Electronic cigarettes, or “e-cigs” as they are sometimes called, are a fairly new take on an age old habit. These battery powered devices look practically identical to an actual cigarette and are about the same size as one. Contained within the unit is what is called an “atomizer”, which is a piece of micro technology that is the key component to how the device works. Small, disposable cartridges full of nicotine infused e-liquid are inserted into the atomizer, which in turn is screwed onto the battery, which composes the main bulk of the electronic cigarette. From there the process is about as user friendly as it gets. By either inhaling directly from the unit (automatic function), or pressing a button while inhaling (triggered function), the unit immediately vaporizes the e-liquid into a thick, white, odorless vapor that is identical to smoke. The process is so seamless, that many people claim the experience is indiscernible from that of traditional smoking.

Much of the hype of this new product is attributed to the many benefits it holds over tobacco. For instance, the vapor produced by the e cigarette is completely odorless and leaves no hint of ever existing on your person or your surroundings. And since the byproduct is only vapor second hand smoke is not an issue, which means most smoking bans and restrictions do not apply to the electronic cigarette; you can use it virtually anywhere. But perhaps the most significant aspect of the e-cig is the fact that its nicotine liquid and the vapor produced by it contain none of the tar, chemicals, or carcinogens that tobacco is known to possess.

There is an automatic led light built into the tip of the e-cig to simulate a lit cigarette. No sort of ignition is ever required while using an electronic cigarette because all of the vaporization takes place within the unit and is a flameless technology. This means no lighters or matches will ever be needed again and more importantly, no risk of cigarette burns in furniture or falling asleep with a lit cigarette. No more ash all over the car dashboard, no more over flowing ashtrays and no more cigarette butts; it’s an amazing experience to feel like you have just smoked a cigarette and yet still feel very fresh and unsullied.

Each individual nicotine cartridge has a nicotine level, ranging from HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW and NON-NICOTINE. This innovative feature makes it suitable to tailor the experience to exactly what the user wants, and makes it convenient to gradually swap out to lower levels and ultimately use non-nicotine cartridges, if one wished to do so. In addition to nicotine levels, e cigarettes also give you the option to select a variety of different flavors per cartridge. And with each individual cartridge equaling between a half to a full pack of cigarettes and a FIVE pack of cartridges typically about $9.99, it’s easy to see the potential money to be saved when converting from cigarette to e-cig.

This is a product that should have been around decades ago and it’s finally here, showing us that tobacco is no longer the only choice.

officialwire.com, by Lincoln Anderson, June 17, 2010

USACIG, Inc. and Hop-on, Inc. today hailed last Thursday’s federal judge’s ruling saying the Food and Drug Administration must stop interfering with importing electronic cigarettes. The judge also indicated the devices should be regulated as tobacco products, rather than drug or medical devices.

Jay Pignatello, President of USACIG, Inc., stated, “The smoking public is one of the largest marketplaces in the world, and smoking is a social activity. USACIG is coming to market at the best time. It is very simple — USACIG is an American company. We produce our nicotine with American by-products. With all due respect to products made in China, you don’t know what you are going to get. Our product lasts longer and tastes better. My dad smoked and I wish he had a product like this that avoided the side effects of tar in traditional tobacco. We are an American company, delivering an American product, through American intellectual property with American product development expertise. When you use our product, it is like driving a Chevy.”

Pignatello continued, “USACIG is committed to being the top supplier of electronic cigarettes in the USA. We believe our product is the safest, best tasting, and least expensive in this marketplace, and will soon be available in a wide array of big box stores. Our relationship with Hop-on, combined with our experienced sales team, has us awaiting signed Letters of Intent, and our sales will increase exponentially. Additionally, we will soon be conducting a unique launch of our cigarettes to some specific retailers, at no cost to the public. Our goal is to deliver a brand name and product that everyone will be comfortable and familiar with.”

Peter Michaels, President of Hop-on, stated, “Judge Leon’s positive opinion helps us in there should be no government roadblocks to slow down our progress launching our products in the US. I have worked through issues with government bureaucracy before, and Judge Leon’s decision should make my life easier. Our products virtually have none of the cancer-causing chemicals of traditional cigarettes, but the FDA says it has not been proven safe. Our goal with USACIG is prove our products are safe, affordable for everyone and profitable for our company. We experienced no issues importing our electronics into the US market. Our product is better, less expensive, and the technology behind our cigarettes is made in America.”

With the passage of landmark tobacco legislation last year, Judge Leon added, the Food and Drug Administration’s new tobacco division will be able to regulate the contents and marketing claims of e-cigarettes in the same way it is about to begin regulating traditional tobacco products. But the agency’s drug division cannot ban the devices, the judge ruled.

About USACIG, Inc.

USACIG is the only US-based manufacturer making the actual nicotine cartridges/products in the US. The Electric Cigarette(TM) is an alternative to traditional tobacco products. It is a battery-powered device providing inhaled doses of nicotine by delivering vaporized water, propylene glycol, nicotine solution and other non-carcinogens. In addition to nicotine delivery, this vapor also provides a flavor and physical sensation similar to that of inhaled tobacco smoke, while no tobacco, smoke, or combustion is actually involved in its operation. USACIG, Inc. is a US-based manufacturer of “The Electric Cigarette” and “The Electric Cigar”(TM). USACIG manufactures its cartridges in the United States and the electronics are manufactured in China. USACIG also has US-based doctors on its board monitoring and supervising medical related issues or opportunities. For more information, visit www.USACIG.com

About Hop-on, Inc.

Hop-on, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: HPNN) offers multi-media services and has secured licensing agreements from essential patent holders for GSM, CDMA and WIFI technologies. Since its inception, known for developing the world’s first disposable cell phone, Hop-on currently remains one of the few US-based manufacturers of cellular technology. The Company also distributes The Electric Cigarette and the Electric Cigar.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933, and are subject to Rule 3B-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All Statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and other results and further events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements.

Contact for USACIG, Inc.:
David Worley
Email Contact
Contact for Hop-on, Inc.
Danny Coleman
949-756-9008

A non-drinker, 21-year-old Samir Taleb doesn’t like hanging out at bars.

Instead he spends time at Friends Cafe and Lounge, a hookah bar in Worth where he takes puffs of sweet fruit-flavored tobacco from a large water pipe. After spending nearly every night there for three years, Taleb will have to find a new hangout.

“This is a good place to chill. Now we’ll have nowhere to go,” Taleb said before the place was forced to close Jan. 1 when the village tightened its no smoking ordinance, outlawing smoking in all public places.

That included tobacco stores where smoking previously was allowed, leading to the closure of two package tobacco stores as well as two hookah lounges — Friends and Havana Cafe.

Nearby Palos Hills also tightened its anti-smoking ordinance just weeks ago, affecting the Royale Lounge, a controversial hookah bar that had been operating since May.

Owner Sam Suhail said he closed the lounge a week before Christmas after several disputes with the city. The tighter no-smoking law was drafted even after he and his partners spent $120,000 on permits and a ventilation system, he said.

But Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett said the council’s intent in passing a more stringent anti-smoking law simply closes a loophole that exists in state law.

“There was a group of people who thought you could operate something else … like a lounge … out of a retail tobacco store and still comply with the law,” Bennett said. “We wanted to make it perfectly clear (that’s illegal).”

Bennett also said the Royale was never approved as a hookah lounge and that the business had been operating without a permit.

State law permits smoking in hookah lounges and retail tobacco stores as long as the businesses do not encompass a restaurant or liquor license and they get 80 percent of their revenue from the sale of tobacco or smoking-related products, said Kelly Jakubek, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Municipalities are free to draft more stringent rules.

Both of Worth’s hookah lounges stopped serving food two years ago when the state’s anti-smoking law was enacted. Both still served non-alcoholic drinks, but the owners said beverage sales accounted for a very small part of their businesses.

During its last week, Friends Cafe at 11015 S. Harlem Ave. was nearly packed with at least 50 customers –– most in their late teens or early 20s –– taking up the spots on the soft benches in the dark room.

Maysam Noubani, 18, of Tinley Park, has been going there once a week with her friends. She said the smoke doesn’t affect anybody who isn’t already smoking.

“We’re not coming here for anything else,” she said. “If people don’t want to smoke, they don’t come here.”

“There’s not a whole lot to do here for culture,” said Anthony Hennessy, 18, a resident of Chicago’s Mount Greenwood neighborhood. “This is just something a little different.”

At Havana Cafe, 7011 W. 111th St., teens played cards at long tables in the final days while a few dozen middle-age men smoked hookah and cigarettes and played pinochle in another room.

“I come here because I can’t smoke in the house,” said Frank Hamoudah, an Orland Hills resident and a sales representative for a juice company.

“I don’t see why (the village) is getting rid of this place unless they are rolling in money and don’t want the business.”

Mayor Randy Keller said the village discussed a clean air ordinance for six months before passing it in October.

“Most of the (tobacco stores and hookah lounges) are adjacent to other buildings,” Keller said. “The argument can be made that the smoke gets in the ventilation systems and affects others.”

Havana Cafe owner Ray Salem said he’ll likely reopen as a sandwich shop, although he estimates he’ll lose 50 percent of his business. He is considering moving the hookah business to Indiana, where there is no statewide anti-smoking law.

As Illinois’ smoking ban wraps up its second year, officials say compliance is rising.

Still, some establishments have defied the ban, considering the fines for allowing smoking a cost of doing business.

At Crowbar Inc. tavern on Chicago’s Southeast Side, for example, the owner welcomes smokers and takes donations from customers to pay smoking fines.

JEKYLL ISLAND – The Georgia Farm Bureau is holding its 71st annual convention on Jekyll Island this week, but one thing hasn’t changed in all that time.

Farming is still a hard way to make a living, farmers said.

But unlike many other sectors of the economy, farmers don’t have a lot of trouble selling what they produce, Appling County farmer Randy Branch said.

“People are going to eat,” said Branch, who majors in cotton, peanuts and soybeans. “There’s going to be a need for food and fiber.”

Some of that food is bringing better prices than in years, Branch said.

Once called “poverty pods” because of poor prices, soybeans now bring $10.50 a bushel, nearly double the price not many years ago.

At 41, Branch is younger than most delegates as family farms go by the wayside. He is the fifth generation to farm the same land and doesn’t expect to be the last. His 16-year-old son plans to farm, too.

When it comes to making a profit, however, farmers tend to be at the bottom of the food chain but they take the biggest risk in putting up their land for collateral for crop loans.

Howell McCallum of Coffee County said his cotton, which is being harvested now, is bringing $250 a bail. About 215 pairs of jeans can be made from one bail of cotton, according to a National Cotton Council chart.

Even on sale for $14, the jeans from that bail would bring in more than $3,000.

“What’s wrong with this picture?” McCallum asked.

The bad economy has been good for peanut farmers, said Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission.

Because they are such a good source of inexpensive protein, peanut consumption is at an all time high, he said.

“In hard times, folks tend to be charitable. The No. 1 thing requested by food banks is peanut butter,”‘ he said.

Although rains hampered farmers in planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall, Georgia growers are managing to get their crops in and should produce about 850,000 tons of peanuts, Koehler said.

The picture is far bleaker for tobacco, said J. Michael Moore, a tobacco expert for the University of Georgia in Tifton.

“We’ll have a few farmers drop out this year,” partly because Phillip Morris U.S.A. are not renewing contracts with growers, Moore said. When current 3- to 5-year contracts expire, Phillip Morris will be gone, Moore said.

Moore predicted that the tobacco crop will grow smaller each year, but he also noted, “There is no other crop that can bring in as much money per acre.”

Ware County dairy farmer Lannis Moody said he and other milk producers are undergoing some hard times.

“Let’s just say it’s tight,” he said, “but it’ll turn back around.”

Moody said he is sympathetic with others, but that farmers sometimes have it especially hard. At one point he stopped paying himself, Moody said.

“I heard some school teachers complaining about furlough days. I said, “Good gracious. You’re talking about three days. I went two months,’” he said.

At least one delegate, James Lee of Brantley County, had nothing to complain about. Having raised chickens for years, Lee has retired.

“It’s a good time to be retired,” he said.

As he has done before, Gov. Sonny Perdue addressed the delegates and said Georgia does well when it learns lessons from farmers with their devotion to faith, family and hard work.

The delegates may have seen one of their future speakers. Several of those running for governor in 2010 addressed the convention.
By Terry Dickson
December 8, 2009

The ACT Legislative Assembly appears likely to pass a Government bill further cracking down on smoking in pubs and restaurants.

The Government has tabled the legislation to ban smoking in outdoor eating and drinking areas, although venues can create separate outdoor smoking areas.

The bill would also ban smoking at underage functions.

The Greens have indicated they will support it.

Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan says her party called for similar changes in 2005 but Labor ignored them.

She says she is glad the Government has had a change of heart.

“We’re pleased now that the Government’s catching up with the Greens and the community,” she said.

“I think what we need to remember first and foremost is that this is about people and children’s health. It’s really important to have these changes in place for those reasons in particular.”

Copyright © 2009 Abc

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In April of 1994 CEO’s from the leading tobacco companies appeared before Congress and said, one by one and under oath, that nicotine was not addictive. That may have been the last dying gasp of organized denial of the dangers inherent in smoking.

What the tobacco industry learned from the early days of “doctor recommended” cigarettes through to that hearing in ‘94, was that all it took to sell the idea that smoking was good for you – or at least not that bad – was a dose of misinformation combined with a perception of scientific legitimacy in questioning established research. By tossing out a reasonable sounding tidbit of information you can keep uncertainty alive in the public’s mind and thwart progress.

Which leads to the obvious conclusion that if plants need CO2 to grow, then more CO2, not less, is what the world needs now.

That’s the message a new lobby group called CO2 is Green is urging citizens to press on their representatives in anticipation of renewed focus on energy and climate legislation in Congress, and as the EPA finalizes its CO2 endangerment finding.

Though I honestly expected, for some naive reason, that CO2 is Green would attempt the appearance of a more rational-sounding argument, upon landing at their website one’s attention is quickly drawn a Glenn Beckian-like statement proclaiming that “if humans inhale and exhale CO2 with every breath, how could it be a pollutant?” – a blatantly false argument confusing the natural respiration of CO2 in plants and animals with the excessive burning of millions of years worth of stored carbon into the atmosphere within less than two centuries. Why bother with rational sounding arguments? Indeed CO2 is Green is pulling out all the stops of misinformation and deception in the attempt to keep the public off balance – just like the tobacco companies did for decades to keep people buying cigarettes.

As Scott Schefield recently wrote in a recent post on TriplePundit, “The global warming debate is over. Now the argument moves to solving the crisis of climate change.” Idealistically, Scott certainly is right, but unfortunately, and rather disturbingly given the facts on the ground, that isn’t reality for many.

CO2 is Green seeks to keep the debate alive by trotting out every myth and attempting to cloak itself in science-speak, while in turn refuting the entire body of peer-reviewed climate science to the point of denying its existence.

CO2 is Green is the work of veteran oil industry executive H. Leighton Steward and Corbin J Robertson Jr., CEO and leading shareholder in Houston-based Natural Resource Partners, a limited partnership involved in coal mining. Along with CO2 is Green, Steward and Robertson have formed Plants Need CO2, an organization with a similar agenda, but aimed at what the duo calls “education,” as opposed to CO2 is Green’s mission of attempting to muddle the minds of politicians through “grassroots” lobbying to prevent climate legislation.

What Steward and Robertson fail to recognize, beyond the silly arguments made regarding CO2, is that business and industry is beginning to understand not only the need to price carbon and regulate emissions, but also the opportunity it presents to take a leadership role in a new energy economy.

We reported last week that California power utility Pacific Gas & Electric was ending its relationship with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with Nike likely following suit, over the Chamber’s position on climate change. Since then, more companies are becoming fed up with what the Christian Science Monitor terms the Chamber’s “climate deniosphere.” Next week more than 100 business leaders will converge on Capitol Hill for an “advocacy day” in support of climate and energy legislation dubbed We Can Lead.

All these companies aren’t run by tree-hugging, granola-crunching liberals, they are bottom-line business pragmatists who understand that business-as-usual is unsustainable and the choice now is to either take a leadership role and seize an opportunity or become, just like those tobacco execs back in ‘94, the last dying gasp of denial.

Whether Steward and Robertson actually believe the misinformation they are peddling is difficult to tell, but it is plain they have made there choice of where they stand – with head firmly buried in the sand.

Regulation and balance is the way of all creation. When human activity interrupts the natural balance, we can either regulate our own excess, or wait for nature to do it for us. But it surely will happen, one way or another.

© Redgreenandblue

Paul Reiser, the comedian-actor-producer, seemed mad about something at the fifth annual God of Fire charity dinner in Los Angeles on Saturday night.

Joe Mantegna and Paul Reiser running the God of Fire charity auction.
“This man has made an entire business out of the fact that no one can find a match,” said Reiser about Keith Park, the founder and chief executive officer of lighter company Prometheus International Inc., and the head of God of Fire Inc., distributor of limited-edition cigars made by Tabacalera A. Fuente.

The roasting continued when Reiser’s God of Fire by Carlito Double Corona, a new cigar Park is releasing in November, went out.

“If they could invent a lighter that works for more than an hour,” Reiser joked, “I would invest right now.” Reiser then pleaded, “Does anyone have a match?”

Park laughed. He and 180 guests had begun the evening with a God of Fire by Don Carlos 2006, and thoroughly enjoyed a night of fine food, Cambria wines, Macallan single-malt Scotches, and outstanding cigars all for a good cause, helping children in need.

“We raised $80,000, which is less than what we usually raise at the event,” Park shared. “But given the economic situation, we did quite well. Since the inaugural dinner in 2005, the God of Fire charity dinner has raised over $900,000.”

The first dinner was held in 2005 in New York City. Since then, all the dinners have been held at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. Proceeds from each event go to the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by the Fuente and Newman (Diamond Crown, Cuesta-Rey) cigar families that today serves more than 5,000 families in the Dominican Republic by providing educational and other vital services. Each year, the God of Fire dinner also benefits local organizations.

This year, two Los Angeles groups received funding from the dinner. Para los Niсos/For the Children, and Beyond Shelter have been helping Los Angeles children and families in need since the 1980s.

Every year, the God of Fire organizers also honor a person who has worked to help children in need. This year, the honoree was Cuban-born actor-director-musician and cigar lover Andy Garcia, who was also the one who recommended the two local charities. Actor Joe Mantegna, a co-host of the event, introduced Garcia.

“Will show up!” Garcia shouted.

Garcia spoke warmly about the evening’s festivities, the cause and then told a story of how he and cigarmaker Carlos “Carlito” Fuente Jr. became good friends when Garcia traveled to the Dominican Republic to film scenes for his movie, “The Lost City,” a story about the impact of the Castro revolution on Cuban families. Garcia had to shoot scenes in a tobacco field, and some at a Latin American presidential palace. Garcia had already met Fuente and had an open invitation to visit the Dominican Republic.

Garcia visited and asked Fuente if a meeting with then-Dominican President Hipolito Mejia could be arranged so that Garcia could ask for help in shooting the scene in which the Cuban presidential palace was attacked. Fuente said it would be no problem. Garcia could little predict the new insights he would gain into his host’s “hobbies.”

September 29, 2009
By Alejandro Benes, Cigaraficionado

By the end of the year, a number, if not all, smoking mixes found to contain untested cannabinoids will be banned throughout the UK.

The call has been made after the popular smoking mix ‘Spice’ was found to contain a synthetically-created cannabinoid that mimics the effects of cannabis.
Ban of ‘Cannabis Emulators’

It is expected that later this year the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, is to ban Spice along with a wide variety of other substances that are marketed as ‘cannabis substitutes’ or ‘cannabis emulators’.

The hysteria has developed due to a rise in the consumption of legalized products that generally go untested before their release into the marketplace. Spice has been found to have a synthetically-created cannabinoid that is sprayed onto the dried mix of plant extracts to emulate the appeal of cannabis.

Many varieties of legal smoking mixes do not contain synthetically-created elements, but do contain plant extracts that are historically known to have psychoactive effects. The call to ban these substances comes after worries that the untested mixes may contain potentially harmful elements that are dangerous to one’s health. It is expected that by the end of the year that these legal highs will be reclassified as Class B substances alongside cannabis.
Unsafe Products Removed Too Late

If these products are deemed to be unsafe for human use and are untested, then why were they allowed to be put into the public marketplace for so many years unchallenged? If what the government says is true about these substances, then why have they been allowed to be taxed and placed on sale for public consumption?

Spice was originally created to emulate the desirable effects of cannabis, but now is likely to find itself in the same category as narcotics. Cannabis smokers say that legal smoking mixes are not nearly as potent and quite unlike the experience of smoking cannabis. The government’s decision to continue the media war against cannabis while marginalizing the truly destructive narcotics such as cocaine and heroine seems to confuse priorities.
Unclassified BZP and GBL Date Rape Drugs

The increasing number of synthetically-created compounds yet to be classified as dangerous substances worries many on both sides of the argument. BZP and GBL are legal liquid forms of ecstasy, which have resulted in several deaths. GBL is commonly known as a substitute for the date rape drug GHB.

These are dangerous substances emulating far worse narcotics than cannabis, yet they are not illegal. There are also currently legal forms of ecstasy, speed and cocaine, three drugs far more destructive than cannabis.

The ban will likely result in new black market trade in these substances, creating further opportunity and profit for illegal dealers, rather than research and investigation into what is truly harmful.


© September 2nd, 2009 Orato

Harare — MONOMOTAPA have received a major boost in their tough battle to turn around a Champions League campaign that has gone off the rails with a local tobacco company, Blend Value, injecting US$50 000 into their coffers ahead of their showdown against Congolese giants TP Mazembe at Rufaro tomorrow.

The cash injection by the company a new player in the local tobacco industr is meant to boost morale among the Monomotapa players and help them focus on their assignment against the former African champions.

Monoz have lost two matches on the trot and coach Rodwell Dhlakama has questioned the focus of his players on their continental mission amid the unrest torched by problems over the funding of an adventure that does not come cheap.

The Monomotapa players staged a rebellion against their leadership, shortly after their arrival from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they were handed a 0-5 defeat by two-time African champions TP Mazembe.

That big defeat followed a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Heartlands of Nigeria. Dhlakama, whose boys now return to familiar home territory where they have turned Rufaro into their fortress and won all their Champions League games, believes his players have been distracted by the in-house turmoil.

But, just when Monomotapa were beginning to feel that they have been abandoned by the Zimbabweans, Blend Value have come along to give them a big shot in the arm and try and boost the morale of the players ahead of tomorrow’s big match.

For, despite their heavy defeats in their last two matches, Monomotapa know that if they win their three home matches in the group, it could just be enough for them to qualify for the semi-finals.

That huge task begins tomorrow with this tough task against a team that has seemingly found the going easy against Zimbabwean opposition and who, unlike Monomotapa, have no financial problems and are bankrolled by one of the wealthiest men on the continent.

Moise Katumbi Chabwe, the billionaire businessman who owns TP Mazembe, is a wealthy man who has promised his team US$250 000, to be shared among the 18 players and their officials, should they beat Monomotapa at Rufaro tomorrow.

Katumbi is also a politician, being the Governor of Katanga province in the DRC, and has interests in mining and transport.

It has always been his mission, since he took over as the owner of TP Mazembe, to turn the Congolese giants into the champions of Africa and he believes that this year, his team has its best chance.

Monomotapa is a team owned by Harare businessmen Solomon Mugavazi and Lysias Sibanda and, while they have tried their best and injected a fortune in the team, they certainly don’t have the kind of financial resources that Katumbi has.

But Mugavazi and Sibanda certainly have friends and, among the people they can call their partners, are the directors of Blend Value Tobacco, who yesterday unveiled a US$50 000 package to help Monomotapa in their hour of need.

Blend Value Tobacco are the manufacturers of the Oya! brand, which they want to dominate the domestic market, and they have already announced that this is just the start of their big partnership with Zimbabwean football.

Blend Value director Tawanda Chitapi, a prominent Harare lawyer, said his company decided to help Monomotapa because the Harare side was representing the country and needed the help of everyone in their bid to try and conquer the continent.

“We decided to help Monomotapa so that they can sort out some of the challenges that they have been facing of late,” said Chitapi.

The Harare lawyer is also a passionate football fan who has worked, mostly behind the scenes, resolving some of the wrangles that have beset the national game.

“It’s important, in our small way, to play our part in the area of social responsibility. “After reading about Monomotapa, and the challenges they were facing with regard the need to raise money for their campaign, we decided to partner Zifa and assist the team.

“We did that because Monomotapa’s match against TP Mazembe is a national game and we decided to take care of some of the expenses that come with the holding of such a big match.

“We now believe that, with our help, the players can now concentrate on giving their best and our aim is to continue sponsoring the team, depending on how things work out on the weekend.”

Monoz’ director Mugavazi attended the ceremony, at Zifa House, where Blend Value unveiled their sponsorship package.

The ceremony was also attended by Zifa chairman Wellington Nyatanga and Premier Soccer League boss Tapuwa Matangaidze whose top-flight league last week assisted Monomotapa by paying each players US$400.

That helped in ending the stand-off between the Monomotapa players and their leadership and the club, in turn, decided to lift the suspension that had been imposed on skipper Mthulisi Maphosa, goalkeeper Godfrey Mangove, defender Lucky Simango and striker Daniel Zokoto.

The four were accused of being the ringleaders in the industrial action. They have all since returned into the fold and should help Monomotapa in their quest to beat TP Mazembe at Rufaro tomorrow.

Monomotapa secretary-general David Makombe paid tribute to Blend Value for their sponsorship package. “It is a very good development in the sense that since we started participating in the Champions League, no one was coming to help and we had to source for the resources on our own and use our own funds,” said Makombe.

“It makes us concentrate on playing football and we now have confidence of where we are going and we are very grateful for the support that has been given to us.”

Club captain, the inspirational Maphosa, said his boys had faced a lot of challenges but, with friends like Blend Value, they could concentrate on their game and they had the capacity to beat Mazembe.

“We were facing a lot of problems and hopefully our problems are over,” said Maphosa. Matangaidze hailed the move by Blend Value and said this showed there was value in domestic football.

The PSL boss challenged Monomotapa to turn their campaign around and make the country and their sponsors proud with a morale-boosting win over Mazembe tomorrow.

The Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters’ Association yesterday issued a rallying cry to the country’s football fans to come in their thousands and back the Monomotapa cause at Rufaro tomorrow.

ZNSSA security chief Fortune Bgwoni also hailed Blend Value for leading the way in helping Monomotapa in their hour of need.

“What is refreshing about Blend Value’s support is that the company has come at the right time, when Monomotapa’s campaign was being threatened by financial resources, to throw its full weight behind our champions,” said Bgwoni.

“We believe that that the fans and players should take note of these companies, which are putting their financial resources into football, and support them in whatever way they can.

“If Blend Value are the tobacco company that is sponsoring football, we believe that football should also appreciate that support with the fans choosing their products ahead of their competition which might not be playing a part in the game.

“If BancABC are the bank that is supporting football, we believe that the football community — the fans, the coaches, the players and the administrators — should also support that bank ahead of its competition when it comes to their investments.

“The same goes for Nestle Zimbabwe and that is the only way that we can safeguard our sponsors and, when we do that, teams like Monomotapa will continue to get help and they can do far better in the Champions League.

“The challenge is on Monomotapa to now put their house in order and, if they were good enough to beat Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia, then they should also be good enough to beat Mazembe and give our football a reason to smile once again.

“So let’s all go to Rufaro on Saturday, and the game starts early at 2.30pm, and support our boys –just the way they have been supported by Blend Value — and I can tell you that we can win the big match and bounce back.”


© Allafrica

The roll-your-own cigarettes made on the machines at Tobacco Haven are controversial and inexpensive, but are they any good? Three Telegraph staffers who smoke gave them a try.

I’ll stick with my Parliament Lights, thank you.

I took one for the team Wednesday afternoon and tested one of the 200 roll-your-own cigarettes I purchased – on the paper’s tab – at Tobacco Haven in Brookline on Tuesday. They were not my favorite, but I’m not convinced it’s entirely the cigarette’s fault.

Taking a drag is difficult. I don’t know if that’s because it was made with “all-natural” tobacco like American Spirits, or if it was packed too densely. The latter explanation is at least fixable since the RYO machines can adjust the amount of tobacco in each butt.

They also didn’t taste like much. It didn’t feel like anything was in my mouth or lungs. But again, it’s possible another combination of tobacco – robust, natural or mild – and filter – light or full-flavored – would make a difference. This wasn’t exactly a scientific survey.

But the price is right. At $25.99 the carton cost far less than a carton of my cancer-sticks of choice.

– JOSEPH G. COTE

One of the few things I like about cigarettes is it gives me a short period of time to clear my head. A quick three to four minutes and I am back at my desk feeling refreshed.

The cigarettes from Tobacco Haven gave me none of that. Anyone who has ever smoked an American Spirit will know what I am referring to when I say they take far too long to finish.

In the time that I would normally be done with my cigarette, I wasn’t even half way through the one from Tobacco Haven.

With “normal” cigarettes, you can cut the allotted 15-minute work breaks into three five-minute mini breaks, taking each time to smoke a cigarette. The cigarettes from Tobacco Haven? You will be struggling to finish one cigarette in your entire break.

They are more mild then Marlborough Ultra Lights. In fact, think of them as Marlborough Mega Ultra Lights with less flavor.

– DANA SMITH

I’m in the process of trying to quit, so just about any cigarette is a good cigarette.

Since the cigarette from Tobacco Haven was hand-rolled, I was expecting a harsh cigarette with no filter. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a filter.

However, the first puff, instead of being too harsh was too light. I normally smoke Marlboro Lights, so that caught me off guard.

I found myself puffing harder and struggling to get a good draw of smoke. I didn’t get the satisfying “ahhhh” that I normally get while smoking.

Oddly enough, despite the “lightness,” I got a throat burn and dry mouth about halfway through the cigarette, reminiscent of generic-brand cigarettes.

For the price they’ll definitely do in a pinch, but I doubt brand-loyal cigarette smokers will find them an adequate substitute for the long term.

– DONNA ROBERSON

© Nashuatelegraph

LUMBERTON – Jimmy Dawson began building tobacco barns in Robeson County as a young boy.

By the time he was 16, he was building them with his uncle for K.M. Biggs Farms.

“We used nothing but a handsaw,” he said.

Dawson, who is 64, worked for K.M. Biggs for more than 40 years. He can recall every detail of those old barns that used to dot the Robeson County landscape, including the poles on which tobacco leaves were hung for curing.

“My mind often goes back to the time when we farmed and we had these old barns. You remember a lot of things, like falling out of the barn or finding a snake in it,” he said with a chuckle. “It all comes back to you.”

Dawson wanted to capture the heyday of tobacco farming in Robeson County, so he built a model barn using old tobacco sticks.

He said he tossed around the idea for 12 years before beginning the project in March.

“I decided to just go ahead and do it,” he said.

Dawson spent 200 hours building the barn, which looks similar to the ones used in Robeson County in the 1920s through 1970s. Each of the more than 3,000 pieces used to build the barn was painstakingly sawed from 150 tobacco sticks once used in the old barning and curing process.

The model includes a ladder to a small door near the roof. In the old days, farmers would climb up and check the temperature in the barn, he said. There also is a roof vent that would release moisture. Near the barn is a crate of tobacco.

The top and front side pieces can be removed so people can have a closer look inside.

The model even has tiny hinges on the barn doors and a wood-burning furnace, which is how tobacco used to be cured.

“I didn’t think it was going to turn out this way,” he said. “But it turned out almost too perfect. It looks just like you can go up under the barn shelter and start working.”

He called the finished product “A Page in Time.”

Dawson said tobacco was such a big part of the county’s history that he didn’t want it to be forgotten. In 1950, there were 27,237 acres of tobacco in Robeson County. That number dropped to 5,951 acres in 2007, according to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“It is a part of history, and I am a history buff,” he said.
Popular with shoppers

Dawson’s model has been on display at Biggs Park Mall in Lumberton for three weeks.

Jan Tedder-Rogers, the mall manager, said the exhibit has been a success.

“No one walks by here without stopping. They stop to see the detail work of the barn. There are so many people in this county who made their living on tobacco. Tobacco built this mall,” she said. “I’ve overheard the older ones talking to their children about how things worked in the barn and whether they worked in the inside of the barn or as a stringer or a cropper hanger or crate driver.”

The barn will be on display at the mall until October. It will then move to the Robeson County fair and later be on display at the N.C. State Fair in Raleigh.

Dawson said one of the reasons he decided to build the barn was his age.

“Nobody lasts forever,” he said. “The other reason is Murchison Biggs and I had talked about doing it. If he was here today, he would have told you all about that barn. I built this for the whole Biggs family. Tobacco has been a part of the Biggs family for more than 80 years before the tobacco buyout.”

Kenny Biggs, whose family owned K.M. Biggs Farms, said the family is humbled by Dawson’s tribute.

“It is remarkable,” he said. “He did so many of the real McCoys that he could do it from memory.’

Dawson doesn’t plan to build any more model barns.

“This is the first and last,” he said. “God helped me build this, and I don’t think I will build another.”