MOROCCO came to life at a Dinner for Dreams when guests were entertained by belly dancers, hookah pipes and a taste of dinner at a “harem”.

The dinner was held at the Gonubie home of Marcine Cooper.

Cooper, Elmay Bouwer and Christelle Wells responded to a challenge by the Daily Dispatch to host a dinner to raise funds for the Reach for a Dream Foundation, which sponsors dreams for children under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses.

“We each invited five couples and amongst the three of us, we managed to put this dinner together,” Cooper said.

At the door, guests were offered a glass of champagne with a dash of lime and a coriander leaf.

The appetisers included olives, khofta, khobz with hummus and pickled gherkins.

The main course was succulent Moroccan lamb and chicken stews, with apricot, couscous, chickpeas and raisins.

Guests were required to dress as harem beauties or sultans.

Co-host Bouwer said they had considered a Playboy mansion theme, but had changed their minds.

Thanks to Wells, they were able to authentically plan their “Dinner at the Harem”. Wells lived in Egypt, Thailand, Bangladesh and India over a 10-year period.

“So I know that type of cooking very well. We had all the different types of ingredients and we just put them together,” she said.

Decorations comprised colourful throws, scatter cushions and low tables, and guests were entertained to a variety of Moroccan-style music.

They even got the opportunity to learn belly dancing from local instructor Lauren Brownlee and her student Claire Keet of Desert Dancers.

One guest, Gavin Manthe, said the Dinner for Dreams initiative was a great way of raising money, rather than making a simple donation. At the dinner R3000 was raised to help make children’s dreams come true. – By ASA SOKOPO

WEST RICHLAND — As J.D. Stanfield waded into the sea of 6-foot tall plants, only the top of his worn and stained cowboy hat poked above the elephant ear-sized leaves dangling from broomstick-thick stalks.

Those leaves will soon fill the corncob pipe that often juts from his lips. Stanfield’s a smoker and, at 81 years old, he’s decided to grow his own.

“This is my little plantation,” he said as he opened the gate to the 130 towering tobacco plants on his West Richland property.

Started as seedlings in May, the plants now are between 5 and 6 feet tall. The large, airy leaves bounce in the light wind and are almost sticky to the touch. Stanfield plans to harvest and cure them in the coming weeks, but a few pockmarked leaves show he’s not the only one smitten with the crop.

“The grasshoppers think they’ve found some chewing tobacco,” he said, as two pudgy insects munched on nearby leaves.

He ordered the seeds of Kentucky burley tobacco over the internet and printed an online farming guide. Stanfield started the seeds in a hot bed — a raised boxlike contraption that heats a bed of soil and waters the dirt from underneath, so the fragile tobacco buds don’t break.

From there, he transferred the seedlings into small, individual pots. Once they reached 4 to 5 inches in height, they were moved to his plantation.

About 90 days later, he’s just weeks away from his first harvest.

“I’m never going to buy tobacco again after this crop,” he said.

Inside his workshop — an eclectic building where eight-tracks of classic country play over loud speakers, and boxes of animal horns and bone-handled Bowie knives are mixed with leather-working tools and cow jaw artwork — Stanfield keeps a case for hanging and drying the leaves and a homemade kiln for rapidly curing them.

The entire process will take six weeks — three weeks hanging, three weeks in the kiln. From there, the former cattle rancher and cabinet-maker will form the tobacco into bricks and spray vanilla and rum flavoring on the brittle leaves before grinding them into smokable flakes.

He can’t wait.

“I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “I had no idea I’d get this big of a crop.”

Stanfield grew up in Kansas during the Great Depression — a time when families found a way to stretch their money. He decided to grow his own tobacco after watching store prices climb in recent years.

Stanfield said he pays about $26 for a 12 ounce bag at the store. “No more $30 a pound,” he declared.

A 12-ounce bag lasts him about two weeks, so growing his tobacco has the potential to save hundreds of dollars a year.

Although tobacco, of all plants, may seem unusual to grow, it fits in well on Stanfield’s six acres. With one look at the miniature water mill, the arching bridge, the brown Styrofoam bear or the dilapidated wagon he brought to his property from Oregon, it’s easy to tell Stanfield’s not only an artist, but a connoisseur of the curious. His back porch is flanked by larger-then-life carved Indians and a homemade cannon is perched near his home’s entrance.

“I made that because my neighbor up there threatened to shoot me,” Stanfield said. “So I set it up there and aimed it at his front door. He figured he was outgunned so there were no more threats.”

He’s built a grandfather clock, has a house full of cast bronze artwork and said he won West Richland’s Unboat Rally three years in a row. Tobacco, it seems, is just Stanfield’s latest endeavor.

“He’s pretty talented,” said Ann Stanfield, J.D.’s wife of 53 years.

Of his tobacco garden, she said, “You know it’s fascinating. When he first mentioned it, I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s another thing he’s getting into.’ But it’s been very educational.”

Although Stanfield’s just week’s away from his first harvest, he’s already got his mind on the second. Tucked behind his workshop and hidden by rows of tomato plants sits another tobacco patch. Between the 130 in his plantation and the 150 he plans to begin in February sit about 24 near the tomatoes.

Stanfield eyed the small crop approvingly.

“They’re in the process of maturing into a big plant,” he said. “… What amazes me is that little seed is planted in the dirt and can make a huge plant like that. It’s unbelievable.”

Dimapur, : The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, had mandated that all tobacco products in India have to display pictorial health warnings. This has not happened, a new study by a collaboration of NGOs in India has found.

Blatant violations have been detected in the enforcement of this crucial public health and corporate accountability provision of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. A total of 60 tobacco product packages from nine states manufactured on or after May 31 were analysed (17 smoking forms and 43 smokeless forms).
On closer scrutiny, it has been revealed that a majority of the tobacco packs analysed either do not display any pictorial warnings at all or the warnings displayed are not in conformity with the rules notified by the government. “The intent with which this provision was notified is not being fulfilled. The coming into force of the warnings was already delayed by two years and now this provision is ineffectively enforced. The notification dated 30 July 2009, which notified the officers responsible for implementing the packaging and labelling rules, came two months after the enforcement date of this provision of the law. By then most tobacco product manufacturers had violated this law,” said Monika Arora, Director of HRIDAY.
The key deficiencies were many. Pictorial warnings are smaller than the stipulated 40% of the principal display area of the pack. Of the 60 products analysed, 25 brands of ‘gutka’, 10 brands of ‘khaini’ and 2 brands of ‘bidi’ carry smaller warnings; misleading descriptors on the pack: these are prohibited but still appear on some of the tobacco products analysed (five cigarette brands and 4 chewing tobacco brands contain such descriptors); promotional messages on the pack: messages promoting tobacco use appear on the packs of 10 brands.
Also, several tobacco products do not display any pictorial warnings at all. Eight brands of chewing tobacco and nine brands of smoking forms of tobacco do not have any warnings. These include international brands as well. Similarly, there were also incorrect warnings. Three brands were found carrying incorrect warnings.
In some of the products, the study found, the warnings are not displayed in the regional language in which the brand name is mentioned, as mandated by the law. “Some gutka companies are again circumventing pictorial warnings by covering 40% area of the pack with white colour and devoting much less space to the warning. The government should hold them accountable in interest of public health and social justice,” said Bobby Ramakant of the Indian Society against Smoking, Asha Parivar.According to Dr. P C Gupta, Director of Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, Mumbai, “It is almost scandalous that even after such a long time many tobacco products do not carry stipulated warnings and those who carry it, try to circumvent the rules in every possible way. This situation has developed because word ‘sold’ used in the gazette notification was changed to the word ‘manufactured/ imported’ in the public notices issued by the Ministry. This has clearly sent wrong signals to the industry about the seriousness of the implementation.”
The violations have been documented and the report has been submitted to the government, with a request to take cognizance of the violations and ensure that continuance and reoccurrence are prevented.

BROOKLINE, N.H. – With a clunky rumble, the 4-foot-tall wooden contraption worked its magic, turning loose tobacco and rolling papers into tightly packed smokes. One after another, they slid down a metal chute into a waiting carton.

Customers from near and far line up daily at the Route 13 smoke shop with the roll-your-own cigarette machines that can spit out 200 cigarettes in 10 minutes. They buy by the carton, for less than half the price of many name brands.

But state officials say the machines are making an end run around the landmark 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies, which were required to pay yearly contributions to the states. In a lawsuit filed last week, New Hampshire’s attorney general contends Tobacco Haven’s cigarette machines violate terms of the agreement and could jeopardize the $50 million in settlement money New Hampshire receives each year.

“At $50 million a year, we have a rather inescapable incentive here,’’ said David Rienzo, an assistant attorney general.

Rienzo, along with smoking industry specialists and antismoking groups, say that higher cigarette taxes have spurred a burgeoning roll-your-own market. But until now, it has been largely confined to individuals who buy small, hand-operated rolling machines for personal use. The machines at Tobacco Haven, by contrast, are more akin to high-powered vending machines that spit out cartons of cigarettes in a matter of minutes. Such machines have cropped up across the country, and in New Hampshire prosecutors worried that they could emerge as powerful competitors to commercial cigarettes.

New Hampshire’s suit, believed to be the first of its kind, argues that Tobacco Haven is essentially manufacturing cigarettes and therefore should be making contributions to the state. Tobacco Haven counters that they are strictly a retail outfit and that customers are paying to use the machines for personal use.

State officials say that by allowing a shop to make cigarettes without contributing some proceeds, they risk lawsuits from competing manufacturers angry over unequal treatment.

“At face value, this tobacco shop is in the business of making cigarettes,’’ Rienzo said. “It’s roughly a pack a minute, so it’s not an insignificant number of cigarettes, and it really could cause us some heartburn.’’

Under state law, Tobacco Haven would have to contribute about 2 cents for each cigarette sold to a set-aside fund, he said.

This week, the state ordered the shop to shut down the machines, but the two machines rolled on as usual on a recent morning, with a lengthy line of smokers from New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

A lawyer for the store, which installed the machines earlier this year, staunchly defended the practice. “These machines are nothing in comparison to the volume of a commercial machine,’’ said Jeffrey Burd, a Cincinnati attorney who also represents an Ohio company that sells rolling machines.

Tobacco Haven customers, some of whom save several hundred dollars a month by using the service, were disgruntled by the state’s action. Many wondered why the state had to butt in, especially when jobs are scarce.

“It’s such a great deal,’’ said Dave Surprenant, 43, a pack-a-day smoker from Brookline. “Times are tough, and people are just trying to get by, anyway they can.’’

Still Surprenant, and other smokers, admitted that the low cost would only hurt their halting attempts to kick their habits.

Joy Whitcomb, 46, from Pepperell, Mass., bought two cartons of roll-your-owns, one for her and one for her husband. She was not in love with the taste, she said, but the price sure was right. Compared to convenience stores in Massachusetts, where taxes are more than 70 cents a pack higher, she was saving around $200 a month.

“The word is really going around that it’s such a great deal,’’ she said. “I figured it wouldn’t last too long. The government doesn’t really want us to smoke.’’

But others had another take. Just as smokers are hooked on cigarettes, they said, governments are hooked on cigarette taxes. Tobacco Haven had found a loophole, they said, and the state didn’t like it.

“Bottom line, right there,’’ Mike George,29, from Lunenberg, Mass., said outside the shop. “They aren’t getting their cut.’’

State officials learned of the machines from a competing convenience store, Rienzo said.

“They said, ‘If this isn’t illegal, I want in on it,’ ’’ he said.

Edward L. Sweda, senior attorney for the Tobacco Products Liability Project at Northeastern University in Boston, agreed that the shop had crossed the line between retailer and manufacturer.

“If they make cigarettes, that means they are making cigarettes, even if it’s a fraction of Philip Morris and the like,’’ he said. “If you can make a carton in 10 minutes, that’s something of an operation.’’

Sweda had never heard of a similar lawsuit, but Burd said there are plenty of other shops that have machines like Tobacco Haven’s.

Doug Kennedy, editor of Roll Your Own Magazine, which caters to custom-made cigarette smokers, said the publication has “aggressively recommended shops to walk away from making cigarettes for their customers.’’

“You make a cigarette for someone, then sell it to them, you are a tobacco manufacturer,’’ he said.

Kevin O’Flaherty, director of advocacy in the Northeast for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said many states are fueling the growth of roll-your-own cigarettes by taxing loose tobacco at a lower rate than store-bought cigarettes.

“There’s often a large disparity, and that’s what drives this market,’’ he said.

Indeed, Bob Beshaw, 46, from Shrewsbury, Mass., drove a long way for the discounted smokes. After snagging a carton, he lit up at a picnic table a few steps from the shop. It had the taste of freedom, he said. In Massachusetts, the $25 carton would have run him $75.

“I think we tax people enough already, on everything, don’t you?’’ Beshaw asked.
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

Want to plunge into the modern American melting pot? Try the offices of Social Smoke, a hookah manufacturer in Arlington, Texas.
Here a silk Persian rug and a piece of Arabic calligraphy, The 99 Names of Allah, share wall space with a signed photo of a Willie Nelson impersonator. There’s a Chinese green tea set in the conference room, and Mom’s homemade enchiladas are chilling in the fridge. Abrahim Nadimi, director of sales and marketing, is tapping a bobblehead doll of Dwight from the TV show The Office. “Welcome to the 21st century,” he says. No kidding.

Social Smoke is growing gangbusters, and its success says a lot about the new international, cross-cultural landscape of American small business. It is run by Abrahim’s father, Sayyid Nadimi, 51, who emigrated from Iran before the 1979 revolution, and his U.S.-born sons.

The Nadimis are tapping into America’s deepening love affair with an ancient Middle Eastern tradition: hookah smoking. The company makes “authentic” Iranian and Egyptian hookahs in China, having tried and mostly failed to source them in the Middle East. Yet Sayyid is anxiously watching developments in Iran — and praying the U.S. government will soon let him sell his product back to his homeland.

Social Smoke is one of the largest and fastest-growing suppliers in the international hookah market. There is no trade group to track sales in the industry as a whole, but individual companies are reporting brisk growth. The first quarter of 2009 was Social Smoke’s best ever, with sales rising 28% from the same period a year earlier. Sayyid won’t disclose revenues but says the company is profitable. The family firm employs 11 people and sells in 15 countries.

Though Social Smoke sells hookahs and shisha (tobacco for use in water pipes) to consumers online, 90% of sales come from supplying wholesalers and hookah lounges. At a time when cigarette sales are in steep decline (20% of U.S. adults now smoke, the lowest percentage since the Centers for Disease Control started keeping statistics in 1965), hookah lounges are booming.

Several factors account for the hookah boom. The smoking bans that municipalities nationwide have imposed in the past decade affected restaurants and bars but not establishments dedicated exclusively to tobacco use. Unlike cigarette smoking, which has turned into something of a furtive activity, hookahs are inherently communal. Customers can get into a hookah lounge at age 18, three years before they are allowed in a bar in most states. (The largest number of new lounges are found in midwestern college towns such as Lawrence, Kans. and Madison, Wis.)

And most important, hookah lounges are a very attractive business model.

Just ask Yis Tigay, 28, owner of the Shouk Lounge in Philadelphia and a Social Smoke customer. Patrons stay twice as long in the hookah bar as they do in the three conventional diners his family owns, he says. Everything about his establishment — the languid music, the dim lighting, the divans — is designed to impart an unhurried vibe. A table of four puffing at a leisurely pace consumes roughly $16 worth of shisha an hour, Tigay says — plus the food and drink frequently ordered. The cost of that shisha to him: $2.

“It’s like putting a chain around people’s ankles,” he says. “They tend to stick around.”

There’s scant research on the health effects of hookah smoking. It tends to be a sporadic, ceremonial activity, and many people don’t inhale. Nevertheless, health experts warn that even such limited exposure to nicotine can spark addiction.

“I worry because hookah use is so prevalent among young people,” says Donna Vallone, senior vice president of research and evaluation at the American Legacy Foundation, an anti-tobacco group based in Washington, D.C. “What starts out as innocent experimentation could become a lifelong struggle to quit.”

Social Smoke’s response? “Everyone knows smoking is bad for you,” says Abrahim, 30. “The alcohol and food served in a hookah lounge also have the potential to be dangerous. Moderation is the key, and a hookah by its very nature is a device that promotes moderation. You can’t get all fidgety, reach into your pocket and pull out a hookah.”
Social connections

Abrahim’s younger brother Ali, now 27, founded Social Smoke in 2003 while a student at the University of Texas at Arlington. As an observant Muslim, Ali does not drink alcohol, so he started taking a hookah to campus parties as a kind of social prop. “People asked a lot of questions,” says Ali, speaking in a curious blend of Tex-Mex twang and Farsi lilt. “Everyone wanted to try it. Then everyone wanted one.”

Ali says he didn’t encounter any racist misconceptions about the device. Perhaps, he mused, there was money in hookahs.

Ali built a Web site for Social Smoke, bankrolled by his credit card. He bought $3,000 worth of hookahs from a U.S. distributor, Hookah Brothers of Los Angeles. At first he sold most wares at cost, hoping to establish himself in the market. But the business took off quickly. Within two months he was renting warehouse space and selling roughly $5,000 worth of hookahs a month, but still at cost. He was also supplying hookah lounges with shisha in exotic flavors such as citrus, cappuccino and strawberry margarita. Margins on shisha are thin, but the volume is high — tobacco has to be constantly replaced. It proved to be a modest profit center.

In 2004, Hookah Brothers went out of business. So Ali decided to forge direct trade ties with the Middle East. He figured he needed to buy direct if he was ever going to turn a profit and ordered $1,000 worth of hookahs from an Egyptian supplier.

But they arrived weeks late and were poorly made. Stems didn’t fit into bases. Some units leaned; others were broken. Almost none were sellable. The supplier refused to return Ali’s money, saying the goods must have rattled around too much because Ali’s order was too small. He then had the gall to ask Ali to place a second, larger order.

The Nadimis united to save Ali’s business. At the time, Sayyid and Abrahim both worked as engineers at Bell Helicopter, one of the area’s largest employers. In 2005 father and son both quit their solid jobs for the wild ride of the international hookah trade. Sayyid now serves as CEO of Social Smoke. The matriarch of the clan — Iman Enciso (born Martha Alicia Enciso Barba in Guadalajara, Mexico) — became office manager. The youngest son, Mohammad, 18, runs the warehouse.

Sayyid decided to make some exploratory trips to Egypt and Jordan. Because of U.S. trade sanctions against Iran, he had to skip his homeland. “From time to time I return to Iran to visit family,” he says. “I’d like to go back as a businessman.”
Building a supply chain

After 30 years in the U.S. and a decade at Bell Helicopter, Sayyid had grown used to the breakneck pace of American business. He was amazed to find that Arab business dealings required three full days of social preliminaries before actual negotiations could begin. “They might take you sightseeing or invite you to their home and prepare six different kinds of food,” he says. “But it doesn’t mean anything. It’s all cosmetic. After days of this, you finally get down to business and argue over a $1-per-unit price difference.”

Misunderstandings were legion. One Egyptian prospect put Sayyid up in a hotel for a night. When Sayyid offered to pay him back, the man took offense. The language barrier made matters worse. (Sayyid is fluent in Farsi but speaks Arabic poorly.) On a drive through Cairo, Sayyid tried to patch things up with his host, who promptly pulled over to the side of the highway and berated him for 20 minutes.

Sayyid persevered and managed to sign up four hookah makers in Egypt and Jordan. Most Arab manufacturers required down payments of up to 40%. The balance was due — wired directly into the manufacturer’s bank account — when production was complete but before shipping.

“There’s always a point when the other party has all your money and also all your products,” Sayyid says.

Worse, damaged goods appeared to be the norm. After much searching, he tapped a reputable Jordanian manufacturer who presented an array of attractive, well-made hookahs. Social Smoke placed a $70,000 order. But when they arrived, glass and ceramic parts were cracked, metal was rusted, and the stems were too long. The company is still trying to recover its money, but its entreaties have slowed to a trickle. The Nadimis were forced to combine undamaged parts — a stem here, a bowl there. Overall, only 80% of the hookahs that Social Smoke ordered in the Middle East were usable.
A new source

Like many American businessmen before him, Sayyid started researching Chinese factories online and teaching himself Mandarin. (He says he is now fluent in English, Farsi and Spanish and pretty good in Mandarin.) Visiting factories in Qingdao and Shanghai, he was impressed by Chinese standards of customer service. Unlike a past Egyptian supplier, who could communicate only by Arabic snail mail, the Chinese vendors all spoke some English and communicated promptly by e-mail.

Making hookahs in 10 Chinese factories is a far cry from having them handcrafted by Middle Eastern artisans. The job of manufacturing metal pieces such as stems went to a fabricator with experience making latches and doorknobs. A flowerpot factory produces ceramic bowls for the hookahs. But Sayyid can now have his hookahs built to spec. Social Smoke has been able to add shapes like cones and cylinders to its product line. It also festoons hookahs with intricate art, such as images of cobras and Anubis, a jackal-headed god of ancient Egypt.

Despite all that Chinese manufacturing expertise, Social Smoke has persisted in importing some hookahs from Egypt. This is key for selling to hookah bars in such Arab-American centers as Dearborn, Mich., which prize Egyptian hookahs, irregularities and all. Sayyid now has a point person in Cairo who sources hookah components separately — and packs them with care.

“Communication isn’t great, and shipments still arrive late,” says Abrahim. “But this supplier is honest. That’s a big deal.”

Still, 75% of Social Smoke’s hookahs now come from China. Sayyid spends about a third of each year in the country and owns a condo in Guangzhou.

“I feel like I’ve created the modern equivalent of the Silk Road, which once connected China and Persia,” he says.

And as Silk Road traders knew, supply can be fickle. In the three years since Social Smoke started doing business in China, the cost of making hookahs has gone up about 60% — and is now on par with Egyptian prices. Sayyid says he’s thinking about manufacturing in Vietnam or Latin America.

Finally, of course, there’s the Iranian market, where Sayyid is convinced his U.S.-brand hookahs would have cachet. Earlier this year, before that country’s contentious presidential election and the protests that followed, Sayyid contacted the U.S. Commerce Department to ask about the permits necessary to export to Iran. Filling out the forms, he was told, would be a waste of time.

That may soon change. Sayyid is heartened by the protests and demands for fair elections. He’s thrilled by the softer tone that President Obama has adopted toward the country. Discussing the possibility of setting up shop in Tehran, Sayyid and sons break into big grins.

“That,” Sayyid says, “would be like coming full circle.”


© Cnn

Al Brierly watched his father and grandfather toil on their Kentucky tobacco farms, so he wanted nothing to do with the family business after being discharged from the Army in the early ’50s.

Nearly 60 years later, the Belleville retiree is giddy with excitement about four tobacco plants growing in his backyard.

“He sits out here (at a patio table) and drinks his coffee and admires his tobacco plant every morning,” said Elaine Brierly, his wife of 52 years. “That’s my competition. He doesn’t sit with me in the kitchen anymore.”
Tobacco plant growing in man’s yard Tobacco plant growing in man’s yard Tobacco plant growing in man’s yard Tobacco plant growing in man’s yard
Al Brierly of Belleville with his tall tobacco plant that has reached 10′ 2″ and is still growing. – Tim Vizer/BND

Elaine was referring to one plant in particular that towers above the rest. It’s more than 10 feet tall with platter-size green leaves and dainty pink and white flowers shooting from the top.

“Everybody who sees it wants a seed,” said Al, 83, a retired machine-shop foreman with International Lighting Manufacturing Co. “It’s got a beautiful bloom on it.”

Tobacco cultivation originated in the tropics, but today it’s grown in subtropical and temperate regions. Most tobacco in the United States is grown in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina.Al got reacquainted with tobacco last May, when he and Elaine traveled to Kentucky to visit family. His nephew’s son, Charles Sparks, gave him five small plants.

“I just wanted to see if it would grow,” said Al, who gave one plant to a neighbor and put the rest in his flower garden, under the watchful eye of a Madonna statue.

Japanese beetles have nipped at the leaves, but the tobacco seems to be doing well in its new environment.

“The hummingbirds love (the tall plant),” Al said. “They’re out here sucking nectar out of the blossoms every morning.”

The Brierlys live in Chenot Place. They have three grown daughters and five grandchildren.

Family ties to tobacco date back to 1870, when Al’s grandparents, Robert and Rebecca Brierly, married and began farming near Carlisle, Ky.

“When they took up housekeeping, they carried all their belongings in a wash tub, and they had a shotgun and a dog,” Al said. “And when (Robert) died in the middle 1930s, he willed each of his seven children a 100-acre farm. He did very good for not having anything when he started.”

Al’s parents, Arthur and Bessie Brierly, continued the family tradition. He remembers his father making cigars by rolling leaves full of shredded tobacco around wires that were pulled out to create air passages.

“It’s pretty strong stuff,” Al said. “It’ll make you sick if you’re not careful.”

Arthur sold his farm in the early 1950s. His children wanted to pursue other employment.

“(Tobacco farming) is hard work, really hard work,” Al said. “It’s not that I’m lazy, but there are easier ways to make a living.”

Al smoked a pipe until 1991, when he suffered a heart attack. Now he enjoys a cigar about once a month.

Al can’t wait to make cigars with his own tobacco after harvesting it at the end of September. He’ll hang leaves to dry under an awning, then wait for a good rain to make them damp and pliable.

“That (plant) is his pride and joy,” his wife said.

With cigarette bans in full force in restaurants, the appeal of a hookah bar gains popularity in younger crowds. Appeal among young people has been increasing since the 1990’s, and more bars are popping up in the United States. Smoking herbal tobacco, called shisha, from at a hookah bar could pose health risks, but is currently the subject of some debate.

Research about the health risks of smoking shisha at hookah bars seems to be lacking, leaving consumers uninformed.

Smoke inhaled from a hookah is believed to be less addictive and toxic than tobacco smoke, but that may not be the case. Smoking fruit flavored tobacco, called shisha, from a hookah is becoming a fad among college students. There is some debate about the potential harm from shisha.

Hookah bars have been popular in the UK, and are spreading across the United States as college age youth seek the ambience of hookah lounges complete with soft cushions and low stools that create an atmosphere of relaxation and increased socialization.

Hookah bars are gaining appeal, but young people should be warned of the potential health risks, at least until more studies are done.

According to a report from the BBC, smoking shisha from a hookah pipe is much more dangerous to health than smoking cigarettes. That notion has been challenged by Dr Kamal Chaouachi, a tobacco expert who teaches at Paris IX University. Chaouachi says there is no research evidence that smoking shisha at hookah bars pose health risks to youth.

Until more studies are done, it may be wise to avoid hookah bars, or at least exercise caution about inhaling too much shisha from a hookah pipe. Though the ambience of a hookah bar is appealing, it is important to know that more research about the health risks of smoking shisha at a hookah bar are needed.

© Examiner

Q: I read the information on the differences between clove cigarettes and regular cigarettes, but am still wondering if clove cigarettes are addictive. I’ve heard they do not contain nicotine, therefore are not physically addictive. I’ve also heard that smoking one clove cigarette (such as the brand Black) is like smoking a pack of regular cigarettes. I’ve researched this online and found contradicting information. What’s the truth?

A: The truth is that most clove cigarettes (kreteks) are made with 2/3 tobacco and 1/3 minced dried clove buds. The blend is flavored with fruit and spice essences, rolled and sprayed with a sweetener. The tobacco in clove cigarettes contains at least as much tar and nicotine as regular cigarettes. Testing reveals just as much nicotine and carbon monoxide in the blood of clove cigarette smokers as in regular cigarette smokers. Djarum Black cigarettes sold in Indonesia and available online actually contain much higher levels of tar and nicotine than the same brand sold in the Americas and in Europe. So the truth is that clove cigarettes are in fact both harmful and addictive.

Would a gruesome picture of a cancer-ravaged mouth with rotting teeth make you think twice about buying a pack of cigarettes?

That’s the goal of new federal regulations expected to go into effect within three years. The rules will require tobacco companies to cover at least half of the front and back of packages with graphic – and possibly gruesome -images illustrating the dangers of smoking.

If U.S. regulations are modeled after those already in place in Canada and other countries, the warnings will be shocking: blackened lungs, gangrenous feet, bleeding brains and people breathing through tracheotomies.

Though hard to look at, the more graphic the image, the more effective in discouraging smoking, said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and director of the university’s Center for Tobacco Control, Research and Education.

“The graphic warnings really work,” Glantz said. “They substantially increase the likelihood someone will quit smoking. They substantially decrease the chances a kid will smoke. And they really screw up the ability of the tobacco industry to use the packaging as a marketing tool.”

Over the last decade, countries as varied as Canada, Australia, Chile, Brazil, Iran and Singapore, among others, have adopted graphic warnings on tobacco products. Some are downright disturbing: in Brazil, cigarette packages come with pictures of dead babies and a gangrened foot with blackened toes.

In the United States, the authority to force packaging changes was granted on June 22, when President Barack Obama, who has struggled with cigarette addiction since he was a teen, signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The landmark legislation gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration broad new authority to regulate the marketing of tobacco products.

Under the law, the FDA has two years to issue specifics about the new graphic warnings tobacco products will be required to carry. Tobacco companies then have 18 months to get them onto packages.

Currently, the United States has some of the weakest requirements for cigarette package warnings in the world, said David Hammond, an assistant professor in the department of health studies at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. The text-only warnings on packages have changed little since 1984.

“Consumers in many Third World countries are getting more and better information about the risks of cigarettes off their packs,” Hammond said.

With much at stake for tobacco companies, there will be much wrangling over the details, Glantz said.

Yet research shows the FDA shouldn’t compromise, Glantz said. The more frightening the image, the greater the anti-smoking effect, he said.

Despite some research that has suggested images that are too stomach-turning may backfire because people eventually ignore them, new research is showing the most graphic images pack the most punch, said Jeremy Kees, an assistant professor of marketing at Villanova University.

In a yet-to-be published study, Kees had 541 adult smokers in the United States and Canada view a mild image of a smoker’s mouth with yellowed teeth; a moderately graphic image of a diseased mouth; and a third photo of a grotesque, disfigured mouth.

The most disturbing photo evoked the most fear, prompting more smokers to say they intended to quit, Kees said.

While the new regulations may also include no-nonsense, text warnings such as “Smoking Makes You Impotent” and “Smoking Kills,” the images will have the broadest reach, Hammond said.

Non-English speakers can understand the picture of a diseased mouth, as can people who are illiterate. Smokers tend to have lower literacy levels, Hammond noted.

And kids will get the message too, potentially stopping them from ever lighting up. “You have 4-year-olds and 5-year-olds who can understand that picture,” Hammond said.

Elsewhere, graphic warnings seem to be helping to drive down smoking rates. In Canada, about 13 percent of the population smokes daily, a 5 percent drop since the graphic warnings were adopted in 2000, Hammond said.

About 21 percent of the U.S. population smokes daily, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While powerful, the gruesome warnings won’t get everyone to quit.

“Nicotine is highly addictive,” Hammond said. “Health warnings are not a magic bullet, but they help move people closer to quitting and provide a constant reminder of why many people want to change.”

© Ajc

Smokers in Kansas may not realize it, but the cigarettes they’re buying now are different from what was on the shelves just two months ago. In July, fire safe cigarettes became the only kind available in the state.

Experts hope the new cigarettes will cause fewer fires because they go out much more quickly. Fire safe cigarettes have several layers of paper surrounding the tobacco making it more difficult for oxygen to feed a burning cigarette. It means if the cigarette isn’t actively being smoked, it’ll burn itself out.

Since 2006, Wichita has seen 226 cigarette-caused fires.

“We deal with people who are having their worst day ever,” says Wichita Fire Captain Stuart Bevis.

Capt. Bevis joined Eyewitness News Thursday to help compare the differences between the old and new cigarettes. He’s investigated around 2,000 fires in his time with the department.

“They’ll say nothing bad’s ever happened to them when they’ve fallen asleep with their cigarette or had too much alcohol with their cigarette,” says Capt. Bevis, “because it only takes one time. When that one time happens, it’s a tragedy.”

In our first test, we simply lit one of each type of cigarette and laid them in an ash tray. The fire safe cigarette went out in less than two minutes while the old cigarette burned all the way to the filter for 16 minutes.

“It does have a chance to be a little bit better,” Capt. Bevis says of the new cigarettes. “Two and a half minutes smoldering against 15? That gives us a much better chance of it going out before something bad happens.”

In the second test, we placed the lit cigarettes on an old recliner’s cushion. Once again, the fire safe cigarette only takes a couple of minutes to go out, leaving a small burn in the polyester fabric. The old cigarette burns to the filter, leaving a long burn mark and almost getting to the cotton fabric inside the cushion’s cover.

We use our last two tests checking what typically happens in a cigarette-caused fire, a cigarette that falls in a cushion corner or into a crevice. In these tests, both types of cigarettes burn to the filter.

In one of the tests, the fire safe cigarette chars a piece of highly-combustible lint. It likely means the recliner wasn’t far from going up in flames. Capt. Bevis says it’s a sign that just because the product is safer doesn’t mean it’s safe.

“They can have cigarettes that are supposed to put themselves out in two-and-a-half minutes, but if all the right circumstances fall into place, it can still lead to a fire if they’re dealt with carelessly,” says Capt. Bevis.

We wanted to know if you’ve ever heard of fire safe cigarettes. The results of our exclusive Fact Finder 12 scientific survey show 28% of you say you’ve heard of the new cigarettes while most, 72%, say you have not.

Not everyone likes the new cigarettes. More than 8,600 smokers nationwide have signed an online petition calling for a repeal of fire safe cigarettes. They complain the new cigarettes taste bad and have more carbon monoxide in each drag.


© Kwch

Ruyan Group Holdings Ltd, the inventor of electronic cigarettes, hailed a US regulatory agency’s warning against other brands of e-cigarettes as good news in its fight against copycats.

Scott Fraser, vice president of Ruyan Group, said the announcement by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will help Ruyan protect its intellectual property rights to its e-cigarette brand.

The FDA on July 22 reported that a laboratory test of e-cigarette samples of other brands found that they contained carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, an ingredient used in antifreeze.

The two American brands tested by FDA are Njoy and Smoking Everywhere. The former has been named in an IPR lawsuit initiated by Ruyn Group.

Invented in 2003 by Hon Lik, Ruyan’s chief engineer, e-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals.

The electronic cigarette turns nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

Fraser said he was not surprised at the FDA’s findings, and that he encouraged the FDA to test his company’s e-cigarettes.

Praise for FDA

“The FDA is doing its job. They are concerned about consumer safety, and we support that,” Fraser said.

“As the inventor, we also consider the safety of customers the top issue, and we are always testing our product,” he said. “We understand the test results (of the other brands). The two copycats infringed on intellectual property. It is not surprising.”

Ruyan considers its progress in North America a major achievement in 2008.

After months of intensive efforts by Ruyan America Inc, its US-based agent and distributor, the company established marketing and distribution channels to facilitate the North American launch of its product this year.

As the only legal company producing e-cigarettes in China, Ruyan has been fighting copycats since 2003.

Ruyan Group Executive Director Miu Nam said safety concerns are directly linked to copycats.

“The copycats pay less attention to the health of people and seldom conduct effective tests. Therefore, the quality of their products cannot be guaranteed,” Miu said.

The company has filed eight lawsuits against copycat factories operating mostly in Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces. Many of the companies also sell counterfeit MP3s and cell phones, Ruyan has alleged.

© Chinadaily

Nigeria lawmakers began debating over a landmark comprehensive tobacco control bill in an attempt to overcome the dramatic smoking rates across the country. The bill is strongly supported by local and international public health agencies and anti-smoking advocates.

The government collaborated with public health agencies to introduce an educational program for schools and universities across Nigeria, trying to educate teenagers about the risks related to the use of tobacco.

Associated Press reporters visited the Shepherd Secondary School in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and ex-capital, in order to hear an anti-smoking lecture and make a non-smoking pledge together with the students.

“If I want my life to be changed I swear I will never smoke, as I am the future of the country, and I want our country to be smoke-free,” Shepherd Secondary School students repeated after the lecturer.

Almost 25 percent of local minors puff occasionally, with several barely reaching 10, and the number of adult smokers is even more staggering in the country.

Dikembe Obikwelu, a 16-year-old ex-smoker and Shepherd student, told AP that he was smoking for 4 years before quitting, when he took part in the campaign.

The student said that he wasn’t aware about all the dangers and negative consequences of tobacco to his health and safety of people that surround him.

The most popular tobacco products in Nigeria are smokeless tobacco items and unpacked individual cigarettes that could be bought for an average of 7 cents per stick. Experts have been concerned that smoking rates in the most populous African country could keep increasing.

Therefore, the Nigerian lawmakers didn’t hesitate to take actions. They introduced a universal tobacco regulation bill that would ban smoking, hike taxes and restrict advertisements. If approved, the bill would become a landmark tobacco regulation act in the history of the country.

Olorunnimbe Mamora, Senator who introduced the bill said that he had sworn on the Constitution to protect the Nigerian people, and would apply every possible effort to defend the welfare of Nigerians, as it has been his primary duty.

Looking at the example of developed nations, the Nigerian legislators, who used to make large concessions to tobacco industry, have stopped supporting cigarette companies and filed a lawsuit against the tobacco industry, asking $45 billion in damages for luring teenagers into smoking.

Senator Mamora named the tobacco companies as the “vendors of death and pain.”

However, not everybody is so happy about the possible tobacco outlawing in the country. A coalition of tobacco growers issued an emotional query to the government when the public hearing of the tobacco bill was held. The growers urged lawmakers to think about the consequences of tobacco cracking down to the farmers.

The group leader Okeke Abiola said that tobacco ban would immediately hit 300,000 poor farmers, who have no other job but growing tobacco, so a tobacco restriction would result in loosing the source of money for many families.

Nigeria would be just the sixth country in Africa to implement any tobacco control measures. Smoking is also banned in Zambia, Niger, Mozambique, South Africa, and Uganda.