Mail Order Cigar Purchases May be Banned!

Mikes Cigar Newsletter ^ | 1-21-04 | Mike's Cigars

[wardaddy]

As early as tomorrow, the House Judiciary committee will be considering House Bill HR2824. In fact, this bill is listed to be considered for online mark up on Wednesday, January 21, 2004 at 10:00am.

Why is this important? Because its sister bill, S1177, which has already passed in the Senate eliminates your right to order cigars by mail!

It is critical that all cigar smokers email, phone or fax these representatives and request that "cigars" and "all other tobacco products" NOT BE ADDED TO HR2824.

A lot of you had problems with the email addresses in our previous email. Here is a revised list along with some fax numbers that were kindly passed along to us.

House Judiciary Committee:

Spencer Bachus, Alabama fax 202-225-2082 http://www.house.gov/bachus

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee fax 202-225-3004 http://www.house.gov/blackburn

Rick Boucher, Virginia fax 202-225-0442 http://www.house.gov/boucher ninthnet@mail.house.gov

John Carter, Texas fax 202-225-5886 http://www.house.gov/carter

Steve Chabot, Ohio fax 202-225-3012 http://www.house.gov/chabot

Howard Coble, North Carolina http://www.house.gov/coble howard.coble@mail.house.gov

Tom Feeney, Florida http://www.house.gov/feeney tom.feeney@mail.house.gov

Jeff Flake, Arizona http://www.house.gov/flake jeff.flake@mail.house.gov

J. Randy Forbes, Virginia http://www.house.gov/forbes

Bob Goodlatte, Virginia http://www.house.gov/goodlatte talk2bob@mail.house.gov

Mark Green, Wisconsin http://www.house.gov/markgreen mark.green@mail.house.gov

Melissa Hart, Pennsylvania fax 202-226-2274 http://www.house.gov/hart

John Hostettler, Indiana http://www.house.gov/hostettler/ john.hostettler@mail.house.gov

Henry Hyde, Illinois fax 202-225-1166 http://www.house.gov/hyde

William L. Jenkins, Tennessee fax 202-225-5714 http://www.house.gov/jenkins

Ric Keller, Florida fax 202-225-0999 http://keller.house.gov

Steve King, Iowa fax 202-225-3193 http://www.house.gov/steveking

Mike Pence, Indiana http://mikepence.house.gov mike.pence@mail.house.gov

Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Virginia http://www.house.gov/scott bobby.scott@mail.house.gov

F. James Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin http://www.house.gov/sensenbrenner sensenbrenner@mail.house.gov

Lamar Smith, Texas http://lamarsmith.house.gov lamar.smith@mail.house.gov

Melvin L. Watt, North Carolina http://www.house.gov/watt nc12.public@mail.house.gov

[wardaddy]

I just called every Pubbie's office on the HJC all morning. Their folks were of course all very nice....particularly the sweet girl at Marsha Blackburn's office (mine) and everyone of them knew immediately what I was calling about when I said bill 2824 and said that no Pubbie on that committee supported the cigar language and a few offered that it was well known from the top Pubbies in the House that this bill with that language would not fly in the House..no way.

We shall see. Maybe they were blowing smoke up my arse. A few volunteered that several of the Congressmen were themsleves stogie lovers or had family members in an uproar over this.

I told them that while we were small in numbers that we were overwhelmingly conservative. They all said they knew that.

No one knew who or how the language got into the Senate bill.

Regards All.

[stainlessbanner]

Good thing our representatives are discussing important issues like mail order cigars.

[cyborg]

fighting the good fight for cigar lovers everywhere

[wardaddy]

Amen...forget AWB renewal....I'm going to war over this!

[evets]

Ditto!

[wardaddy]

from what I gleaned.

"THE INSTITUTE( Cigar Lovers) HAVE BEEN HEARD FROM TODAY"

plagarizing a famous VMI cadet corps quote before the battle of New Market.

[cyborg]

VERY NICE PIC!!!

[wardaddy]

Does anyone know if Rush has been on this.

[cyborg]

He does now. I sent him a copy of the thread to his member's only email address with a nice big headline BANNING MAIL ORDER CIGARS...

[BurbankKarl]

LAPD officers: Tobacco theft ring arrested Millions of dollars involved By Ryan Oliver Staff Writer Five members of an organized crime ring were arrested Wednesday in connection with millions of dollars worth of cigarettes and cigars stolen primarily from the San Fernando Valley, officials said. Los Angeles police said they believe the suspects are connected with 30 burglaries of tobacco wholesalers and retailers in the Valley and in the Harbor area during the past year. "We have the ringleader," said Lt. Harold Hall with Los Angeles Police Department's Commercial Crimes Division shortly after the arrests. "They have definitely been prolific as far as burglaries are concerned." The suspects were all together when LAPD SWAT officers raided a business in El Monte and took them into custody on suspicion of receiving stolen property. Police were withholding the names of the suspects and the business Wednesday night. Hall said they were part of an Armenian crime organization, and said it was unclear if the men arrested actually carried out the burglaries or if they were responsible for selling the cigarettes others had stolen. Other members of the ring are still believed to be at large, he said. "We don't know who they were selling to," Hall said. "The amount involved is in the millions." The bounty also included lighters, pipes, wrappers and other tobacco products, he said. The thieves operated by punching small holes in the roofs of cigarette retailers and wholesale warehouses in order to get inside. There, they would survey the merchandise, disable alarm systems and open the doors. In an incident earlier this month, detectives believe the thieves used a pair of tractor-trailers to escape with pallets full of tobacco products from a warehouse in Sylmar. Two forklifts were also stolen from the warehouse floor. Hall said there was no evidence the men are connected with a rash of jewelry store burglaries in the San Fernando Valley, as the department had previously believed. ----------------------- Stolen Cigars and Illegal Tax Stamps (and this guy is out of jail!)

[BurbankKarl]

http://www.tobacco.org/news/130664.html

[CaptRon]

Btw, I don't know about Mikes or Holts, but Thompson's is about 30% more expensive than JR, so you might want to check the latter out.

Aside from the prices, JR has the best service I have ever experienced on the 'net. If I order my pipe tobacco (for which their prices are also great) on Monday, it is on my doorstep when I get home from work on Wednesday. Thompson's, by comparison, is the pits. I order pipes from them for which they have good deals, but I wait 10 days to 2 weeks and have waited as long as 2 months for delivery.

[wardaddy]

good work!

[Don Joe]

Years ago, I used to mail order cigars from Wally Frank. Are they still in business? Good cigars, good prices, no hassle.

[manic4organic]

This place rocks. And I'll write my dudes in D.C.

http://www.famous-smoke.com

[freekitty]

Haven'[t thise jerks got something better to do than run some poor guy who is trying to make a decent and honest living.

BTW, I am already furious that America's elected are living the American Dream while I'm not. But, I am pretty sure I'm paying for it.

[Happy2BMe]

Swisher Sweets are looking better all the time . .

[wardaddy]

their office staff made it sound to me that this was dead bill walking with the cigars in it....we'll see.

[Smokin' Joe]

I enjoyed the Churchills until Rush opened his mouth and the price tripled.

[Smokin' Joe]

Yikes! I have no local cigar store, not for 250 miles!