Your Suggestions Needed!
August 5th 2010 Posted at Breaking News, FDA News, General News, Tobacco Politics
5 Comments 
Hang on! We got something for you to do, and this means YOU!
I would like for you to go to our spanking new Tobacco Talk page and take a look at a new Alcohol, Tobacco and Trade Bureau (TTB) proposal that will eventually distinguish between pipe tobacco and roll-your-own (RYO) cigarette tobacco.
As you probably know, this is crucial for pipe smokers. Pipe tobacco is being taxed by the feds today at $2.8311 per pound and RYO is being hit up for $24.78 per pound. Several congressmen, such as U.S. Rep. Stephen Cohen of Memphis, TN., want to marry pipe tobacco to RYO so the feds can get a 775 percent increase in tax revenue from tobacco.
The TTB has posted the regulations in the Federal Register and has asked for comments. Now, that’s a mighty fine idea.
We want you to do just that, and we will take the best and put them in a letter to the TTB, which will one day rule on the distinguishing characteristics of pipe tobacco vs. RYO. Deadline for the federal comments is September 20, 2010.
We’d like to get your suggestions say by Sept. 10. That will give us time to get through your suggestions, choose the best and write up a nice letter to TTB.
And, by the way, we are joining forces with PipesMagazine.com in this project.
Do not fail to give us your suggestions as to how the federal government should distinguish between pipe tobacco and RYO cigarette tobacco.
You need to do this.
Why? Because your future with your favorite pipe tobacco could very well be at stake. Read the proposed federal regulations. Read what Altadis, Inc., the tobacco giant, has suggested. Get in on the act. This is about you and your pipe tobacco. It is like voting. It is American! A duty! It is the right thing to do!
Trust me on this. Pipesmokers need all the help they can get in this fight.
You can make your suggestions in one of two ways: just post your suggestion in the comment bpc at the end of the TTB Federal Register proposal, which is posted in its entirety in Tobacco Talk.
Or, you can send me an email at editor@pipesmokersintelligencer.org
I will collect the best of these suggestions as to what you would like to see as the best way to define ”pipe tobacco” and send them to PipesMagazine.com as well as compile a PSI list. Between the two of us, PipesMagazine.com and PSI there should be a lot of suggestions as to how this should play out.
Do this today.
Or don’t say you were not amply warned when the big federal sledge hammer falls on your favorite pipe tobacco blend. The feds are after us. This is your opportunity to make your voices heard in one collective shout-out.
Failing to follow through, will place you with the read ‘em and weep crowd.
As for me, give me liberty, or give me. . . Wait, I’m sorry. I lost my train of thought.
You get the idea.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Merely a thought.., by what authority does the federal government say, that a pipe smoker must, by legal decree, submit to only smoking of pipe tobacco? What if, some opt to cigar leaf? What if I am low on cash and can only (yuck!) afford a three-pack of cigarettes to break up into my pipe bowl? This is classic tyranny in its purist form. I am of the same bolt of fabric as our Founding Fathers, and suggest a review of the IMBECILES employed by, and running, our government. As a matter of national survival, the abolishment of some entire branches of government is duly warranted. If God be for us…
Pipe smokers, by tradition, have always been reasonable people. We support our government, we pay taxes implied, regardless of displeasure or burden. This too, had been the situation previous to the American Revolution, and I would like to present a brief quotation of another pipe smoker of long ago.
Thomas Paine; Common Sense, Introduction to the Third Edition, as posted by U.S. History: “…a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom.”
Pipe smoking is, our custom. Taxation and regulation are cited as being right, by politicians and bureaucrats. The time for challenge to governmental meddling is upon us. A lack of defense, or a lack of spirited defense, will, in deed, be our ruin. Of all the uncountable things in which taxation would be proper, the boneheads in government have chosen to assail peaceful persons, on par to the actions of the Third Reich in their conquest of Europe, which went relatively unopposed until the axis powers went too far, too boldly, and unchallanged by the anger of peoples who sacrificed so much, in the cause of Freedom and Liberty.
It must be made clear to government, that pipe smokers not only vote, but are also financial contributors, and endeavors of government to further tax or regulate tobacco, are to be ceased and desisted. Coffers are better spent when turning their attention elsewhere, in venue of matters outside of the realm of pipe smoking. Should government fail to do so, it should be made clear that it will mean their political Waterloo, and the bufoons employed by government are within the grasp of having their employment terminated as result of hostile actions versus pipe smokers.
The time is here, when we must, for the sake of our own survival as pipe smokers, make it clear, that the government must stand down, on this issue. Government cornered pipe smokers, now the government will receive full measure of wrath concerning this matter, but only if we stand up to them.
Godspeed.
Mr. Brizzi
I am sorry, but you are a year too late. The F.T.C.A. (ACT) was passed and is now in the implementation phase. The Government is not going to stand down. The Government is moving ahead with implementation. While I fully agree with your remarks, it is simply too late.
If there is anything further that you can do, it will certainly appear on this site. By the way, did you post an opinion on the differential aspects of RYO and pipe tobacco as requested on this site? That was our last chance as far as I am concerned. It would now appear it is even too late for that based on the “Latest News” in this Forum.
Don’t misunderstand me. You and I agree. But, it is simply too late in the game, unfortunately. The Law is now the Law and we are at the mercy of the implementation results now taking shape.
I did have knowledge of it. At the top of this page, a date notation of August 2010 does appear. Another thought is that the political climate is rather volitile for incumbants and bureaucrats at this moment, in anticipation of first, November 2010 Midterm Elections, and culminating with the 2012 Presidential contest. Why go down? Rocky Marciano, said: “The sign of a great fighter is not how many times he gets knocked down to the mat, but how many times he gets back up, that counts.”
If it is not in step with editorial policy, I will remain off this site.
Mr. Brizzi:
I am the editor of PSI. I set policy and I do not know what editorial mishap has taken place that makes you think I would limit your ability to write or respond to anything on this site. I can assure you, you are in step as long as we do not make personal attacks. I want opinions, not personal attacks. As far as I can see, you are right on target and I for one agree with your posts and find them refreshing. I do not want you to refrain from posting to PSI. We are all made better by it, and if someone has offended you, let me know. I will take care of the issue pronto.
Fred Brown