Work-Arounds Begin

The Work-arounds have begun.

The Associated Press has released a story about how the importer, Kretek International Inc., which has 97 percent of the American clove cigarette market, is moving to bypass the FDA ban on clove smokes.

It’s a novel approach, and you will see more of this as time goes on. Kretek brings the Djarum brand of clove cigarettes from Indonesia. And now, the California-based importer, is developing a filtered cigar, about the size of a cigarette, flavored with, you guessed it, clove, plus vanilla and cherry. This will effectively avoid new federal laws banning flavored cigarettes other than menthol.

Right away, the antis have jumped this new little “bend” in the law.

AP quotes Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids:

”The key is the legislation gives the FDA the authority to respond to these types of frankly totally irresponsible actions,” Myers said.

A spokesman for the Kretek company says it is preposterous to call the clove cigarettes a “starter cigarette” for kids. Clove smokes hold just 1 percent of the market, the spokesman says, not likely to influence the smoking habits of anyone.

What is likely to happen, however, is this action is going to force people who like cloves to either switch to the small cigarette-like cigars, or to quit smoking all together.

You can read the AP report here.