Just a quickie to whet your appetites: I have an interview coming up with legendary cigar manufacturer Rocky Patel on tobacco laws, trends, the FDA and more. You might be surprised to learn that Rocky is also a bit concerned about China and India! We will have art to go with the story, of...
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I just received an email from Kevin at PipesMagazine.com which has kicked up something of a brouhaha. I am all for it, of course. Here’s the deal: Orland Florida Orange County Mayor Richard T. Crotty apparently signed a secret executive order late last year that prohibits smoking in any county-owned property, place, land, beach, sidewalk, park,...
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Well, amigos, New York City, the Big Apple, and its anti-smoking mayor, Michael Bloomberg, have come up with another doozie. This time the state’s lawmakers voted to increase taxes on a pack of cigarettes by $1.60, raising the overall tax per pack to $4.35, the highest in the nation. The minimum price for a...
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Tags: Michael Bloomberg, New York City, taxes
Posted in Breaking News, General News, Tobacco Politics | 1 Comment »
Well, pard, you best be packing your heat when you come to a bar or restaurant in Tennessee. But, uh, please leave your smokes at the door. We don’t want tobacco attitudes in our restaurants or bars, especially where children and alcohol are present. You didn’t hear? Well, the Tennessee Legislature just passed a...
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Tags: Tennesse, Tennessee Legislature
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As promised, here are some thoughts on the Palmetto State as I live and breathe. I have been in South Carolina now for a few days. I don’t like what I see. In the trip from Tennessee to here, I saw only one tobacco field, but I did see planted field upon field of...
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Tags: BP, Robert A. Heinlein, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control
Posted in Breaking News, Tobacco Politics | No Comments »
There he goes again. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, the misguided politician who wants to raise your pipe tobacco taxes to the astronomical level of 775 percent, has shot his mouth off again. This time, however, he has some company. Seems that Cohen and Daniel Morris, who tracks tobacco production data at the Oregon Department...
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Tags: CHIP, loophole, RYO, Steve Cohen
Posted in Breaking News, General News | 3 Comments »
Now it’s the global anti-smoking nuts who are rising up to take a bite out of the ol’ apple. The news from Kentucky’s burley tobacco growers is that new proposed regulations coming from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) could lead to a worldwide ban on blended, American-style cigarettes...
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Tags: tobacco control, WHO
Posted in Breaking News, Tobacco Politics | 3 Comments »
Well, now. While the nation has been quick to damn tobacco, the rule makers have not been watching the back door as some really evildoers got away. The Food and Drug Administration, the huge federal bureaucracy that sets and gauges standards for our foods and drugs, has been working overtime to destroy the tobacco...
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Tags: FDA, Gulf of Mexico, oil, painkillers
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I luuuv theees Kountry! The United States is the only place on the globe which allows Big Oil British Petroleum to kill the Gulf of Mexico and threaten the life of the East Coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As for the U.S., it’s Drill Baby Drill, Kill Baby Kill! We act as though British...
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Tags: Gulf of Mexico, oil spill
Posted in Breaking News, General News, Tobacco Politics | 1 Comment »
Ok, pipe tobacco smokers, you need to take a look at Like the Dew website. It carries some new information on U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-TN, who wants to up the price you pay for pipe tobacco by 775 percent. You will see what sort of representation we have in Washington. Is this the...
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Tags: John McCain, Steve Cohen, Tea Party
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