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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A Case-Control Study of Smoking and Bladder Cancer Risk: Emergent Patterns Over Time  

Conclusions: Smoking-related risks of bladder cancer appear to have increased in New Hampshire since the mid-1990s. Based on our modeling of pack-years and intensity, smoking fewer cigarettes over a long time appears more harmful than smoking more cigarettes over a shorter time, for equal total pack-years of cigarettes smoked. . . .

Contribution

Overall, current smokers, compared with never-smokers, had more than a five fold higher risk of bladder cancer. Among New Hampshire residents, there was a statistically significant progressive increase over each time period in bladder cancer risk among both former and current smokers compared with never-smokers.

Implications

The smoking-related risks of bladder cancer appear to have increased over time, at least among New Hampshire residents.

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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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• Bladder cancer risks increase over time for smokers 

Risk of bladder cancer for smokers has increased since the mid-1990s, with a risk progressively increasing to a level five times higher among current smokers in New Hampshire than that among nonsmokers in 2001-2004, according to a new study published online November 16 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Furthermore, researchers found that among individuals who smoked the same total number of cigarettes over their lifetime, smoking fewer cigarettes per day for more years may be more harmful than smoking more cigarettes per day for fewer years.

It is well known that cigarette smoking causes bladder cancer, but the influence of various parameters of smoking history, including trends in risk over time, is unclear.

Dalsu Baris, M.D., Ph.D., of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, in Bethesda, Md., and her colleagues from NCI, Dartmouth Medical School, and the departments of health for the states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, examined bladder cancer risk in relation to smoking practices based on data from a large, population-based case-control study conducted in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont from 2001 to 2004.

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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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Cigarette suspected in fatal Seabrook fire  

Officials suspect a discarded cigarette may have caused a fatal fire at a Collins Street home early Saturday morning.

Fire officials determined the blaze that killed Charles Hewitt, 20, originated on the rear porch of 41 Collins St. The area in question, according to New Hampshire fire investigator Tom Riley, was used by those who lived there as a smoking area.

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NH students celebrate ban on flavored cigarettes  

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg is heading to Dover to thank students who helped push for the ban on flavored cigarettes that took effect earlier this week.

Gregg, who authored the language banning the candy-, fruit- and clove-flavored cigarettes, will meet Friday with Dover Youth to Youth, an after-school drug prevention program. Members have been lobbying Gregg and other lawmakers for years to ban the cigarettes, which health and federal authorities say are more appealing to youth.

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The First Annual C. Everett Koop, MD Tobacco Treatment Conference (PDF) 

We encourage you to attend the “First Annual C. Everett Koop, MD Tobacco Treatment Conference” to be held at the Lake Morey Inn in Fairlee, Vermont on Friday, September 18, 2009. Nationally recognized expert on tobacco, Founder and Director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTI), Michael C. Fiore, MD, MPH, MBA, will provide the keynote address for a stimulating day on innovative approaches to current evidence-based tobacco treatment.

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Doctors discuss nicotine addiction at conference 

Physicians from across the nation gathered to discuss smoking-related issues in the first-annual C. Everett Koop Tobacco Treatment Conference, held on Sept. 18 and sponsored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop ’37 gained national attention as surgeon general in part because of his work to increase awareness about the dangers of smoking tobacco.

The event’s speakers highlighted emerging treatments for nicotine dependence and discussed the updated clinical guidelines for treating tobacco addiction. Attendees also completed an instructional clinic focusing on motivational interviewing techniques that may help patients stop smoking.

University of Wisconsin professor Michael Fiore presented the keynote lecture, “Treating Tobacco Dependence: New Clinical Practice Guidelines,” which focused on new strategies and medications that can be used to help people quit smoking. Roughly 20 percent of Americans have a smoking habit, he said.

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Reaction mixed to possible anti-smoking bill 

State Rep. Susan Kepner, D-Hampton, announced last week that she is considering putting forth a bill in the upcoming legislative cycle that would outlaw smoking at playgrounds, outdoor concerts and other places where a significant number of people congregate outdoors.

"I'm still trying to figure out the wording and exactly what it will entail," Kepner said.

New Hampshire already bans smoking in public buildings, offices and work places, except in smoking areas that are effectively segregated.

Smoking is also banned in schools, child care agencies, hospitals, grocery stores, elevators, buses, tramways, restaurants and bars.

Beachgoers at Hampton Beach were not thrilled Friday afternoon with the idea of seeing more places where they won't be able to partake in a cigarette.

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Cigar Association of NH holds car race for rights 

The Cigar Association of New Hampshire sponsors The Cigar 100 at the All-Star Speedway Oct. 10. The race replaces the ISMA Classic, an annual staple of the International Super Modified Association racing circuit.

The cigar association, made up of New Hampshire members of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, lobbies for the rights of its members and customers to sell and enjoy premium cigars in the state. IPCPR members are small, businesses that are, for the most part, family-owned smokeshops or manufacturers and distributors of premium cigars, pipes and related accoutrements.

"Irrational smoking bans and tobacco excise taxes have made it more difficult for anyone in the 'Live Free or Die' state to enjoy a premium cigar. They are driving our small businesses into the ground," said Roy Kirby, president of CANH and owner of Two Guys Smoke Shop in Seabrook. . . .

Participating cigar and tobacco-related brands include: Alec Bradley, Ashton, Avo, CAO, Camacho, Cusano, Drew Estates, El Tiante, Hammer & Sickle, HC by Xikar, Heaven, J. Fuego, Kristoff, Oliva, Ortsac, Perdomo, Padron, Punch, Tatuaje, and Villiger.

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No butts about it 

A local legislator said one way to deal with the ongoing problem of cigarette butts at Hampton Beach is simply to ban smoking there.

State Rep. Susan Kepner, D-Hampton, told selectmen this week she is thinking about submitting a bill in the coming legislative session that would ban smoking at state parks in New Hampshire.

The bill would also outlaw smoking at playgrounds, outdoor concerts and other places where a significant amount of people congregate outdoors.

"I'm still trying to figure out the wording and exactly what it will entail," Kepner said.

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Lawmaker considers ban on smoking at local beaches  

A local legislator said one way to deal with the problem of cigarette butts at the beach is simply to ban smoking there.

State Rep. Susan Kepner, D-Hampton, told the town's Board of Selectmen this week she is thinking of submitting a bill in the coming legislative session that would ban smoking at state parks in New Hampshire. The bill would also outlaw smoking at playgrounds, concerts and other places where a significant amount of people congregate outdoors.

"I'm still trying to figure out the wording and exactly what it will entail," Kepner said.

Discussion over Kepner's bill arose during a meeting between the town's local delegation and selectmen. The local delegation met with the board to ask which issues selectmen would like representatives to tackle in Concord in the upcoming legislative cycle.

Selectman Rick Griffin said his biggest pet peeve as of late has been the number of cigarette butts left at the beach.

"It's a huge problem and it's so offensive," he said.

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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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Six Portsmouth stores fined for selling tobacco to minors  

The state Liquor Commission Bureau of Enforcment recently fined six Port City businesses for selling tobacco products to an underage person during a series of compliance checks.

The BX Express at 803 Lafayette Road and Samuel Fuels at 1400 Lafayette Road were both cited for selling to minors on Aug. 3 and each received a $250 fine from the commission

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