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CORRECTION: Premium Cigar Association Teams with Americans for Tax Reform against Georgia Legislators 

The Georgia House of Representatives is moving to increase state excise taxes on cigarettes by 270 percent and pipe and smokeless tobacco by 150 percent that the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association and Americans for Tax Reform are having none of.

House Bill 39 aims to increase state cigarette taxes from the current $.37 per pack to $1.37 per pack and state taxes on loose and smokeless tobacco would go up 150 percent from 10 percent of wholesale value to 25 percent of wholesale cost.

In a letter to Georgia House and Senate Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers, the ATR said, “A vote in favor of this tax hike would be a violation of the… commitment you made to your constituents to oppose any and all tax increases.”

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Lung damage from smoking cigars and pipes  

THIS STUDY involved 3,528 middle-age and older adults, most in their mid-60s, including 9 percent who had smoked pipes, 11 percent who had smoked cigars and 52 percent who had smoked cigarettes. All participants were given spirometry tests, which gauge breathing ability and lung function and are used to diagnose COPD, and urine tests to measure cotinine levels, which indicate the body's absorption of tobacco smoke. Cotinine levels were higher in cigarette smokers than in pipe and cigar smokers. Nonetheless, spirometry showed that people who smoked pipes or cigars but had never smoked cigarettes were more than twice as likely as nonsmokers to have obstructed airflow; the risk grew to more than threefold higher for pipe and cigar smokers who also smoked cigarettes. . . .

FIND THIS STUDY Feb. 16 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

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Premium Cigar Association Teams with Americans for Tax Reform Against Georgia Legislators  

The Georgia House of Representatives is mounting a move to increase state excise taxes on cigarettes by 270 percent and pipe and smokeless tobacco by 150 percent that the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association and Americans for Tax Reform are having none of. House Bill 39, with more than 60 sponsors, aims to increase state cigarette taxes from the current $.37 per pack to $1.37 per pack and smokeless tobacco state tax would go up 150 percent from 10 percent of wholesale value to 25 percent of wholesale cost. In a letter to Georgia House and Senate Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers, the ATR said, "A vote in favor of this tax hike would be a violation of the… commitment you made to your constituents to oppose any and all tax increases."

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Premium Cigar Group Labels Columbia Study as Corrupt Misuse of Junk Science 

Conclusions made by a new study of cigar and pipe smoking by researchers at the Columbia University Medical Center are not supported by the study’s findings. The study concludes that “physicians should… counsel cessation of pipe and cigar smoking….” “Nothing in the study justifies this erroneous conclusion," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.

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LETTER: Brace for tax hike, pipe and cigar smokers  

Do you remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger was President George H. W. Bush's chairman for the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports?

Arnold was probably the most appropriate spokesperson ever chosen for that body. He remains, to this day, inspiration for exercising and living a healthy lifestyle.

But wait a minute. Isn't Arnold occasionally spotted smoking a $20, hand-rolled Nicuraguan corona? Isn't this a contradiction to what Arnold preaches? Or does he know something we don't?

On Feb. 15, on ABC's "Good Morning America," their minister of medical propaganda, Dr. Timothy Johnson reported that a brand new study suggests smoking cigars and pipes is just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes. . . .

But years ago, Dr. Timothy Johnson also reported there was no difference between a regular cigarette and a "light" cigarette. Tell that to the smoker of a "light" cigarette whose head feels like it's going to explode smoking a regular cigarette.

5. No pipe or cigar smoker I know lights up when first waking up in the morning. Or with morning coffee or after breakfast or after a shower or after lunch, etc. There is no nicotine addiction. Most pipe and cigar smokers, if not all, would never think of lighting up a cigarette. They'd look at you like you're nuts. I would prefer to be in the company of a cigar smoker who ran out of cigars than to be in the company of a cigarette smoker who has run out of cigarettes.

So how are the results of the study from the Columbia School of Medicine going to be used? Taxes.

Cigarette smokers have kept Pennsylvania and most other states fiscally afloat for a long, long time. But their ranks are dwindling. A new target group that has been flying under the radar for a long, long time will be in the sights of state Legislatures. So be warned. This study came out just in time.

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State budget: Tax cigars and pipe tobacco 

State legislators should support the governor's proposal to hike taxes on cigars and pipe tobacco in the 2011 budget. The increase in the excise tax is expected to raise $15 million, which would help the Commonwealth fend off the sort of revenue shortfalls that force steep cuts in government programs. . . .

In these times of joblessness and economic despair, the state must do all that's possible to preserve the ability of families to feed and clothe themselves. Rather than shore up the safety net through a broader-based tax, in these times of joblessness and economic despair, it makes sense to apply a higher tax to something that is both a luxury and a harm to those who smoke it.

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Cigars and pipes are riskier than first believed, study warns  

Cigar smoking also increases risk for heart disease and cancers of the lung, mouth, voice box and esophagus.

The study looked at 3,528 people who smoked pipes and cigars but not cigarettes.

Results are published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

The researchers said that cigarettes are a well-documented cause of COPD, but less was known about the impact on lung function from pipe and cigar smoking. They say pipe and cigar smoking has increased in the United States in recent years because some view these behaviors as healthier than smoking.

Craig Smith, 32, of Ardmore, said he smokes one or two cigars a week, and has consulted his doctor about it.

"Cigar smoke is extremely hard to inhale, especially for someone who doesn't smoke cigarettes," Smith said. "Although he wouldn't suggest smoking of any sort, one or two cigars a week were not nearly as harmful as a pack a day."

Nearly 6 percent of Oklahomans smoke cigars and a little more than 1 percent smoke pipes.

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Bay Watch: Stick that in your obsolete smoking device and smoke it! 

Today is International Pipe Smoking Day, a day briar-loving brethren the world over will puff proudly from their increasingly obsolete utensils -- and a day that means squat to local tobacco sellers.

The once-rich tradition of smoking from a pipe "has really tailed off," says Greg McNair, owner of Coquille Smoke Shop, 399 North Central St.

McNair doesn't carry pipes, though he special orders pipe tobacco for the roll-your-own crowd.

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Smoke gets in your soul, pipe lovers say 

MASHPEE -- Yesterday was International Pipe-Smoking Day.

How did you let that one slip by?

On the web

http://www.geigerpipes.com/ . ..

Probably because pipes, once the international symbol of sophisticated masculinity, slipped off the popular radar screen decades ago. . . .

With smokers exiled from virtually all public places in Massachusetts and non-smoking clauses in many house leases, it's become harder for guys like Louie Kircher to enjoy a pipe of Sherlock's Choice, his favorite tobacco blend.

A pipe smoker since he was 17, the 46-year-old Pocasset resident likes the aroma, taste and ritual of cleaning, preparing and lighting his pipe. Cigarettes are like fast food, and cigars are brash, beefy, and extroverted, but pipe smoking, lends itself to a sit, and to contemplation as the smoke wreaths your head and drifts off toward the ceiling.

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Smoking out the competition 

The seven gentlemen gathered Saturday afternoon to compete in the first annual pipe smoking competition hosted by El Humidor Smoke Shop, Scott Street, Wilkes-Barre.

Wesley, a newcomer to the group, took up pipe smoking around eight months ago and has been practicing consistently over the past week in order to prepare for the competition.

"I own my own shop so I can smoke all day," laughed Wesley, adding that he went as far as having his employees record his times.

The purpose of a pipe smoking competition is simple. The competitor who can make their pipe burn the longest wins. To begin, the contestants were read a short but strict list of rules which was consistent with the United Pipe Clubs of America's (UPCA) standards.

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Democratic proposal outrages puffers 

Valley smokers are incensed at two congressional Democrats' proposal to increase the tax on pipe tobacco a whopping 775 percent.

Ron Rothermel, of Sunbury, is among Valley pipe smokers outraged by the plan to raise the tax from $2.8311 per pound to $24.78 per pound -- the same rate that is imposed on roll-your-own tobacco products.

Many Valley smokers saw an opportunity to save money by buying special blends of pipe tobacco to make their own cigarettes after a higher roll-your-own tobacco products tax took effect last year.

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Cigar, pipe smoking may raise lung disease risk, too 

Cigarette smoking is a well-known risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a group of lung diseases that includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. But few studies have looked at whether other types of smoking contribute to COPD as well.

In the new study, researchers found that among more than 3,500 U.S. adults, those who had ever smoked cigars or pipes were more likely than non-smokers to show obstructed airflow - a hallmark of COPD -- during tests of lung function.

Of the 56 study participants who said they had smoked at least 20 cigars or pipe-bowls in their lives, 18 percent showed airway obstruction. That compared with less than 8 percent of men and women who had never smoked.

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Dispatch: Cigars, Surfaces, Conspiracies, and Grandkids  

Cigars and Pipes and Chewing Tobacco, Oh My! An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine concludes, "Pipe and cigar smoking increased urine cotinine levels and was associated with decreased lung function consistent with obstructive lung disease. Physicians should consider pipe and cigar smoking a risk factor and counsel cessation regardless of cigarette smoking history."

"Of course pipe and cigar smokers will have tobacco byproducts, including cotinine, in their blood and urine," says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross. "It's also not surprising that they had increased risk of obstructive lung disease, though not to same extent as cigarette smokers. The take-home message is you should not be smoking pipes and cigars under the impression that they are a safe alternative to cigarettes. . . .

says ACSH's Jeff Stier. "If you use a cigar like a cigarette, it is like a cigarette, but most people do not use cigars that way. Most people who smoke cigars do it rarely and do not inhale. Dr. Johnson's report is problematic from a policy perspective. If regulators subscribe to the mentality that all tobacco -- no matter how it's used -- is equal, they'll be giving people unscientific advice. There's a continuum of risk, with cigarettes at one far end and smokeless tobacco towards the other end -- not totally safe, but towards the other end. Dr Johnson lumps them all together."

Proof by Induction: Dangers of 2nd, 3rd...Nth Hand Smoke On his Tobacco Analysis blog, ACSH Advisor Dr. Michael Siegel of the Boston University School of Public Health deconstructs the arguments of the anti-smoking group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) in their latest press release, which claims that residues left on surfaces from cigarette smoke ("third-hand smoke") are as dangerous as smoking itself.

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Pipe and Cigar Smoking Strongly Associated with Decreased Lung Function, COPD  

Pipe and cigar smoke may be more harmful than once thought. While some believe pipes and cigars are healthier than cigarettes, a major known cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a new study directly links pipe and cigar smoking to decreased lung function.

"These findings, together with increased cotinine levels in current pipe and cigar smokers, suggest that long-term pipe and cigar smoking may damage the lungs and contribute to the development of COPD. Physicians should consider pipe and cigar smoking a risk factor for COPD and counsel their patients to quit."

Researchers conducted a population-based study to determine whether pipe and cigar smoking was associated with elevated cotinine levels (the end product of tobacco, which can be detected in the urine), decrements in lung function, and increased odds of airflow obstruction. Among 3,528 participants, those who did not smoke cigarettes but did smoke pipes or cigars were more likely to have airflow obstruction than those who had never smoked.

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New York City Delays Flavored Tobacco Ban 

New York City's controversial flavored tobacco ban, which prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco products within the city and was scheduled to go into effect February 26, has been delayed.

The ban, once it takes effect, would prohibit the sale of flavored cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco.

According to Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America, the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Manufacturing Company filed suit in federal court against the city on January 26, arguing that in the case of tobacco, federal law trumps local law.

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