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• HEALTH: Tobacco Companies Have a Field Day in Indonesia 

When it comes to smoking, Indonesia remains the last paradise for a puff in Southeast Asia. Those addicted to cigarettes can openly light up in public places without worrying about tough anti-tobacco penalties found in the rest of the region.

This reality has been shaped by the power of local and multinational tobacco companies on the archipelago of some 224 million people.

At the finals for the recent ‘Mild Live Wanted 2009' countrywide talent contest, in the former colonial city of Bandung, competing musicians belted out their songs from around 3 p.m till midnight.

For Indonesia's small, yet vocal, anti-tobacco activists, these concerts - billed to promote local talent - offered more than music to fill their ears. They were the latest in a string of publicity drives of the powerful multinational tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) in the country. . . .

The prospect of more deaths from this ”smoking epidemic” has still to move Jakarta, which is still to sign the world's first public health treaty - the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which has been in force since early 2005.

By contrast, this treaty has been signed by Indonesia's nine neighbours in the region, which include Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. . . .

But in other forms of entertainment, the publicity for tobacco companies are more direct, revealed Kania during a telephone interview from Jakarta. ”There was a film for teenagers last year where one of the actresses, who is still in junior high school, was smoking in scenes.”

Such an effort to glamorise smoking goes to extremes, at times. ”There are so many scenes of people smoking in Indonesian movies where the camera even zooms in to show the cigarette brand,” adds Kania. ”There is no regulation like in other countries.”

It is little wonder why a regional anti-tobacco lobby has described Southeast Asia's largest country as a ”cash cow” for the tobacco industry.

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• As taxes rose, cigar makers supersized their stogies 

Last spring, the cigar industry fretted that the government might tax so-called "little cigars" into oblivion.

Several months later, though, it appears the makers of cigarette-shaped little cigars have found a way to escape the high taxes. The cigar makers have added more weight to their cigars, reclassified them as large cigars and now are subject to a lower tax rate, said Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America.

Last spring, the cigar industry rallied against a higher tax rate implemented to benefit the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. One Tampa cigar factory, Hav-A-Tampa, blamed SCHIP for a steep drop in sales, and it ceased its Tampa operations over the summer. Hav-A-Tampa's parent, Altadis USA, moved the Tampa plant's operations to Puerto Rico.

Little cigars may not be as iconic as fat stogies, but hundreds of millions are produced every year. They look like cigarettes and come 20 to a pack. Some popular brands include Cheyenne and Dutch Treats. . . .

Sharp, the cigar association president, said it appears cigar makers changed their production techniques to factor in the SCHIP tax.

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• Ban on Flavored Tobacco Products Becomes City Law  

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed legislation on Wednesday to prohibit the sale of most forms of flavored tobacco products in New York City. The new law is more extensive than the federal Food and Drug Administration's ban on candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes, which took effect last month.

The City Council approved the bill on Oct. 14. The legislation covers "chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice flavors," but exempts "tobacco, menthol, mint or wintergreen flavors."

The city ban includes cigars and smokeless tobacco, while the federal ban is limited to cigarettes. That ban prohibits the sale of cigarettes with "an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee."

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• To the FDA, This Indonesian Smoke Is Close but No Cigar  

the FDA reminded the public that its ban applies to anything that fits a cigarette's profile, even if it's labeled as a "cigar." And the House Committee on Energy and Commerce announced an investigation to find out whether the "flavored cigars are no different than flavored cigarettes."

Immediately, Kretek International Inc., the closely held importer in Moorpark, Calif., sued the FDA, accusing it of "deliberately obfuscating" the "definition of cigarette." . . .

"If a product is a cigar, it is not a cigarette and vice versa," says its complaint. "Kretek contends that Djarum cigars are cigars."

The company has asked the U.S. District Court in Washington for a declaratory cigar-is-a-cigar judgment. The FDA declines comment and has yet to file a response. Without legal guidance, meanwhile, America's clove-conscious now have to judge for themselves whether Djarum's new cigars, deep down, are concealing an alter ego.

At the Indonesian restaurant he owns here in Alexandria, Sonny Setiantoko passed one under his nose. "That smell!" he said.

On a quiet Monday night, he sat at a rear table after a spicy meal of satay and coconut rice.

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• Kiddie puffin' stuff outlawed  

They are sold right next to the candy and gum at stores across Staten Island -- products like strawberry-flavored mini-cigars packaged like lip gloss.

And they will soon be illegal.

Calling it a move that will help save children from a dangerous addiction, the City Council voted yesterday to ban sales of almost all flavored tobacco products, including small cigars and chewing tobacco.

The bill, expected to be signed into law by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is the latest bit of bad news for the tobacco industry and smokers in the city, who already have been banned from all public buildings and restaurants and have seen taxes on cigarettes skyrocket.

Yesterday's ban is intended to close a loophole in a law enacted in June by the federal Food and Drug Administration banning the manufacture, importation, marketing and distribution of cigarettes made to taste like candy, fruit and cloves. Since the legal definition of a cigarette is vague, manufacturers found a way to circumvent the ban by repackaging products to make them attractive to kids, like smaller "cigarillos" and SNUS, pouches of flavored tobacco used like snuff.

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• Council votes to ban sale of flavored tobacco products  

tore.NEW YORK -- The City Council voted overwhelmingly today to ban sales of all flavored tobacco products.

The bill bars the sale of products such as strawberry- and blueberry-flavored cigars and chewing tobacco, which health experts say are a blatant attempt to hook young people on a dangerous product.

Staten Island councilmen James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) and Ken Mitchell (D-North Shore) voted in favor of the bill.

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• Light Up, Michael. We’ll Pay Your Tab! 

The Beverly Hills Cigar Club (BHCC) has offered to pay the $100 fine, if the basketball legend wants another smoke during the President's Cup golf matches, which start today in San Francisco. . . .

"Smoking a fine cigar in the open air landscape of a golf course should be a basic right," says BHCC CEO Vin Lee. "If Jordan wants to enjoy another round with a great cigar, we'll pay the fine. In fact, we'll give him a box of Louixs, our finest Rosado blend, or his favorite cigar, and pick up the tab."

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• FDA Gets an Earful 

A desire for clarity on tobacco regulations already put in place by the federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA), including advertising limitations and just what products are included in the ban of most flavored cigarettes, were among the key subjects discussed during the agency's tobacco stakeholder listening sessions, held by the FDA in September. While many attendees were pleased to know their concerns would be heard, they also were less than satisfied by the lack of answers.

Some people were disturbed by the fact that the FDA didn't respond to commentary during the sessions, said Norm Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America Inc., Washington. He described his own reaction as "not satisfied, but not dissatisfied."

"I just didn't think that given their lack of knowledge about the industry and the newness of their organization, and the need to meet these tight deadlines, I just didn't expect there to be anything beyond a listening session," he told CSP Daily News.

Thomas Briant, executive director of the National Association of Tobacco Outlets Inc. (NATO), Minneapolis, attended both of the sessions (one for manufacturers and the other for retailers, importers and distributors), as well as a media briefing. He said that one of the major concerns discussed was the ban on color advertising on tobacco products in retail stores, "which violates the constitutional protection afforded to free speech." (Current litigation from tobacco manufacturers and a NATO retailer challenges the ban.)

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• Cuba slashes tobacco acreage amid flagging demand 

Cash-short Cuba is slashing the amount of land devoted to growing its famous tobacco by more than 30 percent as the global recession and worldwide spread of smoking bans bite into sales of the country's prized cigars.

Demand for Cuba's cigars fell 3 percent in 2008 and earlier was reported down 15 percent in 2009 because of the recession and the smoking bans adopted in a growing number of places as a public health measure.

Cuba's National Statistics Office, in a report posted on its web page (www.one.cu), said land to be planted with tobacco for next year's crop had dropped to 49,000 acres, down from 70,000 acres, which was in turn less than 2008.

It said the coming crop was expected to be 22,500 tons, down from a planned 26,800 tons.

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• Tobacco giant makes its mark on D.C. smoking legislation 

The largest tobacco manufacturer in the United States is supporting a D.C. Council proposal that would limit the sale of some tobacco products and regulate where people can smoke.

Representatives from Altria Group Inc., owner of tobacco giant Philip Morris, testified at a council hearing Tuesday that they were backing a bill that contained a slew of provisions.

In fact, Altria lobbyist Mary Eva Candon drafted the majority of the legislation, at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson told The Examiner. And the day he introduced the bill, Mendelson received a $500 campaign contribution from Candon.

"That's the problem when you work with friends and they have suggestions," Mendelson said. "It all gets into the mix."

Among its 10 provisions, the bill would:

-- ban the sale of single cigars, except in tobacco shops;

-- set weight-based requirements for the number of cigars per package;

-- and require all tobacco products be sold from behind the counter.

But the head of the Cigar Association of America said Altria would benefit while those provisions would leave the rest of the cigar industry suffering.

Altria's Black and Mild are the nation's top-selling cigars and control almost a quarter of the market. Because they're sold in five-packs, CAA President Norman Sharp said the ban on single cigars would boost Black and Mild sales.

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• Clove and tobacco importer sues FDA to prevent ban 

The top distributor of clove-flavored tobacco products in the U.S. is asking a federal court to decide whether its new filtered cigars fall under a new federal ban on flavored cigarettes.

Kretek International Inc., which imports Djarum brand tobacco products from Indonesia, sued the Food and Drug Administration Sept. 22.

The company claims the FDA, which was granted authority to regulate tobacco in June, has threatened to ban its products and the regulator is causing the company to lose money.

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• Just blowing smoke? 

On Thursday, the state tax on cigarettes will increase by a dollar, from $2 to $3 for a pack of 20, or from 10 cents to 15 cents for each cigarette. The increase makes Connecticut second only to Rhode Island, where the state tax is $3.46 per pack. . . .

Across Center Street from the Day Spa, Paul E. Raczynski runs "Fire N Smoke," a shop that specializes in cigars, other tobacco products and, somewhat incongruously, hot sauce. Cigar sales make up about 95 percent of his business, he said.

On Thursday, the state tax on those tobacco products will increase from 20 percent to 27 percent. The price of the only cigarettes Raczynski sells, American Spirit, will rise from $8 to $9 a pack.

Many cigar enthusiasts smoke just one or two a week, but there are others who puff anywhere from six to a dozen a day, said Raczynski . . .

But there are those who feel it's not right to tax cigarettes without spending at least some of the money raised on smoking-cessation initiatives.

The hope was that some of the money would go toward programs like nicotine replacement therapy for Medicaid patients, "and that just hasn't happened," said Margaret R. LaCroix, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association of New England.

"I go further and call it immoral and unjust," said Dr. Patricia Checko, an epidemiologist who is chairwoman of the coalition MATCH, which stands for Mobilize Against Tobacco for Connecticut Health. . . .

Connecticut continues to use little of the more than $100 million a year it receives from the settlement with tobacco companies, which Blumenthal signed in 1998, on smoking cessation or prevention.

Connecticut's tax increase will put the average state tax on cigarettes at $1.34 a pack, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. South Carolina has the lowest state cigarette tax rate, at seven cents a pack. . . .

South Carolina is also one of just four states not to have raised the tax on cigarettes since 2000. The others are California, Missouri and North Dakota.

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• Cuba Seeks World Heritage Designation for Cigar-Factory Readers 

They're called "cigar-factory readers" and for almost 150 years they have entertained the workers who hand-roll cigars in factories all over Cuba.

The Cuban government has suggested that these unique readers be designated as part of the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage that the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will vote on, together with another 110 candidates, at a the meeting to be held in Abu Dhabi beginning next Monday. . . .

The readers nowadays are state employees with an enviable status: they read 90 minutes a day and spend the rest of the time preparing new readings or debating with the workers the meaning of what they have heard.

Amid the sweet cigar aromas and standing on a platform with a microphone heard throughout the factory, Jesus Pereira, 44, entertains his fellow-workers by reading to them in three sessions: the first two obligatorily dedicated to the press and the third to novels or self-help books.

It is Thursday and today it is time to read "40 Tips about Sex,"

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• State's tobacco industry helped avert new Pa. tax  

Pennsylvania is poised to maintain a long-standing tax exemption on the sales of cigars and smokeless tobacco, despite two attempts by Gov. Ed Rendell over the past three years to remove it.

Even though all other states tax the items, such a tax is not expected to appear in a nearly week-old budget agreement that is still being hammered into shape in the Capitol.

Earlier this year, Rendell proposed the tax to help wipe out the state's multibillion-dollar revenue shortfall. His attempt in 2007 would have helped underwrite an extension of state-subsidized health insurance to adults who lack coverage.

Resistance by Pennsylvania's legislators can be attributed to their desire to protect tobacco growers in southeastern Pennsylvania, cigar makers that employ hundreds and heavy use of snuff and chewing tobacco by miners and steelworkers in southwestern Pennsylvania.

"That would be a very unpopular tax in my communities," said Sen. Richard Kasunic, D-Fayette. "And I'd rather not have to vote on that."

In addition, Pennsylvania is home to four of the nation's eight leading cigar retailers. One, Cigars International of Bethlehem, would have to consider moving to Florida if Pennsylvania approved a tax on cigars, company president Keith Meier told the Senate Finance Committee at a February hearing on Rendell's proposal.

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• Editorial - Cigarette Ban With a Loophole 

The problem with the law is that it did not clearly define what a cigarette is. Traditional definitions revolve around the wrapping. Cigarettes are wrapped in paper; cigars are wrapped in tobacco leaves or paper constituted from tobacco. That seems like a trivial basis for deciding which products may be flavored and which may not.

So far, F.D.A. officials have been deliberately vague in stating whether the ban applies to flavored small cigars that seem comparable to cigarettes and to so-called cigarillos, which are slightly larger but still smaller than traditional cigars.

The agency wisely warned manufacturers that it was examining options to regulate both menthol cigarettes and flavored tobacco products other than cigarettes. It makes no sense to ban flavors in cigarettes and then allow the industry to addict young people to flavored cigars.

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