Somewhere in the afterlife’s screening room, Will Hays, architect of Hollywood’s old Production Code, and the stern Catholic bishops of the Legion of Decency are probably sharing a chuckle, maybe over Scotch and cigarettes. Why? The recent fuss over “Avatar,” the James Cameron film in which the latest in cinematic technology meets the oldest argument in the movies: whether vice on screen encourages vice in real life.

In “Avatar,” a character played by Sigourney Weaver smokes. Antitobacco advocates say on-screen smoking — even by a character we’re supposed to dislike, like Ms. Weaver’s — makes children pick up the habit. They have criticized the movie as a threat to public health.

Your initial response — for God’s sake — might be tempered by knowing that the advocates have persuasive scientific studies to support their warnings. Stanton A. Glantz, the director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco, points to several, in publications like the medical journal The Lancet, showing strong evidence that on-screen smoking increases teenage cigarette use.

The World Health Organization wants governments to “severely restrict smoking imagery in all film media.” Mr. Glantz doesn’t go that far. He is not urging government regulation but industry self-restraint and greater public awareness, like an R rating for smoking so families can go to the multiplex forewarned.

Does that strike you as nannyish and make you a little queasy? Us, too. But it’s hard to condemn the strategy of using information, not censorship, to confront a perceived public-health threat, especially when, as Mr. Glantz argues, big spending on movie product placement by tobacco companies tilts the field heavily in smoking’s favor.

Probably the only rational response is to let the artists and scolds flourish together, along with information. Protect our children as we must, but we should leave the moviemakers to do their thing.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Franciscans would see a bevy of more “no smoking” signs in The City if legislation introduced Tuesday is approved.

As The Examiner reported in November, Supervisor Eric Mar reignited the stalled legislation that would forbid smoking in a slew of new settings, adding to existing bans in bars, restaurants, parks, transit stops and taxis.

The bill would expand no-smoking zones to include farmers’ markets, outdoor seating areas of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, and common areas of multiunit housing complexes.

Smokers would have to light up farther away from entrances, exits, windows and vents of all buildings. And smoking would only be allowed at the curb of sidewalks, streets and alleys. If there is no curb, smoking would be prohibited within 15 feet of entrances or exits, according to the bill.

Smokers also would have to be at least 20 feet from transit shelters, boarding areas and ticket lines, including those for cable cars.

The legislation would ban smoking while waiting in lines at ATMs, theaters, athletic events, concert venues and cab stands.

The initiative — meant to further protect residents from harmful secondhand smoke — was introduced after more than two years of vetting by community groups, local businesses and The City, Mar said.

Those who break the rules would face up to a $100 fine for the first offense and upward of $500 for multiple offenses, the legislation says.
The bill was introduced in 2008, but it faced opposition from businesses and did not gain the political traction needed for approval.
By: Mike Aldax
December 16, 2009

Mayor Bart Cox opened the November meeting with an opening prayer and a pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

After approval of the previous meeting of Oct. 8, and the approval of bills and warrants, time was given to Lorie Huntington of the Governors Youth Council.

Huntington then made a presentation about the dangers of the new smoke- less tobacco products being marketed to grade school and high school students. The items she displayed were about the size of a cell phone and looked like packages of candy, lip balm containers or lipstick containers. These products have all the ingredients of a cigarette, and are five times stronger and more addictive than cigarettes. The cigarette companies have found a loophole in the law and the government has not added any laws making it illegal to market these products to teenagers and younger students. Although the tobacco companies will deny their target is youth, these products appeal to the youth because of their packaging.

Huntington provided information. Some of the new tobacco products being tested have as much as three times the nicotine as the average cigarette, putting children at risk for tobacco related poisonings.

A 1-year old who weighs about 23 pounds could suffer severe toxicity or death if they ate 10-17 Camel Orbs, or 17 strips, or three to four sticks according to information provided by the Utah Department of Health. A 4-year old who weighs about 35 pounds would have to eat 12-27 orbs, or 27 strips or five sticks. High concentrations of nicotine in these products make them a serious health threat to young children.

Last year alone the Utah Poison Control Center took 102 tobacco poisoning calls, 88 of which were for children age 4 or younger, according to Marty Malheiro, the Center’s coordinator of outreach education. These tobacco cases included chewing tobacco, cigarettes, cigars, filter tips, snuff and unknown tobacco products.

All of these dangerous products can be purchased at the local stores in Carbon and Emery counties. Huntington said, “We all need to be aware of them and the effects of what they are doing to the youth in our area. The tobacco companies are targeting our youth and this is just a new way to do so. The hotline number for quitting is 888-567-8788. The lines are open Monday through Sunday from 6 a.m.-1 a.m.,” said Huntington.

In other business the City Council passed a resolution establishing an Identity Theft Policy in compliance with recent federal and state legislation they also passed a resolution establishing policies and procedures guidelines for new accounts, security deposits and returned checks.

The Orangeville City Council passed two resolutions authorizing the issuance of Taxable Lease Revenue Bonds of not more than $180,000 for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, installing skate park improvements and related matters.

A public hearing will be held on Dec. 10, concerning the issuance of the $180,000 in bonds for the Orangeville Skate Park.

Councilman James Davis has interviewed several skate park contractors and has developed a skate park layout and design using prefabricated skate park ramps on a large concrete slab. The exact location of the skate park has not yet been determined by the City Council.

The City Council also approved an outside of the city water and hook-up for Jim Fielder. This water hook up will cost Fielder about $2,000 and one water share.

Jacob Tuttle gave a report on the activities of the Youth City Council and Mayor Bart Cox appointed Carmen Humphrey as the advisor to the Youth City Council.

Orangeville City’s community Christmas chili/soup cookoff will be held on Dec. 5. Sign-ups for the chili/soup cook-off will be at the city hall. Sign up on or before Dec. 4. Chili and soups will be accepted from 3-3:45 p.m. on Dec. 5 at the Community Center. Bring at least one gallon, they will be served at the dinner portion of the Community’s Christmas Party. The judging will be at 4 p.m. at the old Fire Station/Community Center. Childrens crafts from 4-5 p.m. at the City Hall. From 5-7 p.m. the chili and soup dinner will be served. Orangeville officials encourage all to sign up for the chili/soup cook-off.

By PHIL FAUVER
November 24, 2009

The tobacco industry is using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to promote its products and persuade people to become smokers, a study revealed yesterday.

“The ban on advertising does not mean the tobacco industry has stopped advertising its products,” said Becky Freeman of Australia’s University of Sydney, who conducted the study.

She presented her findings in Bangkok at a threeday regional training workshop held by Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA).

Freeman said most tobacco companies were interested in viral marketing (using preexisting social networks to increase brand recognition) to persuade or influence audiences to pass products on to others.

A million people had visited video clips on YouTube reviewing cigarettes, she said, and thousands more had become fans of the products on Facebook.

“The Internet has made it easier to engage consumers by allowing them to contribute directly to marketing campaigns and brand development,” she said.

The use of social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, podcasts and RSS would be one of the main topics up for discussion at Tabinfo Asia 2009, the tobacco industry’s biggest event, to be held at the Impact Arena Exhibition Centre from today until Sunday.

SEATCA’s senior policy adviser Mary Assunta Kolandai said the tobacco industry was using creative tactics to attract buyers by introducing giveaways using brand colours and logos.

Another marketing device was the use of product and pack designs – such as colourful and glowinthe dark packs – to entice specific groups.

“For example, we found cigarette packs designed like lipsticks or wallets – a new way to lure more and more women to become smokers,” she said.

To prevent youth from taking up smoking, Kolandi has called on the government to issue comprehensive regulations banning such advertising and promotion on the Internet.

A group of 650 people, including teenagers, led by Action on Smoking and its alliances, will today demonstrate against the Tabinfo Asia 2009 at Impact Arena.

“This is a nightmare for our people,” SEATCA’s director Bungon Ritthiphakdee said, adding that the industry would step up its tactics to fight, delay and dilute national tobacco control legislation – as evidenced by the sessions and discussions lined up for its upcoming congress.

Also on the summit’s agenda is discussing how to wipe the regulatory slate clean, making packages more attractive and innovations to sustain addiction, Bungon said.

Box
Statistics
2.4 million people per year die from tobaccorelated diseases in Asia.
6,575 smokers die daily.
125 million adults are smokers in the Asean region.
350 million smokers in China.
1 million die in the mainland every year from tobaccorelated deaths.

By Pongphon Sarnsamak
The Nation
November 11, 2009

Great news arrived last week for families that enjoy the sport of Rodeo.
We are one step closer to tobacco-free rodeo events. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) announced last week that U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company (and their new parent company ALTRIA – AKA Philip Morris) will be ending their sponsorship agreement with the PRCA at the end of this year.

Hopefully this signals the start of a tobacco-free era for professional rodeo. Rodeo has been around since the 1800’s. Tobacco sponsorship of rodeo began in 1986. A number of organizations including, Buck Tobacco, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Oklahoma Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT), Montana REACT, and many others have been instrumental in sending out the message – Rodeos Are For Families – Not Big Tobacco.

Many tobacco prevention programs across the United States and I have also asked the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) to step up and make their rodeo event family-friendly by giving tobacco the boot. Lets make rodeo an event that we are comfortable to share with our kids. I would encourage parents to contact the PRCA and PBR and the sponsors of those organizations to let them know that you are in favor of tobacco-free rodeos.

By Cowboy Ted Hallisey, Mainstreetbusinessjournal

Director of Te Reo Marama Shane Bradbrook received international recognition for his contribution to tobacco control, when he was presented with Nigel Gray Award at the Oceania Tobacco Control Conference in Darwin last Friday.

The award recognises an individual’s contributions to tobacco control, with a bias towards relatively ‘unsung heros’. Judges considered depth of achievement at local and regional levels, and achievements at national and international levels. People working in tobacco control in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, the Pacific Islands, and Papua New Guinea were eligible for nomination. Criteria included:

creativity,
persistence,
effectiveness,
contributions to change,

skill in application or generation of evidence and argument for tobacco control.

Shane Bradbrook is a veteran of the tobacco control sector in New Zealand. As Director of Te Reo Marama Mr. Bradbrook has been at the forefront of Maori work in Smokefree initiatives.

“Even though rates are trending downwards almost fifty per cent of Maori smoke. Rates for Maori women are especially high and most continue to smoke during pregnancy,” Shane Bradbrook said.

“Work within the sector has tended to focus on supporting Maori smokers to quit. Our approach has been slightly different. We have focused on the role that the tobacco industry plays. Tobacco companies are licensed to sell a product that kills many Maori.

“Rather than saying to Maori ‘you need to stop smoking’, we have raised awareness about the agenda of the tobacco companies who are not concerned with Maori health. They want to make a profit and are not worried about killing people in the process. In fact they believe that this is their right.”

Te Reo Marama has developed a number of provocative communications campaigns that carry this message. The latest features large cigarette packets which carry the brand “Maori Killers”.

“The campaign is designed to shock our people into quitting and make them realize what motivates tobacco companies.”

In 2005 a New Zealander living in Israel e-mailed Maori working in the Smoke-free area, concerned about a new line of cigarettes being marketed by American tobacco company Philip Morris. She explained in her e-mail that the packaging featured Maori designs. While she was a smoker herself, she was concerned about the way that Philip Morris was aligning Maori with a tobacco product.

In 2007 Shane Bradbrook traveled to the United States, to challenge Philip Morris about their appropriation of Maori imagery to sell cigarettes. In an unprecedented move Philip Morris apologized for the move. The story was covered by media around the world.

“The Maori Mix issue was a career highlight because it was direct confrontation with a multi-national tobacco company, and the publicity that followed highlighted the impact that tobacco has on Maori health.”

Shane is currently on the international boards of the Framework Convention Alliance (Switzerland) and the Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Tobacco Control (Melbourne). He is also on the Executive Committee of the World Conference on Tobacco or Health.

12 October, 2009 Voxy

Ever since the public became aware about the bad effects of smoking a few decades ago, many people have found quitting the tobacco habit hard. Companies have been innovating and manufacturing smoking cessation devices and products for many years now. From nicotine patches to gum, even a daily pill, nicotine addicts have been using them to quit their habit. In this article you’ll find the green smoke electronic cigarette review.

What is an electronic cigarette?

The green smoke electronic cigarette has been in production for just about three years and is a clever little device aimed at providing smokers with a healthier option. This can also be useful in helping to reduce and indeed quit smoking altogether.

In addition to being healthier than your average cigarettes, and perhaps most importantly of all, is the fact that electronic cigarettes are completely legal. Because a green smoke electronic cigarette does not involve tobacco, you can legally smoke them anywhere that your average cigarettes are banned from use such as bars, restaurants, place of business, even on airplanes. Furthermore, electronic cigarettes allow you to smoke without worry of inflicting harm to others due to nasty second hand smoke.

The great thing about a green smoke electronic cigarette as apposed to say, nicotine patches, is that e-cigarettes produce the same tactile sensation and oral fixation that smokers desire, while satisfying ones tobacco cravings as well. When you take a drag from an electronic cigarette you actually feel your lungs fill with a warm tobacco flavored smoke and when you exhale the smoke billows out of your lungs just like regular smoking, however, as mentioned, that smoke is actually a much healthier water vapor that quickly evaporates and therefore does not offend people in the close vicinity.

While a green smoke electronic cigarette may look, feel and taste much like traditional cigarettes, they function very differently. You see, electronic cigarettes do not actually burn any tobacco, but rather, when you inhale from an e-cigarette, you activate a “flow censor” which releases a water vapor containing nicotine, propylene glycol, and a scent that simulates the flavor of tobacco. All of which simply means that electronic cigarettes allow you to get your nicotine fix while avoiding all of the cancer causing agents found in regular cigarettes such as tar, carcinogens, hundreds of additives, and hydrocarbons.

Green smoke electronic cigarettes have been around for a while in various incarnations. There have been recent advances in the technology as well as ever increasing restrictions against smoking that have propelled the e-cigarette into a new found popularity. If you are interested in a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes, or if you really just want to have the freedom to smoke whenever and wherever you want, a green smoke electronic cigarette might be the best solution you’ve been looking for.

For smokers trying to quit their habit, that “last” cigarette is usually the final one in the pack.

To an addict, cigarettes are so valued that not finishing the pack would be downright wasteful, said Oklahoma State University researcher Jared Dempsey.

Even those who have quit but relapse and buy a pack are likely to smoke the entire thing, further derailing their cessation.

His solution? Donate those unused cigarettes to science.

Dempsey and his research team will use the cigarettes to help others stop smoking and to help understand the impact of visual cues on an addict’s brain.

Dempsey will use some of the cigarettes in photographs of smokers and smoking that scientists across that world can use when testing brain reaction to positive and negative stimuli.

For example, a smoker’s brain registers pleasure when seeing a cigarette being lit, but aversion to an image of a cigarette being finished.

The cessation treatment Dempsey advocates is called brand fading. Smokers are weaned off cigarettes by lowering nicotine levels, by only smoking brands they don’t like and with nicotine patches.

“Smokers love their brand and their brand only,” said Dempsey, a psychology professor. “They do not like it when they smoke another brand.”

Jean Gay Potts, a financial assistant at OSU, quit smoking in 1991 after a 20-year habit. She tried cigars, which she disliked, as she slowly weaned herself off her beloved Marlboro Lights.

“I was tired of smoking and looking for an easy way to quit,” Potts said. “There aren’t any.

“One day, I realized early in the afternoon that I had two cigarettes left in my last pack. I smoked the last cigarette just before I went to bed, vowing that I would not buy any more. And I didn’t.”

For others, cessation means breaking more than one habit because smoking often is associated with a specific behavior.

“Smokers often use smoking during bonding events like partying with friends and also during the most painful moments in life,” Dempsey said.

“The smoker is not only fighting a pure chemical addiction, but is simultaneously losing a pleasurable activity with friends and also a support technique during emotionally difficult times.”

September 6, 2009 Nashuatelegraph

ALEC BRADLEY PRENSADO
Made by: Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas S. de R.L., Honduras
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua

Price: $8.95—$11.75
Details: The Alec Bradley Prensado was built around a Corojo 2006 wrapper leaf grown in Trojes, Honduras, near the Nicaraguan border. Alec Bradley owner Alan Rubin first smoked the tobacco in 2008, and he decided to build a brand around it. The cigars are box pressed and powerful. They come in five sizes: Corona Gorda, Robusto, Churchill, Gran Toro and Torpedo, and will be released in very limited quantities starting in September.
What makes it special: The first box-pressed cigar from Alec Bradley, and the company’s strongest cigar to date.

ALEC BRADLEY FAMILY BLEND

Made by: Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas S. de R.L., Honduras
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Indonesia
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
Price: $6.50
Details: This is a one-size blend created for David Rubin, Miguel Montero and Reinaldo Sosa, the fathers of the top executives at Alec Bradley Cigar Co. The pigtailed cigars measure 5 1/2 inches by 50 ring gauge, and come in boxes of 50, the top of which is adorned with the signatures of the three men. While the blend’s components seem similar to the powerful Tempus, the Family Blend employs medium primings, giving it a far more mellow flavor.

ALEC BRADLEY SELECT CABINET RESERVE
Made by: Fabrica de Tabacos Raices Cubanas S. de R.L., Honduras
Wrapper: Honduras
Binder: Honduras and Indonesia
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua
Price: $5.50—$8.25
Average Cigar Insider Rating: 87.8 points
Details: The Alec Bradley SCR is intended as a less powerful, more balanced version of the Alec Bradley Tempus. The cigars come in five sizes: Churchill (7 by 48, $7); Robusto (5 by 50, $6.25); Corona (5 1/2 by 42, $5.50); Gran Robusto (5 1/2 by 60, $8.25); and Torpedo (6 1/8 by 52, $7.75). The cigars are made with two binders, and the tobacco blend relies heavily on Honduran tobacco grown in Trojes, near the border of Nicaragua.

ALEC BRADLEY VICE PRESS
Made by: Tabacos de Oriente (Nestor Plasencia), Honduras
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Costa Rica, Colombia
Filler: Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico
Price: $7.50—$8.50
Details: This is a new take on an old idea. Vice Press replaces Alec Bradley’s 2007 Maxx Vice release, which had big, pressed cigars in a huge bulky crate. The crate proved too large for many cigar store humidors to easily stock, so Alec Bradley ditched the packaging and took the pressing concept to more manageable boxes of 20. Vice Press comes in three sizes: 6T (a torpedo measuring 7 inches long by 60 ring, $8.50); 6T2 (6 1/2 by 62. $8.50) and the relatively diminutive 6T4 (5 by 64, $7.50). These cigars use a double binder, one leaf of Colombian, one Costa Rican.

© Cigaraficionado

CONCORD – The state of New Hampshire is suing a Brookline businessman who is charging customers $20 for a carton of cigarettes they roll themselves.

According to Assistant Attorney General David Rienzo, Joseph Correia Jr. of Tobacco Haven in Brookline has two machines customers use to make their own cigarettes. Customers buy tobacco and other cigarette components and then are directed to the machines and taught how to operate them, according to Rienzo.

Each machine can churn out about 200 cigarettes — a carton — in about 10 minutes. Customers pay $26 a carton, about $30 less than the going price of a pre-packaged carton.

Atty. Jeffrey Burd of Cincinnati, Ohio, who represents Correia, said Tobacco Haven disputes it is a manufacturer.

“We have communicated that to the Attorney General’s Office prior to the filing of this lawsuit,” he said. “They disagreed.”

Burd said he will be filing paperwork with the court outlining Tobacco Haven’s position prior to an Oct. 13 hearing in Merrimack County Superior Court.

Rienzo said the state is owed about 2 cents per cigarette under the state’s Non-Participating Manufacturers and the Directory Act. Additionally, taxes of $1.33 per pack have gone uncollected, according to Rienzo.

“There’s a big issue on taxes,” he said.

While the state Department of Revenues is aware of the situation, Rienzo said the tax issue is not part of the lawsuit filed in Merrimack County Superior Court.

Eleven years ago, state laws were enacted as part of the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) of 1998.The MSA holds tobacco manufacturers responsible for the costs paid by the state for Medicaid patients suffering from tobacco-related illnesses. As a result, the state receives $50 million annually.

Those manufacturers who are part of the settlement increased their prices to cover the annual $7 billion payment to all 50 states, Rienzo said.

Under state law, cigarette manufacturers have to join the MSA but those who do not must pay into an escrow account which is maintained in the event the states decide to sue them as well. The amount paid is based on the number of cigarettes made – about two-cents per butt, according to Rienzo.

The state is asking a judge to declare Tobacco Haven a tobacco products manufacturer, making it subject to state laws.Part of the MSA agreement, Rienzo explained, obligates the state to go after those manufacturers who do not pay into the escrow account. He said it would be costly for the state not to enforce those laws because if it doesn’t, the penalty is the loss of that annual $50 million payment.

Rienzo did not know how many cigarettes were manufactured at Tobacco Haven or how much money is due the state.

© Aug. 19, 2009 Unionleader

WHAT: 77th Annual Convention & International Trade Show
International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR)
WHERE: New Orleans Morial Convention Center (NOMCC)
WHEN: Saturday, August 8 – Wednesday, August 12, 2009

WHY: The IPCPR represents thousands of small business owners of smoke shops and manufacturers of premium, handmade cigars across the United States. IPCPR members generate tens of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in federal, state and local sales and payroll taxes. Premium cigars are enjoyed with friends like fine wines. They make ordinary occasions special and special occasions extraordinary. With every tax increase on tobacco products and with every legislated smoking ban at local, state or national levels, those jobs and tax revenues are increasingly threatened, not to mention the chipping away of our individual rights.
DETAILS: The 77th Annual Convention & International Trade Show of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) is the largest premium tobacco trade show in the world. The event is open only to members and guests of IPCPR. It is not open to the public.
The show features more than 300 exhibitors and more than 1,300 booths displaying, demonstrating, sampling and wholesaling new and traditional tobacco products and accessories exclusively for the 5,500 attendees who come from throughout the U.S. and 30 foreign countries to stimulate New Orleans’ economy with some $12 million in local expenditures.
Members of IPCPR include more than 2,000 premium cigar retailers, manufacturers and distributors of high-quality, hand-made cigars, pipes, premium tobacco and related accoutrements. Services of IPCPR provided to its members include legislative and marketing support such as the annual convention and trade show being staged in New Orleans this year.
For the most part, IPCPR members are small, family-owned businesses participating in the less than five percent of the tobacco market which is comprised of tobacco products other than cigarettes, which represent the remaining 95 percent.
The IPCPR staged last year’s show in Las Vegas and has already indicated that it expects to return to New Orleans for its 78th annual show next year.
Local media are welcome and encouraged to cover this important event but will not be permitted to walk the floor or attend events unescorted or without credentials.
For credentials and to discuss potential interview and photo opportunities, please contact IPCPR’s public relations agency, Tortorici & Randolph (see below), for specific times.
SCHEDULE:
Saturday, August 8
12:30pm – 2:00pm Seminar 1 – Cigar Rights of America
J. Glynn Loope, Executive Director
2:15pm – 3:45pm Seminar 2 – Tobacconist University
Jorge Armenteros, President & Founder
4:00pm – 5:30pm Seminar 3 – Legislative Update
Chris McCalla, IPCPR Legislative Director
6:30pm – 8:00pm IPCPR Opening Reception (No Media)
Sunday, August 9
8:00am – 10:00am Opening Breakfast and IPCPR Annual Meeting
10:00am – 5:00pm Trade Show Open
6:30pm – 8:00pm Private Reception (No Media)
Monday, August 10 & Tuesday, August 11
10:00am – 5:00pm Trade Show Open
Wednesday, August 12
9:00am – 1:00pm Trade Show Open

WEB SITES: www.ipcpr.org,

Media Contacts:
Tortorici & Randolph (for IPCPR)
Tony Tortorici, 678/697-3069 (cell), tony@tortoricipr.com

The leggy cigarette girls are your first clue to the throwback aura of Cabaret CooCoo, a gentle exercise in vaudeville pluck by the locally based Happenstance Theater. Before the show starts, women stroll the aisles selling items you can’t actually consume in the low-ceilinged auditorium at Mt. Vernon Place United Methodist Church (Fringe calls this venue The Mountain), while two musicians plink out cute old tunes on accordion and ukulele.

It’s awfully winsome, so delicate you fear it might fall apart. By design, these yesteryear troupers barely have their act together: the headliners haven’t arrived, the master of ceremonies disappears, and heck, nobody’s even manning the spotlight. (When someone finally gets to it, the beam keeps hitting the wrong spot.)

Time for a wing and a prayer, right? Surely this charming band of entertainers has a little something up its collective sleeve.

Well, yes and no. Yes: the Gracie Allen quality of Sabrina Mandell as Diz Aster, who sings plaintively yet winningly with Izzy Aster (Mandell’s real-life husband, Mark Jaster). The duo discovers neat opportunities for subtle slapstick in the midst of standards like “Bicycle Built for Two,” and Jaster — a gifted physical clown — graciously cedes the spotlight to Mandell’s adorably kooky persona.

The music is simple and childlike; a toy piano played by Nick Newlin suits the mood perfectly. Newlin even turns out to be a surprisingly deft juggler, if not quite ready for a big-time Cirque gig.

Less effective, though not way off the mark, is a swinging dance routine by the cigarette girls that practically blossoms into ballet. Also sketchy is the rudimentary sleight of hand by Karen Beriss, as well as the overall timing of what Happenstance intends as an endearing night of comic misfires and schlepping through.

The group had a Fringe hit last year with “Low Tide Hotel,” and it’s booked for a holiday show this December at Bethesda’s Round House Theatre. But the members are still honing this bit of old-school stuff; performed by Happenstance, the acts are perpetually young at heart.