrapped in other dry leaves (Wrapper) in the shape of a musket, lit on one end, and sucking from the other end, inhaling the smoke. This object, wrote Columbus, we will name the same as the Taino called them, “Tabaco”. These leaves were given to Columbus as valuable gifts, among others, like gold, spices, exotic fruit, etc., on his return trip, to be presented to the Queen of Spain as proof that he had discovered the new world. It wasn’t until their later voyages that Spaniards discovered that the Taino Indians smoked for pleasure, but most importantly, for religious purposes. The tobacco had a powerful spiritual meaning, and through a ceremony called “The Rite of Cohoba” (The Rite of Tobacco), it played a major roll on the social and economic structure of the aboriginal Taino tribes.

 DESCRIPTION OF THE RITE OF COHOBA 

The Rite of Tobacco was a powerful, spiritual, sacred, and religious ceremony among all the Taino tribes. The BEHIKE (witch doctor) would sit on his DUJO (ancestral ceremonial seat or throne) to inhale COHIBA/COHOBA. He would smoke and inhale TOBACCO to induce a trance to achieve communication with their ancestors that resided in COABEY (Paradise) to plead for health, protection, to assign which members of the tribes would be hunting, harvesting, and even to consult about matrimonial unions, to make sure that everything was done with the approval of the ancestors. During their ritual, they used CUEY (sacred objects or semis carved out of stone or sacred wood). It has been speculated that Taino used the bioluminicence ink of the CUCUBANO (Taino indian word for a click beetle-Pyrophorus Luminosus) to paint their bodies to glow under the moon light during their religious rituals, performed mostly at night. 

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Over the years, I have dedicated a big part of my time, visiting and sharing experiences in numerous cigar lounges around the U.S. I have noticed elements that repeat themselves, like a pattern, that are unbelievably common. Cigar lounges are frequented by a multitude of people of different backgrounds, who share their time in the same room, enjoying a cigar. These people come from different cultural, economic, religious, and educational levels. I have seen a successful lawyer, a handyman, a brain surgeon, a pizza delivery guy, a retired FBI agent, and a school teacher (quite diverse, right?) and no matter what the topic of conversation is they are always determined, far from arguing, to finding common ground between the different points of view on the subject of discussion. Always sitting back, having fun, and most importantly, relaxing. It is interesting, but I have never seen anyone smoking a cigar under stress. This general, but very common bond, among cigar smokers sharing the pleasure of smoking a premium cigar, always and inevitably reminds me of the origin and the reasons why the aboriginal Tainos saw the tobacco as the ideal element for reflection, spirituality, and peace. In conclusion, there are a few words from the Taino indian dictionary connected to the Rite of
Tobacco:   

TABACO (Tobacco)

COHIBA (Cohoba)

BEHIKE (witch doctor)

DUJO (ceremonial seat or throne)

COABEY (paradise)

CUEY (sacred object)

CUCUBANO (click beetle)

Author:  Eloy at Southern Classic Cigars
Images By: Jose Martinez