Free Republic

The Natural American Spirit is produced by the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, which sprang up in left-wing Santa Fe, New Mexico in the early 1980s with a new innovative approach to cigarette-making. The American Spirit consists of “100 % Additive-Free Tobacco,” without the nuanced chemical combinations that give most mass-marketed cigarettes their savory taste and potent impact. As such, the Spirit satisfies a growing niche market of left-leaning types who want smoking’s well-documented coolness without earning it through hard respiratory work. This brand’s very existence is a response to the cancer research conducted by various academic elites in the...

Trying to quit smoking? You might want to move to Oregon. A new bill would classify cigarettes as a Schedule III controlled substance, making them illegal to purchase without a doctor’s prescription. Portland Rep. Mitch Greenlick introduced the bill in the Oregon State Legislature in an attempt to reduce the number of addicted people, but has received criticism from smokers and non-smokers alike who believe the initiative is not feasible. Under Greenlick’s proposal, smokers would be charged with a misdemeanor and face up to one year’s imprisonment and a $6,250 fine for being caught with a cigarette or any of...

Millions of smokers could be priced out of health insurance because of tobacco penalties in President Obama’s health-care law, according to experts who are teasing out the potential impact of a little-noted provision in the massive legislation. The Affordable Care Act — or “Obamacare” — allows health insurers to charge smokers buying individual policies up to 50 percent higher premiums starting next Jan. 1. For a 55-year-old smoker, the penalty could reach nearly $4,250 a year...

SALEM, OR (KPTV) - If you're a regular smoker, you may want to keep an eye on a new bill in the Oregon Legislature. Rep. Mitch Greenlick, from Portland, is sponsoring a bill that makes cigarettes a Schedule III controlled substance, meaning it would be illegal to possess or distribute cigarettes without a doctor's prescription. Under the proposal, offenders would face maximum punishments of one year in prison, a $6,250 fine or both. Other drugs and substances that are considered Schedule III controlled substances are ketamine, lysergic acid and anabolic steroids. "The State Board of Pharmacy may adopt rules placing...

With all the nonsense that’s been going on in the Empire State of late – especially the Governor’s successful gun rantings - I’d begun to worry that New York was doomed for mediocrity. But for better or worse, you just can’t keep the government of this state down. If we can’t lead in freedom, prosperity or employment, we can at least be the capital of piracy. (Cigarette smuggling piracy, that is.) The Midland, Mich.-based Mackinac Center has released smuggling reports in 2006 and 2009, in addition to its most recent report covering 2011. In 2006, the Mackinac Center estimated that...

A federal judge will soon decide whether your next tank of gas or bottle of soda comes with a free apology from the Marlboro man and Joe Camel. A recent ruling ordering a multimedia blitz stating that the nation’s largest tobacco companies lied about the dangers of smoking left open the possibility that retailers could be required to post large displays with the mea culpas. Retail trade groups are upset about the possibility the displays would commandeer their most valuable selling space and imply their own guilt-by-association. …

Packs of ten cigarettes could be banned under a European proposal to crack down on smoking. The EU’s Health and Consumer Commissioner also unveiled plans to ban menthol cigarettes and to force companies to cover three quarters of their packs with a picture warning. The idea is to make smoking less attractive to children, who are more likely to buy smaller packs of cigarettes with their pocket money. Youngsters are also more likely to buy flavored cigarettes such as menthol and strawberry. … The EU wants the new rules to come into force across the continent by 2016. Under the...

Larry Summers, chair of the White House National Economic Council when the 2009 stimulus was developed, suggested that President Obama will eventually tax and regulate junk food to drive people to eat more healthily — although he dinged First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthy foods initiative.“I think there is no question that the way Americans eat and what Americans weigh is a big contributor to health problems and it’s a big contributor to health costs,” Summers said on Morning Joe today.It’s not the agenda now, but I think at some point you’re going to see tax measures and regulatory measures that...

Obama’s former chief economist Larry Summers thinks that one way to break America’s fall off the over-reported fiscal cliff is to raise taxes to the level they were under Clinton’s administration. Echoing Paul Krugman’s 90% tax rate nostalgia and pointing out that it was conservative icon Ronald Reagan who cut taxes to 50%, he said, “It’s hard to believe that raising the top tax rate to 39.6 percent — where it was under President Clinton — will do grievous damage to the economy.” Of course, Reagan also cut the top tax rate to 28% in his second term, but that’s...

Nicotine is bad for you and apparently it has the same poisonous effect on pests, getting scientists' attention for a potential alternative to traditional commercial pesticides. Tobacco and nicotine make one of the-hardest-to-get-rid-of vices of modern society – smoking, which can lead to lung cancer and early death. For hundreds of years now, tobacco leaves have been used on a small scale, as a natural organic pesticide, and as the growing concerns about health risk related to tobacco sales are harming tobacco farmers in some parts of the world, scientists looked for a new way of using this plant. Dr...

smoking ban in all closed public spaces, including coffee shops, restaurants and bars, went into force in Lebanon on Monday under new legislation that promises hefty fines for lawbreakers. In a country considered a "smokers' paradise," the law took effect a year ago in airports, hospitals and schools, but took hold on a wider basis on Monday, also banning tobacco advertisements criticised for luring youths into the habit. Smokers caught lighting up in a closed public space face a $90 penalty, while restaurant or cafe owners who turn a blind eye to offenders could be fined anything from $900 to...

PRINCETON, N.J. — The number of Americans who smoke has fallen to 20 percent, tying the all-time low first recorded in 2009, according to a new poll by Gallup. The decline is sharpest among young adults, a signal the overall rate may continue to fall after years of plateauing. "This is all very good news," said Randall Burt, professor of medicine at the University of Utah and senior director of prevention and outreach and clinical services at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. "Ultimately, less smoking will result in fewer cancer deaths, as well as a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and...

With the recent Australia's High Court dismissal of the appeal by tobacco companies against a law requiring all cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging, Australia is now on track to become the first country to prohibit branding on packs of cigarettes. Reports say Australia's court has dismissed a legal challenge from the tobacco industry targeting the Country's new restrictive tobacco marketing laws. The ruling means that from December 1 companies will be banned from displaying brand designs on cigarette packets. The packaging will require only olive-green packaging. Today, the World Health Organization strongly welcomed the "landmark" ruling.WHO Director-General...

CENTERVILLE — Sandwiched between a pair of cellphone providers and just a few rows of parking away from a pancake house, a tenant at the Centerville Marketplace advertises "cigars, hookah, gifts and more" on a storefront sign. City leaders and law enforcement officials say the Smoke Shop at 356 N. Marketplace Drive is out of place, and they want to prevent other tobacco retailers from setting up shop in the city. "It's been a continuous problem for our police department," City Manager Steve Thacker said of Centerville's lone smoke shop. The city is considering an all-out ban on tobacco retailers,...

My favorite smoke shop is closing. I first went in it as a boy, with my father. I used to stand at the glass and gaze on the brilliantly carved meerschaum bowls as he talked to the owner. Years later, when I bought the first of several pipes, it was the first place I turned. It sat on the bottom floor of the Augusta Mall for years, a fragrant scent of flavored tobaccos filling an entire section of the open breezeway. Before the nanny state ban on smoking indoors, I used to buy a cigar on lunch and sit in...

We're making great progress, but there's still much work to be done. So if you've contacted your elected official, thank you, but please continue to make your voice heard. And if you haven't, we greatly need your help to protect the future of premium handmade cigars. It's easy to sit back and imagine that this problem will fix itself, or that enough others will act and your single support is unnecessary. But the truth is, this battle is far from over. The threats are real and the potential outcome is frightening. Cigars, premium cigars, the which you regularly enjoy are...

It’s bad news for smokers and tobacco shops alike. Long regarded as a cheaper option for nicotine lovers, roll-your-own cigarettes are set to be a thing of the past as a new law is introduced by President Barack Obama. In coming days he will sign a federal highway bill with a section defining any business with roll-your-own cigarette machines as a tobacco manufacturer and upping taxes on the its products, the Chicago Sun Times reported. The move will come as a blow to smokers without brand loyalty who for years have been able to feed their habits at a fraction...

There was a brief blurb on the morning news about an increase to the tax on pipe tobacco, which many people are using for roll your own cigarettes. Does anyone have more info? I thought I heard them say it goes into effect tomorrow. I can't find info if it is a change to state law or federal law. Anybody know more about this?

One of the local smoke shops has recently started selling bulk pipe tobacco in large plastic bags. Bu "bulk" I mean 5 pound bags, which amounts to about a cubic foot. Being a smoker for too long (I know! I know!) and being somewhat into the prepper/survivalist mentality, I bought one. My question is about what I can do to keep it at the proper humidity. Thinking about transferring it to large airtight plastic containers and putting in like a moist paper towel inside a plastic sandwich bag, that sort of thing. Also, does anyone know if tobacco is light-sensitive?...

The demand for cheap cigarettes in Europe is fueling the manufacture and consumption of illicit tobacco at unprecedented levels. A report, released on Wednesday (20 June) by Philip Morris International (PMI), says Europeans smoked more than 65 billion illicit cigarettes in 2011. Of those, more than 12 billion were consumed in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and Malta. Western and central EU countries consumed a combined total of 36.5 billion. But in Spain alone, cigarette contraband jumped by 300 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. In Greece, illicit consumption increased five-fold compared to 2008. “Despite efforts by law enforcement authorities...