Tobacco.org

EDITORIAL: Tobacco shakedown: It's not 'for the children'  

When the state attorney general fabricates an allegation to justify charging a person with criminal activity, everyone in the state ought to take note.

Attorney General Michael Delaney is pursuing a case against Tobacco Haven, a roll-your-own tobacco shop in Brookline. According to the Attorney General's Office, Tobacco Haven owes the state a whole bunch of back taxes on cigarette tobacco. Tobacco Haven says it doesn't because the tobacco in question is for pipes, not cigarettes. Cigarette tobacco is taxed; pipe tobacco is not. . . .

The "for the children" line is deployed every time government goes after tobacco users. From the industry settlements in the 1990s to the massive increases in cigarette taxes in the last few years, states (New Hampshire included) have tried to justify soaking tobacco dealers and users by claiming that their revenue grabs were "for the children."

But it's never for the children. It's always for the revenue. Delaney's attempt to demonize these tobacco shop owners is an abuse of authority. His boss, Gov. John Lynch, should make clear that he won't stand for such abuses in the future.

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EDITORIAL: A moving target  

When the federal government raised the tax on the loose tobacco people use to roll their own cigarettes a staggering 2,000 percent, companies stopped selling "loose tobacco." Smokers stopped buying it. Very little of the projected tax revenue of $35 million per month appeared.

Yet smokers still roll their own cigarettes and still legally buy the ingredients.

Pipe tobacco is taxed at a rate of $2.83 per pound. Loose cigarette tobacco is now taxed at $24.78 per pound. . . .

Again and again we see that taxes meant to change the behavior of the taxed backfire. They rarely raise the revenue their proponents promise, generally don't cause people to act as predicted and often create unintended consequences.

The fairer a tax is, the harder it is to evade. . . .

Seemingly incapable of learning, the federal government is now looking to set stricter legal distinctions between pipe and cigarette tobacco in an attempt to collect its money. Unmentioned is the issue of why the tax on one should be 10 times the tax on the other.

Perhaps government policymakers think pipes are cool and intellectual, and home-rolled cigarettes are just uncouth. If so, that's a poor rationale for tax policy.

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Greenfield apartment complex fire caused by careless disposal of hand-rolled cigarette, state fire marshal's office says  

Investigators have determined that the cause of the fire that displaced 21 tenants from a residential and commercial complex on Chapman Street earlier this month was caused by improper disposal of a cigarette.

The fast-moving fire at 29 Chapman St. started in the living room of one of the third floor apartments, according to a news released issued by State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan.

The fire, which destroyed the building, was reported on Nov. 8 about 8:30 a.m. It took firefighters from about 25 communities about three hours to get it under control.

The cigarette was hand-rolled and not fire standard compliant, Jennifer L. Mieth, a spokeswoman for Coan, said.

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Shop bans pipe tobacco after court order  

A Brookline business that lets customers roll their own cigarettes has banned "pipe tobacco" from its rolling machines in response to a judge's order, the shop's lawyers said yesterday.

The court order takes away only a portion of the business Tobacco Haven has been doing, but it is a portion that is of particular concern to the state. The state Attorney General's Office, which sued the retailer in August, alleges it is illegal for Tobacco Haven to stuff "pipe tobacco" into cigarettes unless the company pays taxes on it.

The state has also argued that "pipe tobacco" is singularly dangerous because it was being sold at prices "so low that young people would have found them affordable."

"Not only did Tobacco Haven's plan violate the law, but it placed a dangerous and addictive product within the financial reach of vulnerable children," Attorney General Michael Delaney said in a statement yesterday.

Andrew Schulman, an attorney for Tobacco Haven, called the attorney general's statement "misleading and disingenuous."

"Children can't purchase tobacco products at any price," Schulman said. "It is against the law to do so."

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• Court rules against tobacco shop 

Customers are still rolling their own smokes at Tobacco Haven, despite a superior court ruling Monday that says the Brookline shop is a cigarette manufacturer that hasn’t been paying either the mandatory Tobacco Settlement tax, or making escrow payments.

Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Larry Smukler issued a temporary injunction against Tobacco Haven on Monday, ordering the shop on Route 13 to either ensure that its supplier has paid the required tax or escrow payment, pay itself, or stop operating its two high-speed cigarette-rolling machines.

The machines take loose tobacco and roll 200 cigarettes in a matter of minutes. A carton costs $25.99, while cartons of many name brand cigarettes can cost twice as much. Customers have flocked to the store, often lining up to use the machines.

What’s at stake here is a lot more than where people can buy cheap smokes. The state filed suit against the company in August because New Hampshire stood to lose about $50 million in tobacco settlement money.

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• AP IMPACT: Tobacco execs quickly find tax loophole 

With a simple marketing twist, tobacco companies are avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxes by exploiting a loophole in President Barack Obama's child health law.

Obama and Congress increased taxes on tobacco products earlier this year to pay for expanded children's health insurance, but tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes saw a disproportionate leap, from $1.10 to $24.78 per pound. Some predicted the tax would kill the roll-your-own industry, which had offered a cheaper alternative to packaged cigarettes.

But tobacco companies quickly adapted. The Associated Press found that as soon as the tax was on the books, companies all but shut down their roll-your-own brands and reinvented them under a less-restricted, less-taxed category: pipe tobacco. It's still destined to be rolled and smoked, but it's taxed at barely a tenth the rate, $2.83 per pound.

Normally, pipe tobacco is coarser and moister than cigarette tobacco. But nothing says it has to be. In fact, the federal government says the only distinction between the two is how it's labeled. That effectively gives tobacco marketing executives an opportunity to shape the company's tax rate. . . .

Anti-tobacco groups say it's deception, and not just because of the taxes. While flavored cigarettes are now banned in an effort to reduce the appeal of smoking to children, no such ban applies to pipe tobacco, allowing companies to sell black cherry, vanilla and other varieties. "This is a direct challenge to the federal government," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

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• Roll your own smokes popular but no safer, research finds  

The number of tobacco smokers currently in Thailand has reached 14.3 million, the latest Global Adult Tobacco Survey revealed yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Public Health Ministry is considering a proposal to the Finance Ministry to increase the tax level on hand-rolled cigarette products after finding over 7.4 million people smoke this style of cigarette. The remainder smoke manufactured cigarettes.

The Global Adult Tobacco Survey is a national household survey launched in February 2007.

Sixteen countries, home to more than half the world's smokers and bearing the highest tobacco use, were involved in the study: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russian Federation, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay and Vietnam.

Thailand was the first country to complete and release its survey . . .

He said most cigarette manufacturers are now producing more smokeless cigarettes after noting an increasing trend in smokeless tobacco use among teenagers worldwide.

To reduce the number of hand-rolled cigarette smokers, Prakit has asked the government to increase the tax level on hand-rolled cigarette products and collect tax excise to 70 per cent of product price from the current rate.

Deputy Minister of Public Health Manit Nopamornbodee said he will consult with the Finance Ministry about increasing the tax level on hand-rolled cigarette products and ya nat - traditional medicine that contains hand-rolled cigarette products. . . .

Meanwhile, Thai Network Against Tabinfo Asia 2009, led by Dr Hatai Chitanont, has submitted an open letter to Deputy Finance Minister,Prasit Pattaraprasit asking him to withdraw from the tobacco industry event he is due to open on Wednesday at Impact Arena Moung Thontani Exhibition Centre.

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• Roll-ups burn a hole in cigarette sales  

Roll-ups are making a comeback, as recession-hit smokers switch from expensive cigarettes to cheaper hand-rolled tobacco.

Customs officials cleared 159,605kg of rolling tobacco for distribution in the first nine months of this year, a 38% increase on 2008. They attributed the surge to a rise in the use of roll-your-own tobacco by smokers striving to cut costs.

A survey published last week found that Irish people are smoking more than ever, with one third of the population still lighting up, the highest rate in 11 years.

Despite hikes in tobacco tax, the ban on smoking in the workplace and a law against shops displaying cigarettes for sale, the number of smokers has risen since 2007, when 29% of the population smoked, the EU’s Help campaign found.

A 25g pack of rolling tobacco costs €8.74 but, according to Vincent Jennings, chief executive of the Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association, a thrifty smoker could roll as many as 150 cigarettes from it. Twenty cigarettes cost €8.45, though a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice last week found that Ireland’s policy of setting a minimum price for tobacco products distorts competition.

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Rolling Papers vs. Court Documents 

BBK Tobacco & Foods, doing business as HBI International, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's ban on flavored cigarette rolling papers that are sold in separate packages, according to the most recent issue of NATO E-News from the National Association of Tobacco Outlets.

"HBI is only seeking to protect its brands, namely Juicy Jays and Skunk," a company representative told NATO.

In late September, Moorpark, Calif.-based Kretek International Inc., importer and distributor of Djarum clove cigars, filed a request for declaratory judgment against the FDA in federal district court in Washington, D.C. The Kretek filing, the company said, "comes after the FDA signaled its intention to exceed its legislative authority to regulate flavored cigarettes in order to ban other tobacco products as well." (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)

In its lawsuit, BBK Tobacco & Foods argued that while the new FDA law bans flavored cigarettes and the components parts of a flavored cigarette, such as the tobacco, paper and filter, the law does not mention that the ban extends to flavored cigarette rolling papers packaged separately.

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• Lawyer denies shop makes cigarettes 

The state says a Brookline business that sells loose tobacco to customers who roll their own cigarettes on machines inside the shop is a cigarette manufacturer and is obligated to pay into a tobacco settlement fund.

But an attorney for North of the Border Tobacco, which operates under the name Tobacco Haven, told a Merrimack County Superior Court judge Tuesday that his client isn't manufacturing cigarettes and should not be obligated to pay.

Judge Larry Smukler heard arguments in the case and will issue a ruling in the next 30 to 60 days. In August, the New Hampshire attorney general's office cited the small business for possible violation of state laws, saying a violation might put the state at risk of losing millions of dollars in tobacco settlement funds.

Assistant Attorney General David Rienzo, who works for the consumer protection and antitrust bureau, said the case was the first in the state and possibly the country.

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• Roll-up cigarettes’ popularity on the rise with women, report reveals 

More than one in four adult smokers now use pouch tobacco and roll-up cigarettes, with a particularly sharp rise in the proportion of women users, research shows.

Analysis of smoking habits in England suggests a cultural shift in the use of tobacco, with one in five white-collar professionals who smoke now using roll-ups rather than conventional cigarettes.

While roll-ups may once have been the habit of the working man and the spit and sawdust pub, their use among women has risen sharply in recent years.

In 1990 just one in 50 female smokers used hand-rolled tobacco, compared with one in five in 2007.

The trend, revealed in Statistics on Smoking in England 2009, was described as partly a cultural shift -- with roll-up smoking less stigmatised and more "hip" among the middle-classes -- and partly economic, with rolling tobacco significantly cheaper as it has not been subject to severe tax rises placed on other forms of smoking.

Some famous smokers of roll-ups include the actresses Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham-Carter.

The report, compiled by the NHS Information Centre and published yesterday, also shows that the number of people aged 35 and over admitted to hospital for smoking-related diseases has risen by a fifth since 1997, from 1.2 million to 1.4 million.

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More tax money going up in smoke  

Specialty tobacco retailers in Hawai'i are bracing for the ignition of a new state law on Wednesday that dramatically increases taxes on cigars, pipe tobacco and smokeless tobacco.

The tax hike, passed by the Legislature in May, will result in state taxes accounting for half or more than half the wholesale price of such tobacco products, with consumers paying for the hike in retail purchases.

The move comes on the heals of a federal tobacco tax increase that took effect in April, and was intended to increase revenue to the state in an effort to help balance its budget.

But the higher taxes are also expected to hurt sales for retailers already suffering in the bad economy by curbing smoking for some consumers or leading them to buy tobacco elsewhere.

"It's going to kill us," said Diane Chow, manager of Kipuka Smoke Shop in Hilo.

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Smoking tax burns hole in wallets 

Governor Jodi Rell didn't sign the budget that passed in the General Assembly last week. But, it still became law today. And part of that budget increased taxes on cigarettes.

Democrats and Republicans alike jumped on the cigarette tax as a way to balance the budget in a cash-strapped year. The habit will bring in $500,000 to our state coffers.

But it will cost one-billion dollars in health-related costs. So some say we're being penny-wise and pound-foolish. And smokers, well, they're just fed-up with being a target.

"It's gonna cost me a lot of money, I won't pay it," said Leah Charney of Milford.

Charney is a woman on a mission.

She's buying tobacco, rolling papers and a machine. She plans to roll her own from here on out; an act of defiance against yet another tax increase on cigarettes.

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Roll-your-own tobacco sales rocket 

SALES of roll-your-own tobacco have rocketed so far this year, with an increase of around 60 per cent seen across Spain.

This is partly thought to be due to people's perception that loose tobacco is less harmful than cigarettes, but mainly because it is cheaper.

Others say roll-your-own cigarettes are less habit-forming, since people are less likely to smoke them if they have to spend time making them up rather than simply reaching automatically for a cigarette from a packet.

Although a pouch of tobacco, together with the rolling papers and filters required, can cost 4.50 euros, it contains enough to make 60 cigarettes, compared to a packet of 20 ready-made cigarettes at an average of three euros. . . .

Roll-your-own tobacco now represents 15 per cent of all sales, with the rest being cigarettes in packets.

This trend is more popular amongst the young, and mainly men, although a significant number of female smokers have now switched to tobacco and rolling papers.

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• Much at stake in roll-your-own suit 

Customers from near and far line up daily at the Route 13 smoke shop with the roll-your-own cigarette machines that can spit out 200 cigarettes in 10 minutes. They buy by the carton, for less than half the price of many name brands.

But state officials say the machines are making an end run around the landmark 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies, which were required to pay yearly contributions to the states. In a lawsuit filed last week, New Hampshire's attorney general contends Tobacco Haven's cigarette machines violate terms of the agreement and could jeopardize the $50 million in settlement money New Hampshire receives each year.

"At $50 million a year, we have a rather inescapable incentive here,'' said David Rienzo, an assistant attorney general.

Rienzo, along with smoking industry specialists and antismoking groups, say that higher cigarette taxes have spurred a burgeoning roll-your-own market. But until now, it has been largely confined to individuals who buy small, hand-operated rolling machines for personal use. The machines at Tobacco Haven, by contrast, are more akin to high-powered vending machines that spit out cartons of cigarettes in a matter of minutes. Such machines have cropped up across the country, and in New Hampshire prosecutors worried that they could emerge as powerful competitors to commercial cigarettes.

New Hampshire's suit, believed to be the first of its kind, argues that Tobacco Haven is essentially manufacturing cigarettes and therefore should be making contributions to the state. Tobacco Haven counters that they are strictly a retail outfit and that customers are paying to use the machines for personal use.

State officials say that by allowing a shop to make cigarettes without contributing some proceeds, they risk lawsuits from competing manufacturers angry over unequal treatment.

"At face value, this tobacco shop is in the business of making cigarettes,'' Rienzo said. "It's roughly a pack a minute, so it's not an insignificant number of cigarettes, and it really could cause us some heartburn.''

Under state law, Tobacco Haven would have to contribute about 2 cents for each cigarette sold to a set-aside fund, he said.

This week, the state ordered the shop to shut down the machines, but the two machines rolled on as usual on a recent morning, with a lengthy line of smokers from New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. . . .

Sweda had never heard of a similar lawsuit, but Burd said there are plenty of other shops that have machines like Tobacco Haven's.

Doug Kennedy, editor of Roll Your Own Magazine, which caters to custom-made cigarette smokers, said the publication has "aggressively recommended shops to walk away from making cigarettes for their customers.''

"You make a cigarette for someone, then sell it to them, you are a tobacco manufacturer,'' he said.

Kevin O'Flaherty, director of advocacy in the Northeast for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said many states are fueling the growth of roll-your-own cigarettes by taxing loose tobacco at a lower rate than store-bought cigarettes.

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