CRA, Time to step up and JOIN!

[Tatuaje]

I am putting out the call to all you cigar smokers to join the CRA (Cigar Rights of America). www.cigarrights.org

This organization is going to be very important to all of us. This is one organization that we all can be a part of together and be one giant voice for our rights and freedoms as responsible cigar smoking adults.
I urge you all to join as soon as possible and tell your friends and family to join also.

Don't wait for any more of our freedoms to be stripped before joining.

Thanks,
Pete

[jitzy]

Pete I want to support them but as of now there giving me reason to doubt them all the events for the rally are very reasonably priced but the NY event is $300 why so I emailed them 3 weeks ago about this and still have not got a responce. While I feel this is something we need I'm just not sure having a big cigar afficianado style NY snob party is going to be the way to do it.

[Tatuaje]

Originally Posted by jitzy

Pete I want to support them but as of now there giving me reason to doubt them all the events for the rally are very reasonably priced but the NY event is $300 why so I emailed them 3 weeks ago about this and still have not got a responce. While I feel this is something we need I'm just not sure having a big cigar afficianado style NY snob party is going to be the way to do it.

Jitzy, The party in New York was mostly the expense of the venue. Since the tour was planned with not much lead time, it was hard to find a venue in New York that would allow smoking. The party was great, and we managed to raise a large amount of money for the cause. There are plans in the near future to do more events but we can't have people waiting for the organization to throw a party to join. This effort needs funding and has the support from a large group of manufacturers that are spending a lot of time working on this.

Pete

BTW, The New York party was far from being a snob party. They let me in.

[jitzy]

Originally Posted by Tatuaje

Jitzy, The party in New York was mostly the expense of the venue. Since the tour was planned with not much lead time, it was hard to find a venue in New York that would allow smoking. The party was great, and we managed to raise a large amount of money for the cause. There are plans in the near future to do more events but we can't have people waiting for the organization to throw a party to join. This effort needs funding and has the support from a large group of manufacturers that are spending a lot of time working on this.

Pete

BTW, The New York party was far from being a snob party. They let me in.

Pete I really really hope your right about this and I had every intention on joining (and did not plan on going to that rally anyway cause I had to work) and then when I sent them the email and it went unanswered it kind of put me off more, but since you say to trust them I'm gonna take your word on it and join

[jitzy]

I also will join because I do believe in what they want to acomplish I just hope they do it in the right way

[Tatuaje]

Originally Posted by jitzy

Pete I really really hope your right about this and I had every intention on joining (and did not plan on going to that rally anyway cause I had to work) and then when I sent them the email and it went unanswered it kind of put me off more, but since you say to trust them I'm gonna take your word on it and join

Thanks Jitzy,

We are all working hard on it right now and unfortunately we don't have much CRA administration yet. Most of the work is being done by a few Manufacturers and Distributors and a few Retailers. We all want this to work and we all believe in it. After the initial tour we will have only about 4000 or 5000 members but we want this to grow to about 200,000 and we think it can happen if we all participate. At 200,000 we will be a strong voice and people will have no choice but to listen.

Thanks!

[jitzy]

Originally Posted by Tatuaje

Thanks Jitzy,

We are all working hard on it right now and unfortunately we don't have much CRA administration yet. Most of the work is being done by a few Manufacturers and Distributors and a few Retailers. We all want this to work and we all believe in it. After the initial tour we will have only about 4000 or 5000 members but we want this to grow to about 200,000 and we think it can happen if we all participate. At 200,000 we will be a strong voice and people will have no choice but to listen.

Thanks!

I really think having an administration is exactily what it needs having certain people act as spokesman for you is just bad if I was able to pm you I would explain more but for now just know I do belive in this and will support it they just need a better structure (as far as administrators and spokesman)

[Research-Colin-cl]

Originally Posted by jitzy

I really think having an administration is exactily what it needs having certain people act as spokesman for you is just bad if I was able to pm you I would explain more but for now just know I do belive in this and will support it they just need a better structure (as far as administrators and spokesman)

I think you are both right. The CRA is pretty bare-bones right now and all the money is going toward efforts to raise the profile and membership right now. A lot of the information you will get about CRA for a while now is going to come from the participants, board members, and some press (like the European Cigar Cult Journal).

My personal opinion is that CRA started rather hastily but the principles behind it are sound and you will soon see a well oiled machine voicing the opinion that cigar smokers deserve their rights too.

Stay tuned... more information is coming out as the board meets all this week.

[drac-cl]

This is very important guys. I am a lifetime member of CRA and cannot stress enough how much we need voting cigar smokers to raise their voices by being members of CRA.

[xavier_chino]

want to see if anyone knows how I could find out about this. In Tampa every November the ybor city museum holds the Cigar Heritage Festival a couple thousand people attend. I think this would be a great oppertunity for the CRA to get a booth and tell people about the cause.

[Rah55]

I am going to give the benefit of the doubt for now and join but, I strongly agree with Joe that without a good organizational structure (and I mean NOW) this group is really going off half cocked and the results will be predictable. PPPPP guys. (Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance). Organizational structure brings efficiency and lack of it makes an organization look like a joke.

[sseagle]

I can't afford to join, and I would need to see that they are having any effect at all before throwing down a chunk of money for something that may just disappear in a few years.

[jitzy]

OK I cannot stress enough how much I feel we need an orginazation like this, Pete if you read this please try and give some of our concerns to the board. I honestly sent them an email about a month ago that went completely un-answered and had they answered it then I would have taken them more seriously but they couldn't even answer a simple email. Pete honestly if I sent you an email when you were first starting your company how fast would you have answered it? Like I said I will join even if it dosen't pan out and it all fails I feel its something we need to try and get going.

[Tatuaje]

Jitzy,

Please be patient. At this time one of the manufacturers is donating his time and staff to administrate this and I am sure they are missing many emails not just yours. We are all working now on finding a firm to help us organize a full grass roots group. We all want this to be the NRA of cigars one day that will help all of us as smokers. Protecting our freedoms and protecting our rights as responsible adults to do what we want with a legal product.
I can understand your frustration and I apologize for the lack of communication. Soon, we will have this working properly. A website where you can get information updates, a place to buy CRA logo gear, Membership cards, and special cigars available to CRA members only. This is what we are all working for and this is why we need everyones support to help us build an organization for all cigar smokers.

Thanks,
Pete

BTW, I missed many emails in the beginning and still miss many today. I sometimes never get to read all of them.

[jitzy]

Pete, like I said I am joining and giving it the benifit of being new and I am glad to hear you guys are looking for a firm to help get this thing off the ground I think that is a great idea.