Tobacco.org

Jolly Good Smoke 

Stogies on Grand (961 Grand Ave., St. Paul) and Lewis Pipes and Tobacco (527 Marquette Ave., Minneapolis) evoke completely different feelings upon entrance.

Stogies’ quaint Grand Avenue storefront leads into a labyrinthine store filled with laughter and smoke, while Lewis’ massive skyscraper hat sits over a clean one-room shop. The men who own these stores, on the other hand, look quite similar — tall, broad and worried around the eyes.

The wrinkles that crease their faces are in no small part due to the stress of working in an industry constantly teetering on the brink — “… really the only industry that could vanish, poof, at the whim of a Congress session,” as Lewis Tobaco owner Rich Lewis puts it. . . .

Many tobacco enthusiasts also malign the 2009 Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which gives the president full regulatory power over the tobacco industry.

“Too many kids have been grabbing cheap cigars, Swishers and Dutch Masters, scraping out the middle and filling them with marijuana. You might have heard of it — it’s called ‘blunting,’” Wolk said.

In an effort to stop the illegal activity, the newer bill would also effectively put stores like Stogies out business.

This year will mark the 40th anniversary of Lewis’ tenure at his family’s tobacco shop, and he has seen business grind to a near halt as higher taxes are passed and stricter smoking restrictions are enacted. . . .

Make sure to keep tamping the ash down as you smoke, and the bowl should puff all the way down without a problem.

Remember to keep it an occasional celebration, and enjoy!

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LATHEN: Tobacco is NOT an equal opportunity addictor OR killer  

Tobacco related disparities are no accident. Armed with targeted marketing strategies, cigarettes and a whole line of addictive OTPs (other tobacco products), the tobacco industry’s tactics intentionally cause a higher burden on some populations than on others.

Smoking cigarettes leads to many health problems, including cancer, and many of us know one or more of these risks. But most people aren’t familiar with OTPs and the risks associated with using them. Packaged and flavored like candy, OTPs are noncigarette products that range from little cigars and Swisher Sweets to smokeless products like Orbs, which look like Tic Tacs. Cigarettes and OTPs are not marketed or taxed equally, resulting in many tobacco related disparities. . . .

Tax equity, as we call it, would tax OTPs at the equivalent of $2.52 per cigarette pack. If Wisconsin taxed all tobacco products the same it would make it harder for youth and low-income residents to purchase these addictive products, and it would generate tax dollars to help balance the state budget and supplement the TPCP budget.

Tobacco use goes beyond affecting the individual smokers. It affects communities in many ways, and some communities experience more adversity because of higher cigarette and OTP usage. As a community it is our responsibility to work towards reducing tobacco harm because tobacco companies certainly aren’t looking out for our health. Make a difference by writing to your legislatures today about how cigarettes and OTPs affect people in your community.

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The Body Shop | Smoke story: Cigarettes vs. pipes  

I received the following note recently and thought it posed an interesting question. "My husband smokes a pipe and in our small scaled-down apartment we share an office. I know I am getting too much secondhand smoke. Can you discuss the difference between cigarettes and pipe smoke?" . . .

The bottom line

Everyday pipe smoking in a small apartment indicates problems for everyone living there. Even though the smoker may not inhale, he is not dodging a bullet because he is inhaling the secondhand smoke.

Quitting smoking entirely is the obvious solution. However, if he won't give up the pipe completely, perhaps he may consider being a seasonal smoker, smoking only outdoors, weather permitting.

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Fifth in a Series: Update on Possible FDA Regulation of Cigars and Pipe Tobacco 

On April 25, 2011, the FDA issued a letter stating its intent to propose regulations on other tobacco products, such as cigars and pipe tobacco. The letter went on to state that these regulations may include company registration, product listing, ingredient listing, good manufacturing practice requirements, user fees for certain products and premarket review requirements for new tobacco products and modified risk tobacco products.

Subsequent to the April 2011 announcement by the FDA, industry trade groups representing cigar and pipe tobacco manufacturers have made presentations to FDA staff on the uniqueness of these tobacco products and the agency has not yet issued any proposed regulations for these products. In particular, NATO provided the FDA with recent national survey data, which shows that from 2009 to 2010, pipe tobacco use among youth under the age of 18 declined 30% from .9% of minors to just .6% of minors. This further reduction in pipe tobacco usage demonstrates that the issue of minors using pipe tobacco is almost non-existent.

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Jerusalemites Gave Smoking Pipes as Gifts to Lovers during Ottoman Period  

A romantic inscription found on the ceramic mouthpiece of a tobacco pipe discovered during an ongoing archaeological excavation in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem suggests the pipe was probably given as a gift to a lover.

The Arabic inscription reads: "Heart is language for the lover", according to a statement released, on Sunday, by Dr. Kate Rafael of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). Dr. Rafael is leading the excavation of the site. The literal translation of the caption, however, means: "Love is language for the lovers".

The pipe dates back to the Ottoman period, between the 16th and the 19th centuries, when clay pipes were very common and were mostly used for smoking tobacco.

The Arabic inscription on the clay pipe reads: "Heart is language for the lover." Photo Credit: IAA

Smoking was quite popular among both men and women in Jerusalem during the Ottoman rule.

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Smoking pipe leads to charge against South student  

A South Davidson High School student faces drug charges after a Davidson County Sheriff's Office school resource officer alleges she had a smoking pipe on campus.

Ashlee Marie Wetzel, 17, of 200 Broad St., Denton, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana. She has a court date of Dec. 19 in Lexington District Court.

The officer collected the smoking pipe Tuesday, but Wetzel had left school, according to a press release from the sheriff's office. A criminal summons was issued for possession of drug paraphernalia.

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David Robbins: The adventures of a pipe-smoking, girl-shy teenager 

It is clear to me now, at a distance of some 30 years, that I hadn't much going for me as a teenager. I was large and unprepossessing. I smoked a pipe, of all things. About the only place I fitted in was the front row of a rugby scrum. (I forewent the pipe during matches.) . . .

like Holmes, I retreated behind a cloud of tobacco smoke and a good book.

Of course, that was another point of mutual interest. The pipe. Holmes smoked a curly Meerchaum pipe and favoured shag tobacco which he kept in the toe of a Persian slipper.

I went for Clarke's Perfect Plug and smoked something called a Bulldog Briar, which is the kind of pipe you see those RAF chappies smoking before jumping into their Spitfires and flying off to certain death.

Part of being a teenager is all about conformity, but another part is about trying to carve out your own territory, to distinguish yourself from the crowd. Perhaps I was trying too hard at that bit.

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Cook County Budget passes almost unanimously  

Commissioner Larry Suffredin conceding that while the 2012 fiscal budget for Cook County may have passed overwhelmingly today with a 16 to 1 vote--it is far from perfect. . . .

Under this budget--the county's tax on wholesale alcohol will increase. For example--the tax on a 24-pack of beer will increase by six cents. The cigarette tax will be expanded to include other tobacco products, such as cigars and loose tobacco.

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Letter to the editor: Take away cigarettes, but not my pipe 

I suggest to President David Boren and his smoking-ban committee that students and faculty should be allowed to continue smoking their pipes on campus.

Boren cites litter cleanup costs and serious health concerns as the primary reasons to ban smoking on campus. Neither of these applies to pipe smoking. When one is done smoking a pipe, he or she simply taps the remaining bits of tobacco leaves (known as “dottle” to pipe smokers) on to the ground. This hardly constitutes littering.

The health effects of pipe smoking are negligible. . . .

The pipe is featured on our state flag, and a statue of a Native American holding his pipe has stood on the North Oval for years. Pipes are classy, dignified and a symbol of intellectual thought. If a university could manifest all of its ideals into a person, that person would smoke a pipe.

Albert Einstein said, “I believe that pipe smoking contributes to a somewhat calm and objective judgment in all human affairs.” I hope that such calm and objective judgment will keep this campus friendly to pipe smokers for years to come.

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Preckwinkle wants to raise Cook County taxes on tobacco, beer, cars  

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will ask commissioners to raise taxes on alcohol, tobacco products and cars and to lay off more than 1,000 workers under a budget blueprint she rolled out Monday. . . .

Among the tax and fee hikes, Preckwinkle hopes to collect $12 million a year by taxing loose tobacco, rolling papers, snuff and other cigarette products that officials said have long escaped county taxes.

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Market Report, "Smoking Tobacco in Italy", published 

RYO tobacco and pipe tobacco are mainly popular amongst male smokers from lower-income groups. The consumers of RYO tobacco are classified into two main categories. Loyal RYO tobacco smokers prefer its taste to cigarettes, and frequently view RYO tobacco as more natural and containing fewer chemicals than cigarette tobacco. In addition, a greater number of smokers were switching to RYO tobacco towards the end of the review period for reasons of economy. Over the review period, the wider...

Euromonitor International's Smoking Tobacco in Italy report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the market at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data 2006-2010, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market - be the new legislative, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts to 2015 illustrate how the market is set to change.

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• New Jersey considers new taxes on alternative tobacco products 

Little cigars, which are taking increasing space on area tobacco-shop shelves, are shaped and smoked just like cigarettes. But because New Jersey taxes them differently, they cost nearly one-third the price.

Over the past several years, increased state and federal taxes have helped turn some smokers on to less-taxed tobacco products, local shop owners and anti-smoking groups say.

New Jersey has a $2.70 tax per cigarette pack, and the federal government has a $1.01 excise tax it enacted two years ago.

That sixth-highest cigarette tax in the country may entice more smokers to quit or prevent others from starting, said Karen Blumenfeld, executive director of Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy, a New Jersey-based anti-smoking group. But inconsistencies in taxes among various tobacco products cause some smokers to simply switch products, she said.

“We are lagging, as are many other states, with the other types of tobacco products. The industry has caught on to the fact that there’s this loophole with regard to other smoked tobacco products, and they’re cheaper,” said Blumenfeld, who wants a uniform pricing that would tax all tobacco products as cigarettes.

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What now for Foxy?  

Yet the man who really set her in his sights and would become her nemesis was the veteran local prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini -- and it is he who must bear the heaviest responsibility for her wrongful conviction.

Almost from the moment the pipe-smoking Mignini viewed Meredith's semi-naked body under a duvet ('Only a woman would have covered her up after killing her,' he told me), he formed the theory that she had been killed in some sort of twisted, ritualistic sex game, and Knox was among the culprits.

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Australia Still Pushes for Plain Packaging on Other Tobacco Products 

More regulations are facing tobacco companies as the Australian government studies measures to curb sale of cigarette and tobacco products across the country.

Expected to be affected by Australian as well as global efforts to battle the vice are producers of cigars, cigarillos and loose and chewing tobacco which would likely be included in the federal government's plain-packaging plan.

The expansion of the plain, olive green packaging to go beyond cigarettes was the result of a consultation paper released by Health Minister Nicola Roxon on Tuesday. Aside from the plain-packaging, the new rules would ban the inclusion of company brand or logo, but would still contain the graphic health warnings.

"Whether you are talking about cigarettes, cigars or pipe tobacco, all are addictive and all are harmful," Ms Roxon said in a statement.

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Plain Packaging Options for Non-Cigarette Tobacco Products 

The Gillard Government's proposed approach to implement plain packaging for non-cigarette tobacco products such as cigars, cigarillos, roll-your-own tobacco and pipe tobacco has been released for public consultation.

Minister for Health and Ageing Nicola Roxon explained the consultation paper details how the world's toughest laws on tobacco promotion will be implemented for non-cigarette tobacco products.

"Whether you are talking about cigarettes, cigars or pipe tobacco, all are addictive and all are harmful," Ms Roxon said.

"We want Australia's approach to the implementation of plain packaging for non-cigarette tobacco products to be as close as possible to the plain packaging requirements for cigarettes.

"The consultation paper proposes retail packaging for non-cigarette tobacco products in the same drab, dark-brown colour that cigarette products will have -- and the same ban on the use of tobacco industry branding, logos, symbols and other images on the packaging.

"Non-cigarette tobacco products are packaged in many kinds of tubes, bags, boxes and tins and many of these products have only a small market in Australia. In recognition of this, a variety of packaging options are covered in the paper," Ms Roxon said.

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