As of September 1, it won’t be illegal to possess flavored cigarettes, but it will be illegal to sell them. As a result, clove cigarettes, which have been imported from Indonesia and sold in the U.S. since 1968, and cigarettes flavors like cherry and chocolate mocha are about to become a controlled substance.

Ostensibly, this portion of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law on June 22, will prevent yummy-sounding cigarette flavors like cherry and chocolate mocha from tempting young people into smoking.

In fact, this law—which passed handily in both houses of congress—will have little impact on teen smoking and a great deal of impact on adults’ freedom of choice (or perhaps I should say freedom of vice.)

Pay no attention to the cigarette company behind the curtain

The act, which was sponsored by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and championed by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA)), benefited from an unusual ally.

Philip-Morris—the tobacco giant who controls fully half of the U.S. cigarette market share—had its tarry hands all over the passage of this legislation.

At first blush, it seems strange that the company would join forces with the likes of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids )—which champions itself as an organization “working to expose Big Tobacco’s lies”—to achieve what Obama calls “a victory for health care reform.”

A closer look, however, reveals that Philip-Morris has nothing to lose with this legislation and everything to gain.

First, a little background is in order. Here’s the law, in a nutshell:

For the first time in history, the legislation puts the Food and Drug Administration in charge of regulating cigarettes. The legislation includes a number of restrictions on how cigarettes can be labeled, packaged and promoted. It also restricts what kinds of ingredients can be used in the manufacture of cigarettes sold in the United States.

Again, the sales ban is supposed to keep kids from being lured into the world of nicotine addiction by fruit, candy and chocolate flavors.

Statistically, however, the flavor kids consider tastiest is straight-up tobacco, in the form of Marlboro brand cigarettes (produced by Philip Morris). Some 81 percent of established teen smokers consider Marlboro to be their ticket to flavor country, according to a February 12 article.

The next most popular flavor is mint, in the form of menthol cigarettes (Philip Morris produces a wide variety of menthol cigarettes, as well). A recent survey by the American Legacy Foundation turned up the following stats: Menthol cigarettes are preferred by 81 percent of black teens, 32 percent of white teens and 45 percent of Hispanic teens.

In 2007, high school students were surveyed about their smoking habits. Twenty percent of teens surveyed said they had smoked in the last month, according to the American Lung Association website.

A relatively small number of these had smoked clove cigarettes (6.8 percent of the 20 percent who had smoked) and candy-flavored bidi cigarettes (1.7 percent).

So why is menthol expressly excluded in the legislation? Want the wording? Read the full act.  It stipulates that:

“. . . a cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”

Philip Morris’ reasons for this stipulation are as clear as the numbers. Menthol cigarettes, which add up to 28 percent of cigarettes purchased in the United States, are used by a significant number of teenagers and an even more significant number of minority youths.

Thus, clove cigarettes (which represent .09 percent of all cigarettes purchased in the United States), and flavor cigarettes (which have an even smaller market share) are a red herring.

By working to get clove and flavor cigarettes banned, Philip-Morris is trying to look like a philanthropic company that is dead-set against teen smoking. And yet, the company produces literally dozens of varieties of menthol cigarettes.

If they really cared, they’d want to see teen-friendly menthols pulled off the shelves along with products like Sweet Dreams’ Pink Vanilla cigarettes.

Instead, Philip Morris introduced yet another menthol cigarette, Marlboro Blend No. 54, in June.

The timing of the new addition (or should I say new addiction?), which hit shelves on June 17 and which the company is touting as “richer” and “bolder” is enough to make the company’s legislative motives suspect.

I believe that Philip Morris has no intention of stopping the profits reaped from teen smoking. Not only do teen smokers represent a significant market share; like Whitney Houston, cigarette companies know that “children are the future.” Teen smokers turn into grownup ones.

Supporting the law is really a subversive move on Philip Morris part, because it sweeps convenience store shelves clean of the small but significant competition offered by flavored cigarettes and cloves.

Culver City resident Jeff Bond smoked unfiltered clove cigarettes regularly for 10 years before quitting a few years ago. Bond, a legal secretary and musician, says he quit because he has two kids he wants to stay healthy for.

Though he has bid cloves adieu, he disagrees with the legislation, partially because he considers it fishy that a cigarette company was so heavily involved in its passage.

“Philip Morris gets to keep its product on market and others don’t. I just don’t like that. It sounds manipulative to me,” says Bond.

I called a couple of smoke shops to see if they were benefiting from a boom in the sales of the soon-to-be outlawed cigs, as aficionados attempt to stock up. The folks at both establishments were surprisingly unaware of the new law, which will affect their businesses soon. Apparently, September 1 will bring a rude awakening for some business owners and smokers.

Legislation is already being discussed that would restrict U.S. sales of these products via the Internet, by the way, so there may be no legal dodge available online.

Perhaps speakeasies will make a return?

An unwelcome nanny

I had the dubious honor of breaking the news to Bunny Lua, of The Green House Smoke Shop in Venice. A customer mentioned the law to her two days ago  (August 22), but she figured that they must have their facts wrong.

Normally, when there are new laws that will have a sweeping impact on the sale of tobacco, she is notified by the companies in question. Sometimes she is asked to sign a petition or take some other action to show her opposition.

In this case, Lau heard nothing. She is still coming to grips with what the legislation means for her business and for personal freedom in general.

“I’d like to think I’m up-to-date [on legislation affecting the sale of tobacco,] but obviously I’m not,” she said. “It seems like it changes every minute.”

Lau emphasized that she never sells cigarettes of any kind to minors because she doesn’t want to “f—k with” the possibility of being fined or shut down.

“I have enough smokers in the neighborhood that I don’t need some 16-year-old’s five bucks,” she said. (Actually, cloves and flavor cigarettes run about $8 a pack, while regular cigarettes run about $7.)

In Lau’s mind, the heavy taxes on tobacco items are sign enough that the U.S. is becoming a nanny state, in which freedom is impinged upon in favor of supposed protection. The new law takes things even further.

“Think it is an infringement on people’s choice. More and more now we are being limited to what we can eat, where we buy our seeds from [etc.],” she said. “ . . . It upsets me that they make decisions for you, as if you can’t think for yourself.”

She also questions the inconsistencies implicit in tobacco legislation, such as the fact that cigarillos (small cigars that are often flavored) are neither set to be banned nor heavily taxed.

“It’s stupid,” Lau said. “They’re taxing you up the a–  on every cigarette, and yet cigars are somehow not part of the tobacco tax. There’s some heavy lobbying going on somewhere.”

*Los Angeles Health and Beauty Examiner Sarah Torribio smokes clove cigarettes once in a blue moon, though she knows they are bad for her. Apparently, her bad habit will be kicked for her in a week or so.

When I was 15, my friend Lindsey and I would sneak out of summer camp to smoke skinny, leaf-wrapped cigarettes called bidis. They came in exotic-looking, triangular packages decorated with pictures of whatever they were supposed to taste like — vanilla beans, strawberries — though they mostly just tasted like burning. We felt satisfyingly rebellious, even though I’m sure we just looked like a pair of dizzy dorks.

Still, I’m disappointed that, back in June, President Barack Obama robbed our nation’s youth of this method of extinguishing brain cells by signing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which, among other things, bans flavored cigarettes like cloves and bidis.

Jason Ballou, co-owner of Main Street Tobacco at 4307 Main, has been in the cig-selling business for 14 years. He says the ban will eliminate 50 of his store’s cigarette varieties, and unless he tells them, most of his customers have no idea what’s coming.

bidi2.jpg
​As of September 22, Ballou says, “Cloves of any kind become illegal. Bidis will be, as well. And then the different flavored cigarettes, the vanillas and cherries that are really popular, will all be illegal. Same with herbal cigarettes, which contain no tobacco at all, no nicotine.”

So did the local tobacco retailers protest? “Really there’s nothing we can do,” Ballou says. “Most cigarette manufacturers opposed it, with the exception of Philip Morris, who supported the law. It’s going to eliminate a quarter of [Philip Morris'] competition, so they’ll definitely see increases in their sales.”

Meanwhile, clove-lovers are stocking up. “We’re getting people that come in and buy four, five, six cartons” of their favorite brands, Ballou says. “Just like when the cigarette tax happened, as shortages get worse and worse, the manufacturers will increase the price on the existing stock.”

After September 22, customers can still possess the products, though they’re illegal to sell. Ordering them from other countries or bringing them from overseas will be illegal, too.

On the upside, Ballou says, the ban doesn’t affect cigars, and clove-flavored varieties are being made now. “Essentially, they’re the size of 100-type cigarettes, with a filter, but it’s cigar tobacco instead of cigarette tobacco,” Ballou says. “They’re cheaper per cigar than the cigarettes were, because they are taxed at the cheaper cigar rate. So it’s actually become cheaper to smoke cloves.”

Ballou notes the irony that the federal government hoped its flavored tobacco ban would protect kids, and yet the most popular cigarette flavor in the world — menthol — remains on the shelves.

Besides, he says, “Cigar and pipe tobacco has always been flavored and kids certainly aren’t swarming to try those.” Maybe the release of the new Sherlock Holmes movie will change that?

More than likely, though, kids won’t even notice a ban on flavored cigarettes — they’re all too busy smoking pot.

By Nadia Pflaum in Random Life
Monday, Aug. 17 2009

Many Arabs smoke using an argileh or hookah pipe and convince themselves that it is better and safer than cigarettes and thus, smoke it all the more.

Thankfully, it looks like the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, or ACCESS, is going to do something to decrease the ignorance surrounding the hookah and its health detriments.

On their website, ACCESS states: In an effort to educate the public on the dangers of Argileh (water pipe, hookah) smoking and mobilize the community into action, ACCESS will host a forum entitled “Argileh Use Prevention: Challenges and Opportunities” on Thursday, August 13, 2009.

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Dina Ayna at argilehforum@accesscommunity.org or call (313) 216-2233.

Dr. Sharon Allison-Ottey, a native of Kannapolis and graduate of A.L. Brown High, has released a new line of greeting cards — Cards by Dr. Sharon — with inspirational messages about health and wellness.

The card line is an extension of her recent novels, which have been coined “fiction with a purpose.”

The greeting cards will feature cards for every occasion, each with “A Moment of Health and Wellness” on the back.

In honor of her roots, Allison-Ottey chose to have Southern Charm at 131 West Ave., Kannapolis, be the first retail store to sell the cards. Southern Charm is owned by one of her high school classmates, Ronald Reynolds.

Allison-Ottey tries to provide health information in a manner that positively impacts lives. She describes the cards as “the cards that keep on giving.”

Along with providing inspirational messages, 10 percent of the purchase price of each card will be donated to the Avon Foundation for Women to support its mission to improve the lives of women through its efforts to fight breast cancer and end domestic violence.

Cards also are available on the Cards by Dr. Sharon’s Web site at www.cardsbydrsharon.com.

Plans for a broader distribution of the cards are under way.

In the past three years, Dr. Sharon has published books that use storytelling to communicate critical health education and empowerment messages.

Allison-Otey is a lecturer, health strategist, medical researcher and health literacy advocate. She is the executive director of the COSHAR Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to health outreach and education.

Her own Web site is www.drsharon.com.

Workplace safety award for RCCC

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has earned a workplace safety award from the N.C. Department of Labor.

The award recognizes RCCC for reaching a million hours without a lost workday due to injury or illness.

From June 2007 through December 2008, RCCC logged more than 1.6 million employee hours without any full-time employee missing a day of work because of a work-related injury or illness.

RCCC employs approximately 345 full-time faculty and staff members at its Cabarrus and Rowan County campus locations.

Real Estate Investors meeting

The Concord subgroup of the Metrolina Real Estate Investors Association will meet Aug. 6 at Logan’s Roadhouse, 2341 Wonder Drive, Kannapolis.

Speaker Chad Hannon’s topic will be “Top 5 Insurance for Investors.”

Hannon has a combined 27 years of insurance experience with his marketing agent, Duane DiCola.

They will discuss the top five insurance needs for this industry.

Professional Housing Provider (PHP) credits can be earned.

The subgroup will meet from 6-7 p.m. for networking, dinner and announcements, and the program and questions will go from 7-8 p.m.

For more information, contact Cherrathee Hager, subgroup coordinator, at 704-490-2001, or at TwinOakProperties4U@yahoo.com.

Couples attend business conference

Thirty-four couples from North and South Carolina and Georgia attended the Cooperative Education Conference for Couples held June 26-28 at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in South Carolina.

The couples gathered to learn how cooperative businesses are organized and maintained, how they differ from other types of corporations and what economic and service benefits they offer to member-owners.

Carolina Farm Credit sponsored three couples who attended the conference: Luke and Meredith Knox of Cleveland; Luke and Kathy Beam of Lawndale; and Jeff and Mary Cornwell of Lawndale.

The Knoxes were selected as Outstanding Couple for 2009. Luke Knox is a farmer on the Knox Hill Farm with dairy replacement heifer operations. Meredith Knox is a medical assistant.

They are co-op members with Southern States, Energy United and Carolina Farm Credit and are active with the Holstein Club in Rowan and the West Rowan FFA alumni.

The Knoxes are invited to attend the Cooperative Council’s annual meeting next year and serve as host couple for the 2010 Couples Conference.

Pink Mouse embroidery

CONCORD — Pink Mouse Embroidery will have its grand opening and ribbon-cutting at 11 a.m. Tuesday at 36 Union St. S.

The store offers custom embroidery and designing for individuals, schools, clubs, businesses and more. Digitizing and designing is done in the shop, with thousands of designs to choose from, or customers can bring their own.

For more information go to www.pinkmouseembroidery.com, or phone 704-721-0109.

Citizens South spotlight

Citizens South Bank is expanding its “Business Spotlight” program in Rowan County, allowing small business owners to generate sales leads and connect with new clientele through marketing displays in branch banks.

“As a community bank we understand the challenges this tough economy poses to our customers, especially small business owners,” said Patricia Kahle, senior vice president of retail banking with Citizens South.

“Our Business Spotlight program gives local business owners extra visibility in the community and increased contact with potential new customers at very little cost.”

The program, which is open to small business owners who bank with Citizens South, provides them with a display table in the bank’s lobby for one month at no charge.

Business owners design their own displays which must include an enter-to-win prize offering.

The program started at the bank’s Monroe branch in February and has expanded to 14 of the bank’s retail banking offices in Gastonia, Belmont, Dallas, Stanley, Salisbury, Weddington, Mooresville, Statesville, Stallings, Rockwell and in Rock Hill, S.C.

Business owners who are interested in participating should contact their local Citizens South branch manager.

East Coast Wings sales growth

WINSTON-SALEM — Thomas “Tom” Scalese, vice president of operations for East Coast Wings & Grill, announced a 6.071 percent same-stores sales growth for the second quarter.

East Coast Wings now has experienced 22 consecutive quarters of same stores sale growth for the brand.

“It is an impeccable accomplishment in today’s economic environment to show 22 consecutive quarters of same store sales growth” Scalese said.

East Coast Wings & Grill, which has a restaurant at Innes Street Market in Salisbury, is a casual dining concept with 75 flavors and more than 675 heat and flavor combinations of Buffalo wings, shrimp and tenders.

It also sells burgers, sandwiches, salads, wraps and more.

Online course will help farm families

Carolina Farm Credit has received a grant to cover the tuition and make a new e-learning financial and business management course available to N.C. farm families.

The online training will be offered statewide.

The Farm Credit University (Ag Biz Planner) curriculum includes financial planning, budgeting and other money matters essential to a farm’s success.

The program is funded by a $94,500 grant from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission. The N.C. General Assembly established the commission in 2000 to help tobacco farmers, farm workers and related businesses impacted by the transition out of tobacco farming.

The commission’s funding comes from money paid by cigarette manufacturers as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

Carolina Farm Credit’s Ag Biz Planner targets young, beginning, small and minority farmers throughout the state.

Participants will be assigned a Farm Credit loan officer to serve as a mentor throughout the course. Highlights of the program include modules that cover business and personal financial planning, understanding income statements, cash flow, the smart use of credit on the farm.

Each participant will have completed a business plan for their operation at the conclusion of the class. Priority will be given to former tobacco farmers and others impacted by the tobacco buyout.

The grant provides for training 60 producers in a set of two classes over the next two years.

Carolina Farm Credit is accepting applications for the program which will begin in October. Applications, a course outline and program information are available at www.CarolinaFarmCredit.com.Applications will be accepted through Sept. 1.

Brad Brady reaches Sierra level

Brad Brady of Salisbury, a financial representative with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, has qualified for the organization’s Sierra level for 2008 achievements

To qualify for the Sierra level, Brady demonstrated outstanding sales and service to members.

Brady is with Thrivent Financial’s SouthEast Regional Financial Office, serving Lutherans and their family members in Salisbury and the surrounding communities by providing financial guidance and solutions to help them achieve their financial goals.

Approximately 570 of Thrivent Financial’s 2,600 financial representatives qualified for the Sierra level. Brady has been with Thrivent Financial and its predecessor organizations for three years and has been recognized for his performance three times.

Youth attend conference

Thirty-eight youth representing N.C. cooperatives attended the 2009 Cooperative Youth Leadership Conference held June 22-26 at the N.C. FFA Center in White Lake.

During the week participants heard speakers representing soybean, electric, telephone and farm credit co-ops. They also took a bus to Wilmington for the day to tour the USS North Carolina Battleship and Fort Fisher aquarium.

They ended the day at the White Lake Water Park with a cookout sponsored by Star Telephone.

Along with the usual camp activities, the youth received training in the operation of cooperatives as a form of doing business. They organized a T-shirt cooperative, sold shirts to fellow campers, and donated the proceeds to breast cancer research and the SPCA.

Counselors for the week were employees of Farm Credit associations. They were: Marsha Williams, Carolina Farm Credit, Wilkesboro; Katie McEwen and Charles Barrett, AgCarolina Financial, Raleigh; and Scott Lee, Carolina Farm Credit, Statesville.

Azul Zapata of Statesville was the Outstanding Camper. She will receive an expense-paid trip to the 2009 National Institute on Cooperative Education to be held July 25-29 on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Genesis honors years of service

Genesis ElderCare’s Salisbury Center recently held its quarterly service awards presentation.

Dianne McConneaughey, in recognition of 20 years of service, received a dozen roses, $1,000 in cash, an honor badge, a 20-year pin, certificate of achievement and her name on a 20-year-club plaque in the center’s lobby.

Genesis also gave service pins in nursing to Geraldine Eagle, Elizabeth Foley and Mary Salber, all with 15 years; Mamie Smith and Amy Christy, both with five years; and Stacie Roach, three years.

Other pins awarded were Linda Brooks, five years, recreation; Nathanial Adkins, five years, housekeeping; Denise Daugherty, one year, administration; Sherry Click, five years, dietary; and Karen Buchanan, three years, dietary.

Submit information about new businesses, honors and management promotions to bizbriefs@salisburypost.com. Include a daytime phone number.
Salisburypost

Electronic cigarettes are quickly becoming the most popular alternative to traditional tobacco smoking. If you have been looking for a smokeless electronic cigarette that is affordable and durable, than the Luci Electronic Cigarette is what you have been looking for. You won’t have to wait weeks for shipping because Luci E-cigarettes are in stock and ready to be shipped to you.

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The price, durability and size make this the most convenient electronic cigarette on the market. The Luci electronic cigarette is becoming the favorite choice for e-cigarette smokers all over the world. “I ordered from a different company and it took almost 1 month to get my e-cig. My girlfriend ordered from Luci and got a better one for the same price, and it only took 4 days,” says Victor Casselburg, a smoker for 7 years.

If you are looking for a hip brand of electronic cigarettes and want to be able to get your nicotine fix anywhere anytime, than the Luci Electric cigarette is what you have been looking for. Join the thousands of happy customers and buy one today. Best of all, you don’t have to wait weeks for it to ship like other cheaper versions!


© Officialwire

Indonesia’s kretek cigarettes are almost certain to be banned in the United States after the US Senate passed a strict antismoking bill aimed at cutting the attraction of cigarettes to children.

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, voted through by a Senate committee late on Thursday, has a raft of new measures but includes the kretek prohibition because a US study found they helped to hook children on smoking.

If the bill is signed into law by President Barack Obama — as the White House says it will be — US authorities will have the power to impose strict new controls on the making and marketing of tobacco, including banning cloves as a cigarette flavoring along with such flavors as cherry and chocolate.

For Indonesian clove cigarette makers, who export about 20 percent of the $500 million worth of kretek sold overseas every year to the United States, this means $100 million a year is likely to go up in smoke. It is especially likely to affect Indonesia’s biggest kretek exporter, Gudang Garam, which has a factory in South America for the continental market.

Menthol cigarettes will not be included in the ban, however, which has angered Indonesian trade officials who point out that a ban on kretek but not menthol is discriminatory and are threatening to complain to the World Trade Organization. Government officials’ comments on the ban make it likely that WTO action will now proceed.

Earlier this month, Trade Minister Mari Pangestu hit out at the bill for not including a ban on menthols and threatened to invoke WTO action if the bill was passed. Mari and Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat have argued that the US Congress would be favoring a domestic product over an imported one if it banned cloves and not menthols.

“I think it is unfair because menthol cigarettes have not been included,” Mari said last month.

Thursday’s 79-17 Senate vote sends the measure back to Congress, which in April passed a similar but not identical version. House acceptance of the Senate bill would send it directly to Obama, who supports the action and has said he would sign in into law as soon as it reached his desk.

Source: Thejakartaglobe

They’re the newest smoke-free tobacco products — dissolvable pellets or strips that don’t require users to chew or even spit. Sold in shiny plastic cases, the products melt in your mouth like breath mints.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is test-marketing dissolvable products in three cities and says they are designed for adults.

Some lawmakers disagree. They call the products tobacco candy and say they are designed with one thing in mind: to get kids hooked on nicotine. They want to give the government power to restrict sales.
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“Tobacco candies are clearly designed to appeal to children through both packaging and taste,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. “This is not a safe product. This is not safe tobacco. It is a product that, like cigarettes, causes cancer and kills.”

Merkley and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, have co-sponsored a provision in the Senate tobacco bill requiring the government to study health effects of dissolvable tobacco. The Food and Drug Administration would be given authority to restrict how the products are marketed and sold.

The Senate is expected to vote this week on legislation giving the FDA sweeping controls over cigarettes and other tobacco products. The bill would give the agency power to regulate the content of tobacco products, order the removal of hazardous ingredients, restrict the marketing and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, clamp down on sales to young people and require stronger warning labels.

“For years, tobacco companies have deceived consumers and marketed products to children — continually trying to replace the 400,000 customers they lose each year to tobacco-related deaths and illnesses,” Brown said. “There is no doubt that smokeless tobacco products are aimed squarely at children. We have a responsibility to protect children from suggestive marketing and dangerous products.”

A spokesman for North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds accused Merkley and other lawmakers of intentionally distorting the nature of the dissolvable products, which are being test-marketed in Portland, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis.

“It’s not tobacco candy. That terminology is their terminology,” said David Howard, a Reynolds spokesman. “These are tobacco products. They are made from finely milled tobacco. All the packaging says dissolvable tobacco, they are sold side-by-side with other tobacco products and their sale is age-restricted.”

Product packaged to look like mints, critic says
But Merkley and other critics said the packaging makes some of the products look like cell phones, while others look like breath mints. Words like “mellow” and “fresh” are prominently displayed.

Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, an advocacy group that has pushed for FDA regulation of tobacco, says dissolvables are likely to appeal to children because they are flavored and packaged like candy and are easy to conceal, even in a classroom. They also carry the Camel brand, popular with many teens.
“The last thing kids need is another product to start them on the road to nicotine addiction,” Myers said.

Howard, the Reynolds spokesman, said smoke-free products eliminate the problem of second-hand smoke — and dissolvable products go one step further.

“There’s no spitting and there is no litter. They literally dissolve” in a user’s mouth, he said. “We believe this is a positive. And we’ll see what adult consumers think.”
Source: Msnbc.msn

RJ Reynolds has been making lemonade. After years of lawsuits and regulations, they’ve been finding new ways to circumvent the new smoking laws. Camel Orbs, Camel Sticks and Camel Strips are all smokeless tobacco products.

The orb is a dissovable lozenge. The Stick is like a toothpick. Ironically, the Strip is like a breath-saver strip. The orbs come in mellow and mint flavors making them like a candy. They’re made from finely ground tobacco, melt in the mouth and deliver .6 to 3.1 mg of nicotine.

Some say that with these new candies, Camel is looking for new ways to target kids. The cartoon smoking camel, Joe Camel, was blamed some years ago for luring kids into the world of smokes. He no longer hangs out on billboards.

Regardless, it should sell well to smokers who often get stuck on a plane, in an office meeting, or in a doctor’s waiting room.

Alabama Beer Bill
Last week, Alabama Governor Bob Riley signed a bill into law, raising the permissible alcohol limit from 6 to 13.9% by volume. This could open a whole new aisle at the grocery store. Bud drinkers that usually looked to Mickey’s for the added kick can now buy good beer.

Pale ales, double bocks, some stouts and barley wines will now be available for purchase where they were once banned. Microbrews should see more revenue in the state, too. However, the governor may have forgotten that triple bocks can reach over 17%. It’s the Total Cereal of beer.
Source: Digitalcity

A U.S. effort to discourage teenagers from smoking is running into opposition from Indonesia, whose 4 million clove farmers may lose a market. Cloves would be banned as a cigarette flavoring, along with cherry and chocolate, under tobacco legislation a Senate panel is to consider today. Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. tobacco company, backs the measure, which would exempt mint- flavored menthol cigarettes such as its Marlboro.

Congress would be “blatantly favoring a domestically produced product over an imported one” if it bans cloves and not menthol, Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, Indonesia’s ambassador to the U.S., wrote last month to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. Indonesia vows to take the matter to the World Trade Organization if the proposed ban becomes law.

The dispute may force lawmakers to choose between jeopardizing a $22 billion-a-year trade relationship with Indonesia or rewriting legislation that took years to negotiate among lawmakers, anti-smoking advocates such as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and Richmond, Virginia-based Altria.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee plans to vote as soon as today on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco ingredients and advertising. The House passed the measure April 2, including the ban on most flavored cigarettes, which is meant to reduce temptations for children to smoke.

‘Trainer Cigarettes’

Clove-flavored products are known as “trainer cigarettes,” and may lead to more tobacco use, a study by the National Institute of Drug Abuse found in 2006.

Cloves, native to Indonesia, are a spice taken from the dried flower buds of a tropical tree. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of clove cigarettes, known as kreteks, exporting about $500 million worth of the product a year, according to the Indonesian ambassador.

“Tobacco in Indonesia is more about politics than business,” said Widyastuti Soerojo, head of tobacco control at Indonesia Public Health Association. Increasing taxes or banning sales in the U.S. won’t affect demand or employment in the industry, she said.

About a fifth of the exports go to the U.S., and Indonesia says its cigarettes make up 99 percent of the U.S. market for the product. A ban would hurt Indonesian clove farmers and violate WTO rules, said Trade Minister Mari Pangestu.

U.S. Trade Disputes

“It’s the principle of it,” she said in an interview the day before she met U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Washington on May 15.

A clove ban would add to a list of congressional actions that have sparked trade disputes. Lawmakers included rules requiring that certain funds in the $787 billion stimulus package passed in February be spent mainly on American-made products, prompting protests from Canada, the European Union and companies such as Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc.

In a spending bill passed in March, Congress banned Mexican trucks from U.S. roads, leading Mexico to levy $2.4 billion in retaliatory tariffs. That measure also prohibited imports of chicken from China, which responded with a complaint at the WTO days later.

PT HM Sampoerna, the Indonesian unit of Philip Morris International Inc., which was spun off from Altria last year, doesn’t export cigarettes to the U.S., said spokeswoman Niken Rachmad. Sampoerna is Indonesia’s biggest cigarette maker.

Gudang Garam

PT Gudang Garam, Indonesia’s second-largest cigarette maker, sold 11.3 percent of its cigarettes overseas in 2008, up from 9.7 percent a year earlier, according to the company’s annual report.

Gudang Garam rose as much as 18 percent to 10,250 rupiah today, the most in five months, after Deutsche Bank AG raised its stock rating to “buy” from “hold,” citing “signs of a turnaround” at the company. The stock traded at 9,800 rupiah at 11:23 a.m. in Jakarta.

The tobacco bill specifies that the Food and Drug Administration could ban menthol cigarettes later if it finds them harmful.

Menthol-flavored products account for about 28 percent of all cigarettes sold in the U.S., compared with 0.09 percent for clove cigarettes, according to the Specialty Tobacco Council Inc., a trade group in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Among its members is PT Djarum, Indonesia’s leading clove-cigarette manufacturer.

Health Reasons

“Our industry is not seeking to escape reasonable regulation,” the group’s executive director, Henry C. Roemer III, said in a statement. An outright ban is “unjustified,” he said.

A trade complaint by Indonesia would hinge on whether the U.S. can prove to the WTO that it’s banning clove cigarettes for health reasons and not to protect domestic producers.

Kreteks, made from a mixture of cloves, tobacco and other additives, deliver more nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar than conventional cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

“The WTO would get involved if there is a question of discrimination,” said Claude Barfield, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a public-policy research group in Washington.

The case will depend on “whether there is anything about cloves that allows you to say this is a health and safety issue,” Barfield said. The complaint “is certainly not something you could dismiss out of hand.”

Source: Bloomberg