Despite tobacco's bad name, father and son start a cigarette firm and find success. But it hasn't all been smooth.
Jump to full article: Los Angeles Times, 2008-07-06
Author: Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Intro: So imbued with the tobacco culture was Bailey that in the 1990s -- recently married and expecting his first child -- he took a gamble: Despite all the evidence of health risks and the increasing government efforts to curb smoking and regulate manufacturers, he joined his father in taking the giant step of beginning to make their own cigarettes.
The idea could have bankrupted the family. Instead, it has paid off handsomely. Bailey's "Freedom of Choice" cigarettes are sold from Florida to Delaware. The company, based in this sleepy farm town of 800, is thriving and has expanded into new products, including a smokeless brand.
The Baileys' successful plunge reflects the enduring hold cigarettes have on smokers as well as the lobbying power of the tobacco industry and Congress' sympathy for small business, almost regardless of the product.
The push for stricter tobacco regulation has caused the family some anxious moments -- most recently over the current congressional effort to allow the Food and Drug Administration to subject cigarettes to federal standards intended to reduce the ill effects of smoking.
But now, after some adroit lobbying, the bill has been modified to cushion and delay the impact on small producers. As it stands, the Baileys believe, even FDA supervision would be manageable. . . .
Steven acknowledged, "One could argue, 'What kind of example am I setting? Why am I smoking?' I need to consider that."
If he catches either of his sons smoking before they're 18, he said, "I'll jerk a knot in them."
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