While U.S. President Barack Obama tries to kick an old smoking habit, a
Nicaraguan company has produced the latest in a flood of merchandise trying to
cash in on his popularity -- "Obama" cigars.

ESTELI, NICARAGUA (FEBRUARY 05, 2009) REUTERS -
While U.S. President Barack Obama tries to kick an old smoking
habit, a Nicaraguan company has produced the latest in a flood of merchandise
trying to cash in on his popularity -- "Obama" cigars.
U.S. cigar company Granada 1524 Cigars hired Segovia Cigar Factory, a
small outfit based in Nicaragua's tobacco-growing north, to use local and
Cuban leaves to hand-roll cigars wrapped with a gold band that reads
"Obama 44," to commemorate the the 44th U.S. president.
The cigars come in various sizes and strengths and the company says
some 13,000 have been ordered so far across the United States. That adds to
thousands of Obama products -- like comics, candy, hot sauce and even a sex
toy -- that hit the market during the media frenzy of the Democrat's campaign
and inauguration.
"When President Barack Obama was elected, they (U.S. cigar company
Granada 1524 Cigars) wanted to pay homage to this man, as if wanting to say
change was coming with Obama. This presidential series was then created. We
make good tobacco, fermented tobacco of excellent quality at our factories and
it's been a great hit. It's been selling in California and Washington
DC," the CEO of Segovia Cigars, Aghmed Fernandez, said.
Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega, a former guerrilla leader
who fought a U.S.-backed insurgency in the 1980s, clashed with former
President George W. Bush, a Republican, but has said he hopes relations will
improve under the new administration.
Obama has pledged not to smoke in the White House but has admitted it
is hard to quit after two decades.
U.S. companies have printed cigar bands with Obama's smiling face to
celebrate his victory, the company says the specially made cigars are one of a
kind.
Among the Obama-themed items expected to generate millions in sales are
a soap bar called "The Audacity of Soap," after the president's
"Audacity of Hope" book, and Ben & Jerry's "Yes
Pecan!" ice cream, a riff on his "Yes we can!" campaign slogan,
which boasts "amber waves of buttery ice cream with roasted nonpartisan
pecans."