Nothing says home to deployed military personnel like a care package. Filled with treats, necessities, and greetings, a care package can be a huge morale booster for those far from home - especially during the holidays. "Mail is one of the greatest morale boosters we can give our troops during the holiday," said Postmaster General John E. Potter. "When they see that package or letter waiting for them on their bunk or hear their name at mail call, it brings them that much closer to family and the comforts of home.

A tobacco tax that has its origins in the rivalry between a king and his courtier? Increased sales due to war? And plague?

It's all part of the story of tobacco. Smoking has always been bound up in the history of European politics. After all, it's likely that no one of European origin would ever have smoked a cigar if Columbus's sailors hadn't discovered natives of present-day Cuba smoking tubes of dried tobacco in 1493.

Change: now that's a word we've all gotten used to hearing.

From its use (ubiquitous, sometimes annoying, and ultimately very successful) in a--well, a world-changing presidential campaign to its sudden prominence in our economic lives--how many finance titans have pronounced the words "the rules have changed" in the last several months?--we've all heard a lot about change in 2008.

With a popular new President, a clear shift in the US's political direction, and a public mood that's open to new ideas, many cigar aficionados are wondering whether the general atmosphere of change will extend to U.S.-Cuba relations.

One group of cigar aficionados--the group that publishes Cigar Aficionado (CA) magazine, which first appeared in 1992 and has since defined itself as the premier information source for cigar smokers in the United States--has even gone so far as to devote a cover story to the cause.