Cigarette Machines Draw Protests

Using a roll-your-own cigarette machine is easy enough. The machine automatically fills each tube with tobacco and then ejects the finished cigarette into a collection bin, an eight-minute process that produces the equivalent of a carton of cigarettes —10 packs of 20. But officials in some states say operating the machines without a cigarette manufacturer’s license is illegal. In August, Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, on behalf of Kevin B. Sullivan, state commissioner of revenue services, filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in Hartford against Tracey’s Smoke Shop and Tobacco LLC for illegally manufacturing cigarettes at its two Connecticut stores. Tracey Scalzi, the stores’ owner, said she owns four of the machines at the two stores, which opened about a year ago.

Driver Arrested for Untaxed Cigarettes

Genesee County Sheriff's Deputies stopped a Rochester man who was driving erratically and charged him with transporting more than 15,000 untaxed Kiss cigarettes. Deputies arrested Nedal Abdul Mansour, 48, in the Town of Pembroke. They found 15,560 untaxed cigarettes in his vehicle. Lawmen believe he was trying to transport them across Indian reservation lines. Mansour faces one felony count of possessing and transporting over 10,000 untaxed cigarettes. Those cigarettes cannot be legally removed en masse from a reservation or re-sold elsewhere. Deputies say Abdul was also driving with a revoked license. He was given an appearance ticket.

Women with Breast Implants Shouldn't Smoke

Plastic surgeon warns that smoking may cause women who’ve undergone surgery to lose their nipples. Plastic surgeons have warned that women with breast implants should take care not to smoke – they face the risk of losing a part of their breasts – nipples. Top plastic surgeon Dr Anthony Youn warned on CNN’s health blog The Chart, that smoking before or after a breast lift surgery can cause a woman’s nipples to turn black and fall off. “Women smokers who undergo breast lifts are at great risk of losing their nipples,” he wrote. According to him, “The nicotine in cigarettes and the carbon monoxide contained in cigarette smoke can diminish blood flow to various parts of the body. These toxins act as a virtual tourniquet. If the blood flow to a particular body part becomes greatly reduced or halted, that body part dies.” He goes on to say that in his memoirs, he tells the story of a smoker whose nipples turned purple while undergoing a breast lift surgery. "Purple is the precursor to black. Black is the precursor to falling off.” He ends his blog post by saying “smokers, you have been warned.”

Sower Progress Toward Reducing Teen Tobacco Use

Tobacco use by teens decreased at a slower rate between 2008 and 2011 and more than 50 percent of high-schoolers are still exposed to secondhand smoke The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) today (Monday, Dec. 5) released new information showing that after a decade of sharp declines in tobacco use among teens, progress is slowing. In addition, more than 50 percent of high school students are still exposed to secondhand smoke, despite the passage of the Freedom to Breathe Act in 2007. Equally concerning is that the use of menthol cigarettes has more than doubled among teen smokers since 2000. These findings are included in the report, Teens and Tobacco in Minnesota 2011; Results from the Minnesota Youth Tobacco and Asthma Survey. “We’ve made great progress in reducing tobacco use since 2000, but the most recent findings in this new report give us little to celebrate,” said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health. “We are failing our youth when you consider that they use tobacco at higher rates than adults and are still being exposed to secondhand smoke. We are setting them up for a future of tobacco-related illness and premature death.”

Excise Hike on Cigarettes

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that to protect vulnerable people in society, he is proposing to provide a waiver of the household charge of €100 per dwelling for those on mortgage interest supplement and those in certain categories of unfinished housing estates. Provision will also be made to allow payment of the €100 in instalments. The household charge is set to raise €160m a year and is an interim measure pending the design and implementation of a full property tax from 2014. The Minister also said he is initiating a consultation period with the motor industry and other interested parties to start early next year to review options for the improvement in VRT and motor tax in future years. But in the meantime, the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan will make a provision for an increase in motor tax from January 1. Mr Noonan said this will generate about €47m in 2012 to be used for Exchequer deficit reduction proposals.

Chinese to Smoke Cigarettes from Prilep

Production of two cigarette brands for the Chinese market will start in two weeks, announced the head of tobacco company Tutunski kombinat Prilep, Aleksandar Dermendziev. The Macedonian company signed an agreement with Chinese company Konge-Konge in July. This is very good news for the Macedonian tobacco industry. "We expect to increase the production by three times. We have already received orders for 20,000 bags, which is some 200 tons. In this way,the use of capacities, which is at 20 percent now, will increase," Dermendziev said. He also revealed that a container with cigarettes has already been sent to the UAE. Export of cigarettes to this country is expected to grow.

Tobacco has a Lifetime Consequences for Kids

In my job at the Summit Community Care Clinic, parents every day tell me they feel alone in their fight to protect kids from tobacco and other substance abuse. And the fight becomes even harder when the big tobacco companies come into our county targeting children with their colorful, trendy products designed to entice kids to buy. It's not just about cigarettes anymore, either. Now, tobacco companies like R.J. Reynolds are test-marketing dissolvable tobacco products that come in the form of orbs, sticks and strips — including right here in Summit County. I am very worried about kids using these products at a younger and younger age. These products look like candy and are very colorful and attractive. They are intended for children and youth consumption.

New Anoka Store Sells Only E-Cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes didn't seem to catch on after their Twin Cities debut two years ago. But an Anoka man is betting they will now, thanks to improved technology and falling prices. Steven Ryan opened the eCigs Shop in Anoka last month. The store specializes in and only sells electronic cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes are tobacco-free. They don't emit an offensive odor and according to Ryan cost about one-tenth the price of the real thing. Ryan first tried electronic cigarettes because after trying everything from acupuncture to the nicotine patch to stop smoking, he was still a two-packs-a-day smoker. Ryan said, "This is for those people who have tried everything and they are basically stuck on cigarettes." Newer devices come in a variety of shapes and styles. Some look like cigarettes, some like cigars, some even resemble cell phones. They are customizable, unlike Ryan says, the versions that first hit the Twin Cities a couple years ago.

Cigarettes Paid for with Tax Dollars

Tax dollars are paying for discount Viceroy cigarettes in Missouri. A Schnucks checker contacted News 4 after selling a pack of cigarettes to a customer who paid with EBT cash. The purchase was only six dollars and three cents, but James Mason says, "that's upsetting to me. It's taxpayer money and we are buying cigarettes for people on EBT." Cigarette and alcohol transactions are blocked when a customer tries to pay with food stamps, but the transactions are not blocked when the customer pays with EBT cash. EBT cash comes from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (T.A.N.F) program. In Missouri TANF payments totaled $119,458,224 this fiscal year. In Illinois TANF payments totaled $148,653,866 during the same time period. The money is loaded on the same cards that are used to for food stamps.

Smoking Ban Still Divisive

One year after South Dakota voters banned smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos -- 65 percent to 35 percent -- few dispute that the smoking ban has left a major mark on the state. The state budget has seen video-lottery and cigarette-tax revenue plummet by 10 percent to 20 percent. On the other hand, doctors say the health of the state's residents has improved in immediate as well as long-lasting ways. Businesses that allowed smoking in the past, meanwhile, say the new law has driven away customers and hurt the bottom line. Among the most wide-ranging effects of the ban appears to be that fewer people are smoking. In 2010, only 15.4 percent of South Dakotans smoked, down from 22.7 percent in 2003. Smoking data for 2011 isn't yet available, but from July 2010 to June 2011, South Dakotans bought 75 million fewer cigarettes -- a 9 percent decline and the first decline in three years, according to data from the state Department of Health. "We know from many other states that the fewer places available to smoke, the more people will want to quit," said Dr. Allen Nord, a Rapid City physician and anti-smoking advocate.

Smoking Ban Amendments

A clear message from Springfield City Council Tuesday: there will be no changes to the recently passed smoking ordinance. Council met Tuesday to take up discussions on possible amendments to that citywide ban. During the Council Luncheon, Councilwoman Cindy Rushefsky opposed any changes to the recently passed ordinance. "If I'm alive and present, you're not going to have a unanimous vote," she said. Because it takes unanimous approval to make changes to any law, Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Stephens decided to end discussions and the meeting. Council members were set to hear about five different amendments requested by council members. Those are whether to allow smoking discount Hilton cigarettes in theatrical productions, some cigar bars, some tobacco shops, and veterans organizations like the VFW and American Legion Halls. The last is a repeal of the entire ordinance presented by Councilman Doug Burlison. Councilwoman Rushefsky says she's adamantly against changing what was passed by voters. "If there needed to be an exception, it should have been made to the voters and it still can be proposed to the voters." She says unless voters decide the smoking ordinance is not what they want, she will not impose her opinion.

Japan Tobacco Net Jumps 24%

Japan Tobacco Inc. reported a 24% increase in its fiscal second-quarter net profit on lower tax expenses.

The world's third-largest tobacco company by sales volume after Philip Morris International Inc. and British American Tobacco PLC also said it remains undecided about buying back its own shares to cushion the disruptive impact on the stock market unless full privatization is on the table.

Currently, the Japanese government is the company's biggest shareholder with a 50% stake.

The Marlboro Man and the Tobacco Industry

The Winston Man Dave Goerlitz spoke to about 50 people on the Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) Taylorsville Redwood Campus on October 26, 2011.

Goerlitz talked about the dangers of tobacco and how the industry affects children through advertising.

“The Marlboro Man can’t be here today because he’s…” Goerlitz points the microphone at the audience whose members responded with “Dead.”

Making about $100,000 a year, Goerlitz says that it was his job to make smoking look good for guys.

Goerlitz says that children are confused. They know that smoking is bad because it smells bad and teachers tell them it is bad, but when they see their parents smoking and ads that depict beautiful people doing adventurous things while smoking, they aren’t sure how to sort out the incongruities.

Ninety-three percent of tobacco users start using before they are 14 years old.

Vasquez Wants Smoking Restrictions

Councilman Fernando Vasquez wants the City Council to restrict smoking cigarettes at parks and public gatherings.

Vasquez requested the council consider the issue at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“I really only want restrictions in public areas, like parks, or at special events, like Taste of Downey,” he said. “I don’t want any restrictions on private property. None at all.”

He mentioned an effort by the Kiwanis Green Team this month in which members of the team collected 4,000 cigarette butts at Downey’s Parks.

The Green Team is a group of environmentally concerned youth.

“I mean, the right of a child to breathe healthy air at a clean park should supersede the right of people to smoke around kids,” Vasquez said.

Vasquez’s efforts are sure to meet stiff resistance from Councilman Mario Guerra, who unsuccessfully tried to shoot down a similar effort in August. But the issue never came to vote because Vasquez was absent from the meeting.

Smoking Hookah Dangerous in Lebanon

What is known here in Lebanon as the Narjileh, also known as Hubble bubble, shisha, or Al Fakher tobacco hookah, has become an everyday way of leisure.

When you go to restaurants close by the Beirut sea shore, almost every table has two or more hookas being smoked.

The irony of the situation is that many smokers believe that smoking a narjileh is much lighter and therefore less harmful than the hazards of cigarette smoking:

It wouldn't take you long to find a Hubble bubble store, where you can buy pipes, tobacco, hoses, coal containers, and tongs. The latest trend is home delivery.
Even people under the age of 18 seem to be victims of the social pressure to smoke a hookah as a relaxing pastime with friends.

Cheap Cigarette Machines Warnings

Trading Standards officers will crackdown on pubs selling cheap Chesterfield cigarettes from vending machines from October 1.

It becomes illegal to sell tobacco in public areas in pubs and bars from next month.

Trading Standards officers have pledged to carry out spot checks throughout Coventry and Warwickshire and publicans found to have an operating vending machine could face fines and prosecution.

City councillor Joe Clifford, chairman of Coventry’s Smokefree Alliance, said: “For far too long cigarette vending machines have provided an easy and unsupervised route for young people to get hold of tobacco.

“Getting rid of tobacco from these machines will help to make cigarettes less accessible to children and will play a role in encouraging young people to choose not to start smoking in the first place.”