Cigarettes Best News & Tobacco Articles

For the president of the Pipe and Cigar club, social smoking is a remedy for late nights of studying and long days of labs and lectures – it even gives him a leg up when job hunting. David Zukley, a senior in the College of Technology, enjoys being the president of a club where he can unwind from the stresses of the day and socialize, all while smoking his favorite cigar.

Zukley, who initially joined the club because of his love for cigars and his interest in the different flavors and textures of the product, has found it gives him something interesting to talk about with recruiters at career fairs. “When company recruiters see on my resume that I’m a part of this club, a whole new line of conversation is created. On occasion, I’ve even shared a ‘stogie’ with those recruiters after the job fair.” The Pipe and Cigar Club meets every Thursday to smoke fine tobacco, educate each other on proper smoking etiquette and discuss everything from politics to the classes they are taking. “I enjoy smoking cigars or pipe tobacco with people because we create a bond from this shared experience,” Zukley said. “No matter how different I am from a person, we can have a long conversation about what we are smoking, and what we do and don’t like about it.”

Besides the social and career boost occasional smoking gives to some, Travis Price, a junior in the Undergraduate Studies Program and self-proclaimed social smoker, said that having a cigarette before a big exam helps him get rid of any last minute jitters so he can take his test with confidence. “I’m not a chain smoker,” Price said. “I can live without smoking a cigarette every day, but I have to admit that having one or two before I go take a test or anything else that gives me a lot of anxiety helps me to calm down and gather my thoughts.” Zukley, who does not care for cigarettes, said cigars and pipes are healthier because unlike cigarettes, cigar and pipe smoke is never inhaled. “Smoking cigars and pipes is arguably healthier than cigarettes, and a majority of cigar and pipe smokers smoke less often,” Zukley said.

“I keep an active lifestyle, and I wouldn’t be able to do a lot of the activities I like if I smoked cigarettes.” Many people who smoke hookah also believe that it’s a healthier alternative to cigarettes, but Miriam Brown, coordinator for Alcohol and Other Drugs Education at the Purdue Student Wellness Office, begs to differ.

An anti-smoking group says a claim that Missouri’s proposed tax increase on cigarettes could lead to a drop in revenue is false, but opponents of the increase say their study looks at sales tax revenue — not the tobacco tax increase but rather the resultant effects. Stan Cowan, a board member of Tobacco-Free Missouri, cites a national study by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids that shows all 16 states that raised per-pack cigarette taxes at least 50 cents between 2006 and 2009 experienced both a decline in pack sales and an increase in revenue.

The same study found states that do not increase cigarette taxes tend to lose revenue over time due to an overall drop in smoking rates. Those that increased taxes less than a quarter a pack saw no significant bump in revenue. “This isn’t theory,” Cowan told Missouri Watchdog. “This is hard numbers.” Voters will decide on Proposition B at the polls Nov. 6. The ballot measure would increase the state tax rate on most cigarette packs from 17 cents to 90 cents, or a 430 percent increase.

The Missouri Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association, the group leading the fight against the tax, commissioned a study by University of Missouri economics professor Joseph Haslag. If the increase passes, the study predicts state and local sales taxes would drop by $67 million, because 157 million fewer packs of cigarettes would be sold. “I readily admit you will generate more tobacco tax revenue for the state,” said Ronald Leone, executive director of MPCA. “What Haslag did was look at the sales tax revenue.

The MPCA says the tax increase would result in a drop of state and local sales taxes. “It should be noted Haslag was paid by MPCA to write this report,” Cowan said. He points to Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s ballot summary of Proposition B that estimates an additional $283 million to $423 million in annual tax revenue would result from the increase. Some cigarette rates will increase even more if the measure passes.

Cigarette makers including Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) and British American Tobacco Plc (BATS) are fighting a last-ditch battle against a smoking crackdown in Russia, with three weeks left to change the government’s mind.

Russia should scale back the proposal that would ban smoking in public places, tobacco sponsorship and cigarette sales in kiosks, Alexander Shokhin, head of the Union of Industrialists, a lobby group for big business, said yesterday. Government legal advisers in August reversed their original approval of the anti-tobacco bill, recommending changes to the planned measures. While cigarette producers and the business sector support steps to cut tobacco-related health damage, “it’s another question how exactly to proceed and which measures are effective and which aren’t,” Shokhin said in Moscow.

“In several countries, a total ban has had the opposite effect.” President Vladimir Putin wants to curb smoking and alcohol consumption to stem the country’s population decline. Thirty- nine percent of the 143 million people in Russia, the world’s largest tobacco market behind China, are habitual smokers, according to the World Health Organization. That compares with 28 percent in China and 27 percent in the U.S.

Tobacco retailers on the Iowa side of the Missouri River could see a big boost in business as Omaha leaders consider a new cigarette tax. The proposal would add 35-cents per pack to the cost of cigarettes sold in Omaha, which Omaha Tobacco Outlet owner Bob Wagner fears will send his store’s profits into the ashtray.

“Any tax is horrible,” Wagner says. “My customers are so price-conscious, if they can get a carton from a competitor of mine who is three miles down the road, I’m going to be hard-pressed.” Omaha leaders are considering the cigarette tax hike as a way to help pay for the construction of a new cancer treatment and research center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

It could create 1,200 jobs by 2020. If the cigarette tax hike passes, Wagner guesses many Omaha smokers will make the short trip across the bridge to Council Bluffs to buy their cartons. “Certainly everybody wants jobs, but if this passes, at a minimum I’m probably going to have to let go of two people and then pray that I can keep my doors open,” Wagner says. He says a 64-cent per pack cigarette tax hike was first suggested, but that was cut to 35-cents a pack. He hopes the proposal will be defeated, but is worried.

“This is a direct hit, a gut punch to the blue collar workers in the city of Omaha,” he says. “You’re going to gut check them and then strap this tax to their backs and ride it all the way home. This is absolutely unbelievable.” Omaha is being asked to put up $40-million for the cancer center. Construction could begin on the $323-million facility next year, with opening in 2016. The city’s tax on bars and restaurants that was implemented a few years ago generates about $25-million a year.

On Aug. 28, vice president of administration Calvin Jamison led a town hall meeting that introduced more information on a new tobacco policy that took effect on Aug. 31. While many schools have tobacco-free policies that encompass the entire campus, UTD opted for a tobacco-free building policy after Jamison and President David Daniel met for discussions with representatives from the Academic Senate, Staff Council and Student Government.

“(The representatives) all agreed that they’d like to see us have more of a tobacco-free environment, but the consensus at that time was that we would not move to make the entire campus that way,” Jamison said. “This allows us to take this year to evaluate the process and make sure we have in place the appropriate cessation programs to assist persons who may want to give up tobacco products.” Jamison said the tobacco policy for student housing will remain the same. “The residence halls … are no-smoking. The policy however in the apartments is if all the residents agree, they can smoke within that apartment,” Jamison said.

The policy was driven by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT, which supports various research projects on campus. Berkner Hall and the Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory, or NSERL, which house research funded by CPRIT grants, will have tobacco-free zones that extend to surrounding sidewalks and adjacent parking lots. “Our goal is to be responsive to the policies of the CPRIT grants, but in addition to that I think the biggest concern of the campus as well as others who have administered or put into place these policies, is we want to have a healthier campus,” Jamison said.

Signs that clearly designate tobacco-free areas will be posted, as well as signs that are 10 meters away from doors and ventilation openings of buildings where smoking and tobacco use will be allowed. Students who violate the new policy will be reported to the dean of students. Some students have expressed approval for the stricter tobacco policy.

The cigarettes were found on Monday in a shipping container that had arrived from the United Arab Emirates via Rotterdam. Officers found the cigarettes packed in 140 cardboard boxes whose contents were marked as being plastic bags for a supermarket.

The boxes were destined for a business address in Northern Ireland. The smuggling plot was an attempt to evade about £250,000 in duty, the UK Border Force said. Spokesman John Spence said: "Anyone who smuggles tobacco for commercial gain is effectively stealing from the public purse and from law-abiding taxpayers.

"The money from this kind of smuggling is often recycled into other forms of organised crime."

Some Sarasota schools are technically not tobacco-free, though campuses are trying to take that step. Many Sarasota schools and school district-owned properties give teachers and staff special treatment to smoke because of a union contract stipulation. They're called "smoking designated areas" that allow teachers and staff to light one up or take a dip of Skoal during a break.

Three schools have voted to make their campus tobacco-free so far, said School Board Member Shirley Brown during a Tuesday work session, and the School Board of Sarasota County central office at The Landings is going to consider the move. Sarasota County Technical Institute, Pine View School in Osprey and Toledo Blade Elementary in North Port decided to become tobacco-free campuses, Brown said.

More schools — believed to be eight — aligned with Students Working Against Tobacco group are also tobacco free, Brown told Patch. Because of collective bargaining agreements, Sarasota County School Board members cannot implement a uniform tobacco policy, so it is up to each campus to have 10 percent of its employees petition a change to tobacco-free and then have all of its members to vote on it, White explained.

A report has found that tobacco production has increased by more than 300% in India. It was also found that up to 35% of Indian adults use tobacco, and about one million Indians are estimated to die each year from smoking-related illness. “Conditions such as cancer, lung disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, account for 25% of all public spending on health in India”, said Professor Rob Moodie, Professor of Public Health at the University of Melbourne.

Early market research indicates that many stakeholders believe plain packaging of tobacco products would reduce tobacco use and it could be implemented in India too.

New York City sued an upstate online cigarette business for allegedly evading taxes, saying that sales of non-tax-stamped cigarettes deprive the state and city of millions of dollars in lost revenue. Robert and Marcia Gordon, of Salamanca, New York, who operate “All of Our Butts,” a website that purports to sell “tax free” cigarettes, were named as defendants in a complaint filed today in federal court in Manhattan.

The Gordons are accused of violating the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act and the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act, or PACT act, by making deliveries of cigarettes to New York City without appropriate tax stamps and failing to comply with federal age-verification regulations.

“Businesses that flout the law injure the public health and evade taxes used to pay for vital public services,” Michael Cardozo, the city’s Corporation Counsel, said in a statement. “They can expect further enforcement actions directed against them.” Repeated Sales The Gordons also are alleged to have violated federal racketeering laws by engaging in repeated sales of cigarettes on which state and city taxes haven’t been paid. Regional Integrated Logistics Inc., a Buffalo, New York-based company that arranges for deliveries of cigarettes into New York, was named as a co-conspirator in the Gordons’ racketeering scheme.

Robert Gordon sued the U.S. in Washington in 2010, seeking to block the PACT act. A federal judge there upheld portions of the law as enforceable, while blocking enforcement of some provisions, city officials said. That ruling is now being appealed.

A smoking ban could be introduced at outdoor play areas in Paddock Wood in a bid to stop parents lighting up around youngsters. Fears over children's health, and claims that play equipment in the town is littered with cigarette butts, have prompted town council discussions on whether to introduce the new policy.

Anita Lowe, 39, who lives in Old Kent Road, sparked the ban debate amid concerns for her one-year-old daughter at the St Andrews Fields playground. She said: "My friend's little boy picked up a dropped cigarette butt and put it in his mouth. "A lot of the times it's the mums that are smoking, but you don't feel like you can say anything."

Paddock Wood Town Council runs all five public play areas in the town: St Andrews plus the Memorial Field and those at Clover Way, Green Lane and The Ridings. Following Mrs Lowe's complaint, the council said it would consult with Play Paddock Wood, a voluntary group which raises money to improve children's facilities, before deciding whether to introduce a ban at all its play areas. Children in Britain are not currently protected by law from exposure to passive smoking in playgrounds, so the council could not fine offenders, but could ask them to leave the area.

Mrs Lowe added: "You would be amazed at how many parents smoke in there. They just drop their butts on the floor or by the bench. "It got to the point I would not put my daughter in the swings as so many were smoking. It is a play area, but by allowing smoking it is telling children it is OK to smoke." Anti-smoking charity Ash told the Courier this week it was up to councils to decide whether a ban was appropriate. A spokesman said: "It is good that parents are thinking about this.

A play area is often quite small and it's not very pleasant when people are smoking. "On the other hand if you are a parent who smokes, you want to be able to watch your child at the same time. "We campaigned very strongly to get the ban on smoking indoors and we're also keen to enforce it in cars. But in play areas it is more about the issues of being good role models for children, and cleanliness, rather than risks to health."

The council will make a decision on a ban at its next estates committee meeting on July 9. Play Paddock Wood spokeswoman Marie Marriott said: "We felt it was a good idea in principle and we are going to ask Paddock Wood Primary School pupils to design signs asking people not to smoke."