Tobacco.org

• Smokers dodge cigarette tax by switching to pipes, cigars  

Sales of pipe tobacco and large cigars, both taxed at a lower rate, have soared as smokers have adjusted their buying habits to the new price structure.

The shift cost the federal government $615 million to $1.1 billion in uncollected tax revenue from April 2009 to September 2011, the report said. It did not estimate how much individual states may have lost in uncollected taxes.

"That's real money and a tax avoidance scheme Congress ought to be interested in stopping," said Gregg Haifley, associate director of federal relations at the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network. "It's also counterproductive for the public health benefit of tobacco taxes."

Monthly sales of pipe tobacco increased from about 240,000 pounds in January 2009 to more than 3 million pounds in September 2011, the Government Accountability Office found. Monthly sales of large cigars more than doubled, from 411 million pounds to more than 1 billion pounds.

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Smokers adjust puffs as prices continue to change  

Smokers Switch to Pipes, Cigars as Cigarette Alternatives 

Cigar Club at CSUF 

• Cigarette taxes push smokers to roll their own 

Americans' smoking habits experienced "sizable market shifts" since federal tobacco taxes were increased in 2009, a new government report concludes.

Sales of pipe tobacco and large cigars, which are taxed at a lower rate, have skyrocketed as smokers have adjusted their buying habits to the new price structure.

Pipe tobacco is increasingly used to make relatively inexpensive cartons of roll-your-own cigarettes. The Fox Valley has several shops with roll-your-own machines available for customers.

Kim Schafer of Appleton Souvenir and Cigar Co. said she's noticed changing trends in tobacco use.

"Actually, a few more people are picking up pipe smoking," Schafer said.

Monthly sales of pipe tobacco increased twelve-fold

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• Cigar politics for Staten Island State Sen. Andrew Lanza 

State Sen. Andrew Lanza's credibility on future anti-tobacco legislation might be up in smoke after a good-government group revealed the Staten Island Republican spent $3,830 in campaign cash over three years on cigars for friends, supporters and constituents, giving renewed credence to that old-time image of cigar-chomping Albany pols in smoked-filled rooms.

In Lanza's case, he said the stogies were doled out as freebies to $250-a-head donors at his annual golf outing fund-raisers at the Richmond County Country Club.

But at least he shopped local: Lanza dropped the big bucks at Carmine's Cigars, Dongan Hills.

The New York Public Interest Research Group found Lanza and other lawmakers statewide have spent $44,919 on tobacco-related products like cigars since 2008.

Lanza defended the practice, telling the Advance that as the son of a cop and homemaker, he didn't have the personal wealth to throw around during campaign season and needed to look for different ways to raise money and thank supporters. . . .

"There is a difference from inhaling a pack or more of cigarettes a day to a couple of cigars a year," said Lanza.

Still, Lanza said he intends to continue to advocate against smoking -- like he did in 2010 when he said he was in favor of banning smoking in cars if there were passengers younger than 14.

"At golf outings," said Lanza, "we're all adults."

Fellow Republican lawmaker Assemblyman Lou Tobacco, who crusades against smoking, side-stepped a question about Lanza's cigar politics.

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• Report cites major shift in smoking habits since 2009 tax increase 

A new government report says Americans' smoking habits have displayed "sizable market shifts" since federal tobacco taxes were increased in 2009.

Sales of pipe tobacco and large cigars, which are taxed at a lower rate, have skyrocketed as smokers have adjusted their buying habits to the new price structure.

Monthly sales of pipe tobacco increased 12-fold, from about 240,000 pounds in January 2009 to over 3 million pounds in September 2011, the GAO found. And monthly sales of large cigars more than doubled, from 411 million pounds to more than 1 billion pounds over the same period.

Pipe tobacco is increasingly used to make relatively inexpensive cartons of roll-your-own cigarettes in machines installed in neighborhood smoke shops around the nation.

In New York, where state tobacco taxes are among the highest in the nation, the machines are in smoke shops in Depew and Lewiston in the Buffalo area; at several locations in Rochester; in New Rochelle, Nanuet and Newburgh in the Hudson Valley; in Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City; and in Ithaca in the Southern Tier.

Congress increased taxes on both roll-your-own tobacco and packs of cigarettes in April 2009, making them equal. Lawmakers enacted a smaller tax increase for pipe tobacco, which has become a substitute for roll-your-own tobacco.

Likewise, Congress began taxing small cigars at the same rate as cigarettes. In response, manufacturers of small cigars fractionally increased the weight of many of their products so they would qualify as lower-taxed large cigars, even though they often are just slightly larger than cigarettes and often have filters. . . .

In a written response to the GAO report, Treasury officials noted that the numbers in the report "are not actual losses of revenues, but rather your estimates of the revenue increases if Congress were to change the law to eliminate the disparities."

And that's the GAO's recommendation: Congress should fix the disparities.

According to the GAO report, a woman representing one tobacco company said she knew of no difference between the roll-your-own tobacco her firm formerly produced and the pipe tobacco it switched to making -- other than the federal excise tax.

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• State lawmakers use cigars to lure in funds 

State lawmakers still love a good cigar — especially when it helps them raise money.

Legislators and other candidates for state offices have spent more than $44,919 on cigars and other-tobacco-related items since 2008, according to a study of campaign records provided to the Daily News by the New York Public Interest Research Group.

The cigars were often used as gifts for fat-cat donors at cash bashes.

“The practice of politicians and donors meeting in smoke-filled rooms is apparently alive and well in New York,” said NYPIRG’s Bill Mahoney.

Republicans were easily the biggest cigar spenders, with more than a half-dozen GOP candidates and campaign organizations spending $500 or more on tobacco-related products.

The tobacco aficionados included Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), who spent more than $3,830 at Carmine’s Cigars on Staten Island during the past three years.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau County) spent $1,333 at Habana Premium Cigars in Albany. And the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, which Skelos controls, spent more than $6,000 at the same shop.

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Cigar time on county dime  

But one veteran investigator added something else to his job description: smoking for hours on end inside a Bridgeport cigar shop while on the taxpayers’ clock.

Now he’s out of a job, and reforms are said to be under way in the 130-person unit that, sources say, long has been known as a place to coast, especially for those with clout.

An investigation by the Better Government Association and FOX Chicago News found Robert L. Thomas — a retired Chicago cop hired by the state’s attorney’s office in 1997 — spent large parts of his days hanging out at Gianni Cigars Etc. at 31st and Canal when he was supposed to be working. (When the shop moved a couple of blocks away this month, he started showing up there, too.) . . .

So who was Thomas’ direct boss?

It was a state’s attorney employee named Frank Cupello, whom FOX and the BGA profiled some weeks back for allegedly engaging in vote fraud — regularly voting from Elmwood Park even though he lived for decades in Lake County. Cupello has close ties to Elmwood Park Mayor Pete Silvestri, who also is a Cook County commissioner.

Cupello gave Thomas good job performance ratings, marking on one review that Thomas is “exceeding expectations” when it comes to “time and resource utilization,” according to a copy obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

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Cigar shop inaugurated in Islamabad 

A simple but impressive re-opening ceremony of 'Shams' - Home to Connoisseur - the only spot in the federal capital to offer all international branded cigars was held on Friday.

A good number of cigar aficionados, including foreign diplomats, local dignitaries, officials, parliamentarians and celebrities attended the inaugural ceremony and appreciated the services Shams had been providing to them for the last nearly 30 years.

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Debate lights up over smoking ban  

• Durbin, Lautenberg Announce Committee Approval of Provision to Encourage FDA Ban on Flavored Cigars  

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) announced today that the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which they are members, approved report language that would urge the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue deeming regulations asserting its regulatory authority over tobacco products - including cigars - as part of the FY 2013 appropriations bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies. The measure now moves to the full Senate for its consideration.

"In 2009, President Obama signed an important new law - the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act - that expanded the authority of the FDA to regulate all tobacco products. Because the law banned flavored cigarettes, many companies turned to flavored cigars to help attract and retain young customers. Cigars with candy-like flavorings such as strawberry, watermelon, vanilla and chocolate are marketed to young people, and get them hooked on this deadly and addictive habit at a young age. This provision encourages the FDA to assert its authority and take the necessary steps to curb the use of these dangerous products," Durbin said.

"The emergence of flavored cigars is a transparent effort by Big Tobacco to work around the new tobacco control law. These flavored cigars are clearly designed to attract young adults and hook the next generation of tobacco users from an early age. This amendment is an important step to ensure the FDA uses its full authority to place reasonable standards on the tobacco industry and keep our kids healthy and safe," Lautenberg said.

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Bob Thomas | Cook County State's Attorney Investigator Spends Hours at Cigar Shop on Government Time 

Smoking, Grass Root Advocates Urge DC Council to Tax Blunts, Cigars 

At gas stations in the District of Columbia, fuel is not the only popular product sold. Surprisingly, cigar products, such as the brand Phillies Blunts, are also amongst the fastest selling products at gas stations as well as convenience stores, and drug stores particularly in Wards 7 and 8 according to advocates.

This brand has become so popular that "blunts" have become a term of art for the entire category of cigar products often sold individually and in many cases to youth.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that day in the United States, approximately 3,800 young people under 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette, and an estimated 1,000 youth in that age group become daily cigarette smokers. The District suffers $626 million a year in health and other additional costs due to smoking and other tobacco products according to the American Lung Association.

For African Americans, while smoking rates remain conspicuously lower than those for other adolescents, over the past 20 years, cigar smoking has increased.

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Counterfeit COHIBA Cigars Seized in Miami Announces General Cigar Company