Tobacco producing giant Philip Morris International (PMI) broke ground on its new regional tobacco warehouse facility in a 50,000- square meter total land area inside Subic Techno Park that will store tobacco leaf for shipment and processing in various PMI cigarette factories in the Asia-Pacific region.

Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc. (PMPMI) Managing Director Chris Nelson, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Feliciano G. Salonga and SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza led the groundbreaking Monday morning to signal the commencement of the project.

?Today we break ground in what described to be the largest humid warehouse facility that will established Subic as a major center of regional leaf tobacco trading and a major center for international distribution, ? SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said.

This new warehouse will have state-of-the-art features such as humidity control, fire suppression equipment, and air conditioning to handle the imported tobacco leaf from China, Indonesia, Thailand, and India, among others, which will be used by PMI cigarette manufacturing facilities in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia..

The expected project completion will be August this year, so definitely, the economic benefit of this project will accrued to the community in a very short period of time,? Arreza said.

What we are groundbreaking today is actually the Phase II of our investment here in Subic.. You will recall that in January 2008, exactly two years ago, we opened the first phase which was a 10,000-square meter leaf warehouse that used to be Building 8120 of SBMA located at the Boton area,? PMPMI Managing Director Chris Nelson said.

At present, the existing refurbished warehouse in Boton Area can only accommodate 6,100 metric tons of tobacco leaf. Phase-I has an initial investment of P30-million while the new project is peg at around P500-million worth of investment, Nelson said.

The new warehouse stands on a 20,000-square meter lot out of the almost 50,000-square meter total land area that we have leased from SBMA for 50 years. In the future, we could further expand the warehouse facility to handle 24,000 metric tons of tobacco depending on the region?s demand,? he added.

The construction of the Subic Techno Park warehouse, with an initial capacity of storing 14,000 metric tons of tobacco, is expected to be completed in July this year.

Nelson disclosed that Subic was chosen from among several possible locations in Southeast Asia ?as it provides reasonable advantages in cost and efficiency over the various storage areas where tobacco leaf are previously kept.?

Through the years, we have steadily expanded our investments here in the Philippines. The project that we are groundbreaking today further cements our commitment to the economic development of the country and our faith in the Philippine tobacco industry,? Nelson said.

PMI is the leading tobacco company in the world with over 15 percent share of the international adult smoking market (excluding China).

It previously invested more than $ 300 million in the construction of its first class cigarette manufacturing facility in Tanauan City, Batangas which became operational in 2003.

PMI?s affiliates, which include PMPMI, manufacture and market seven of the top 15 best selling international brands – including Marlboro, the world?s number one cigarette brand. (PNA)

As long as there have been movies, there have been scolds who condemn the movies for glamorizing vice. And the scolds have generally been right: one of the great pleasures of movie watching is that it allows us to witness and vicariously take part in all kinds of behavior we wouldn’t dream of (or would only dream of) undertaking in our daily lives.

It’s also possible that what we see influences what we do, and that possibility has always been part of the justification for the various systems of censorship and classification that have existed for much of film history. Starting in the 1930s, the Hays Office and its successors promulgated a code limiting just what kind of naughtiness could be permitted on screen. Unmarried couples could not go to bed together, and even married couples were encouraged to sleep in twin beds. Punishment had to follow crime, and language had to be fit for Sunday school.

The movies hardly suffered under this regime. Indeed, they thrived. But that’s a subject for another, 100,000-word blog post. In the golden years between the repeal of Prohibition and the publication of the Surgeon General’s Report on smoking, two perfectly legal, highly profitable vices were allowed to flourish on screen. It did not hurt that the only thing that looks better in black and white than a highball glass is a plume of cigarette smoke. In the real world, smoking rarely looks cool, and usually smells pretty bad. But on film there is no smell, no desperate, compulsive puffing.

Now, of course, cigarette smoking in movies is an anachronism, and also the cause of the latest round of scolding. “Avatar” has attracted special attention because the movie is so popular and also, perhaps, because it dares to imply that the future may not be entirely smoke-free. I admit I was surprised to learn that, in 2154, a work place as tightly administered and protocol-governed as the Pandora earthling base would permit an employee to smoke on the job. Though I was equally surprised some years ago to discover, in Michael Bay’s “Pearl Harbor,” that the United States military in the 1940s was a smoke-free environment.

Tobacco use is part of history — of movie history in particular. And in the course of that history lighting up has acquired connotations of individualism, rebellion, sophistication and sex that will be hard to eradicate even as they become increasingly shrouded in nostalgia. This is certainly the case in “Nine,” by far the most obsessively smoke-filled movie in current release, and one whose failure to attract an audience should perhaps comfort the antismoking scolds.

The cigarettes are actually the best part of “Nine,” the only genuine vicarious pleasure that misbegotten movie is able to offer. And an on-screen smoke should remain an available pleasure, a signifier of the kind of romance only movies can deliver. What I’m trying to say, as a weak-willed former smoker and incurable addict, is this: by all means, let smoking become an obsolete, discredited real-life habit. Make it something akin to time travel, or slapstick, or a mad drive to the airport to stop the one you love from getting on that plane — something that only happens in the movies.

A Senate Republican leader said Monday he believes he has the votes to pass a workplace smoking ban with exceptions for the Detroit casinos, cigar bars and tobacco shops, but one industry group would rather see a total ban.

Senate Appropriations chairman Ron Jelinek, R-Three Oaks, said the Senate intends to take up the smoking prohibition measure this week, and he will propose an amendment that allows smoking on the floor of the city’s three gaming halls and in cigar bars and smoking shops.

“Yes, I think we can get the votes,” Jelinek said on Detroit talk radio, adding he’s been told the legislation will be acceptable to the House.

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House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, told The Detroit News on Friday that moving the smoking ban bill is one of the top three items on his agenda before the Legislature adjourns Dec. 17 for its holiday recess.

But the spokesman for a restaurant and bar owners group said a ban with exceptions will harm the hospitality industry.

Lance Binoniemi, executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association, said his organization opposes a smoking ban because “it’s a personal property rights issue.” But his group favors a total smoking ban over a prohibition with exceptions.

Binoniemi noted 6,000 bars and restaurants are smoke-free, so he questioned the need for a law.

The Senate has passed a bill that calls for a smoking ban, while the House has approved a measure that allows exceptions for casinos and cigar bars. Jelinek said his amendment would ban smoking in casino hotels and restaurants but would allow smoking on the floor.

Jelinek said Detroit could lose 8,000 jobs if smoking is barred in casinos and banning smoking in cigar bars and tobacco shops would put them out of business.

Advocates of a total ban say smoking is a health issue and should not be permitted in any public place.

LOS ANGELES — One of the most health conscious cities south of the border has a dirty little secret.

Without exaggeration, the majority of yoga-stretching, wheat-grass drinking, vegan-eating movie stars SMOKE CIGARETTES.

I witnessed first-hand stars smoking like chimneys when I attended the Governor’s Ball, the chi-chi party that followed the 2005 Oscars.

A merely opportunistic smoker myself, I started up a conversation with Heath Ledger (who won for Brokeback Mountain), who had a pack of Camel Lights, and the smell of his lighted cigarette mesmerized Terrence Howard (ensemble Oscar for Crash), Jennifer Aniston, Leonardo Di Caprio, George Clooney and Owen Wilson, all of whom crowded around to bum one, too.

I had about six cigarettes that evening, and I’m not even a smoker, but I had a notebook full of great quotes. That night, smoking was the sexy thing to do, I was the only one unsexy enough to fear how my throat would feel in the morning.

So no wonder 19-year-old Shenae Grimes, who just moved here from Toronto to film 91210, finds herself surrounded whenever she goes out to clubs by the beautiful people — die hard smokers such as Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Brandon Davis.

It’s a little disconcerting to see such a cutie pie as Grimes puff-puff-puffing with the Hollywood set and she acknowledges her fans probably don’t like it.

“I started smoking at about 16. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but this is who I am,” she said in her most recent blog.

Grimes is still young enough not to hear the rasp in her voice. But watch out for next season of the hit series, 24. I’ve heard some of its star, Kiefer Sutherland’s, dialogue and it almost sounds as if he’s swallowed a frog.

Always a smoker, the Canadian Sutherland doubles his quota while he’s working, sources on the set say.

Although he’s not allowed to smoke inside any of the studios, he often takes long cigarette breaks. And after a day of filming, he’ll go to the nearest bar that has an outdoor patio so he can smoke.

“Kiefer’s up to three packs a day,” said a waiter who serves him at one of his favourite restaurants in Hollywood.

Last week, Sutherland spent five hours after work at Madeo’s restaurant dining on the outside patio (where smoking is permitted.) While he stuck to just a few glasses of white wine, he chained smoke a half a pack while drinking each drink.

As he got up to leave, he grabbed his chest and croaked-laughed to his friends, “Gotta gargle before I say my lines tomorrow.” He tried to laugh, but the laughter erupted into a hacking cough.

There are only a few episodes of 24′s Season 8 left to film, so here’s hoping when he’s done, Sutherland hops on a fishing boat off the coast of Nova Scotia and does some deep breathing of the clear ocean air for a few months.

GREEN WITH HORNET, NOT JEALOUSY: There was a bit of a buzz in Hollywood when Vancouver-born Seth Rogen matched up with Cameron Diaz to film The Green Hornet. Of course an affair would be imminent said the wise Hollywood media.

Well, it’s been nada chemistry between Diaz and Rogen. Rogen has, in fact, been bringing girlfriend Lauren Miller to the set.

By LINDA MASSARELLA
15th November 2009

For the college age population, smoking hookah has become a cultural trend. The large pipes, many having multiple hoses, are set up and lit filling the room with the fresh sweet aroma of their flavored tobacco.

According to the National Health Foundation, more hookah bars have been established in recent years around college campuses than around Arab-American communities (the communities in which hookah plays a historic and traditional role).

Hookah originated in ancient north India and Pakistan. It quickly spread throughout the Persian Kingdom and found its place amongst almost all the middle-eastern cultures. Hookah, also commonly known as shisha, made its way west during the Victorian era; however, it didn’t break into mainstream western culture until the 1960’s.

Today, it once again has made a come back as more youth are turning to the retro trends of the bohemian ‘peace and love’ days. Yet most who lift a hosepipe have fallen under the common misconception that hookah is less harmful.

“I don’t smoke cigarettes,” said COS student Sarah Anderson, “but I do, do hookah.”

Smoking hookah usually is used in a social context; friends gather to relax and spend anywhere from 30min to several hours smoking. During these prolonged sessions one can inhale 50 to 200 times, resulting in breathing up to 100 times more smoke then a regular cigarette.

“The smoke is filtered through the water, making it safer to smoke,” Said another student, Samantha Cloer. This is another colloquially misconception concerning hookah.

The water at the base of the large hookah pipe is actually less efficient then the tiny filters of a cigarette. However, the moisture included in the smoke, due to the simple water filter, makes it less irritating to inhale, giving it a safer illusion.

Though softer on the throat, the watered filtered tobacco still contains high levels carbon monoxide and toxic metal components. The National Health Foundation also discovered that the nicotine from the hookah tobacco can be just as addicting due to the large amounts of smoke inhaled in one sitting.

In hookahs defense, many students find it to be soothing and relaxing. Just as cigarettes it can provide monetary comfort. However, it is not practical to carry around a hookah pipe and smoke it throughout the day, as someone could with a pack a cigarettes kept in their pocket. Hookah is more of a social activity, carried out by most only on special occasions, making the addictive concerns less.

Picking up the pipe can be a great social and soothing experience for college students. Though it is important for one to acknowledge their health and rid their minds of the myths and misconceptions.

Smoking tobacco out of a hookah is becoming an increasingly popular activity for college students across America.
A hookah is a single or multi-stemmed water pipe used for smoking tobacco. Hookahs originated in the Middle East, nearly 3,500 years ago, and have recently grown in popularity in other countries including the U.S.A, the U.K., and elsewhere.

As a result of the hookah growing in popularity, hookah lounges have been established all over the country, most of which are near college towns and in urban areas.
According to an article by Lindsay Lyon titled “the Hazard of Hookah Smoke”, from the year 2000 to 2004, over 200 new hookah cafes have opened for business. They usually target the young-adult crowd; as the cafes are usually like the typical coffee shops that offer couches, dim lighting, coffee, and musical acts. It is also usually a very cultural atmosphere. The hookahs and tobacco appeal to a younger crowd largely because the flavors of tobacco that are offered are fruity, unusual flavors. Some popular flavors include the typical fruity flavors like apple and grape, but also other curious concoctions such as Rose, Mint Chocolate Chill, French Vanilla, Blueberry Muffin, and Tutti Fruitti.
The nearest hookah lounges can be found in State College. Grass Hopper Gifts, and Jamaica Junction are the two most popular lounges. Chronic Town was another very popular hookah lounge at PSU but recently closed down to due a flood in the building.
All lounges are usually filled with students hanging out on the sofas, doing homework, socializing, listening to music and of course enjoying a nicely prepared hookah by the café workers.
“I go to Jamaica Junction whenever I’m in State College,” said Kristin Shade, a LHU sophomore. “I really enjoy it. The workers are nice and it’s just a great place to chill before you go off and do something else, like see a movie. It would be really cool if Lock Haven had one.”
Hookahs themselves can be purchased right in the town of Lock Haven at Ashworx, a popular emporium for students and non-students alike.
Before Caffeine Nation closed down, the previous owners considered offering hookahs to smoke but decided against it because of the process needed to attain a permit to allow smoking inside of a public facility. Also deterring the consideration was the small size of the coffee shop. Offering hookahs would more than likely draw a big crowd, especially on weekends and for under age students who can’t go to bars, but of course, are at least 18. If a hookah lounge opened in Lock Haven it would need to be able to hold a decent amount of people.

“I have my own hookah that I got from Ashworx,” said sophomore, Matt Miller. “It’s cool to have. I usually just invite a few friends over, turn on some tunes, and make a nice hookah. It’s something to do, and a great way to just hang out and talk. It’s really relaxing.”
Smoking hookah should be enjoyed occasionally, for there are health risks if it is done too often. Many young people have the misconception that it is healthier than smoking cigarettes because it is water-based. They believe that the water filters all the “bad stuff” out, but according to many professional sources, these myths are severely wrong.
According to mayoclinic.com, a health guidance website, Edward C. Rosenow III, M.D. states that “It’s a myth that hookah smoking is safer than smoking cigarettes. The tobacco is no less toxic. Hookah smokers actually inhale more tobacco smoke than do cigarette smokers because of the massive volume of smoke they inhale.”
The World Health Organization also put out an advisory stating that in a typical one-hour session of hookah smoking, the smoker is exposed from 100 to 200 times the volume of smoked inhaled in a single cigarette.
Because the smoker inhales much more smoke in a single sitting than a cigarette, it also means that the hookah smoker is consuming higher levels of nicotine and carbon monoxide.
Despite these dangers and advisories, college students still continue to smoke out of hookahs whether it’s at home or at a hookah lounge.
“As a casual hookah smoker I can happily tell anyone that it’s quite fun,” said Jared Day, a LHU sophomore. “It has the allure the cigarettes do with the nicotine buzz along with the social aspects of exchanging conversation in a group of new or old friends. I guess you can take from the dangers what you will, but my personal opinion is who cares? Smoking hookah has existed in Asia for thousands of years. It’s like anything else in this country we live in; it’s not really bad for you unless it’s done in excess. So I say light the coals and hit the hoses but all in good moderation.”

Lyndsey Hewitt, October 15, 2009 lhueagleye

At what point will we finally be safe? I ask because, despite federal and state penal codes that address every imaginable crime — and some that most could never conceive — and regulations drummed up to address the latest hazards of society, it appears that there is still room for more. Yes, we and our children could be much safer, if only we could be made to be safer.

Thankfully, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken a bold new step in protecting our children from themselves and preventing the creation of a whole new race of addicts. It banned flavored cigarettes.

Now, I’m an unlikely person to be defending cigarettes in any way, and I’m not defending cigarettes. I was a smoker beginning in my teens until I was about 29 when I replaced the habit with an exercise fixation. It was one of the best things I ever did.

I started smoking the old-fashioned way, with a pack of Winston’s. So did most of my friends. It didn’t take a peppermint smoke to get me hooked. Nonetheless, I can understand that kids with more of a sweet tooth than me could be initially drawn to choke down a smoke if it’s got a little something to mask the gag of tobacco. Some kids are more drawn to smoke than they would be if it they were just straight-up, ordinary butts.

That may be true, and there are few things more encouraging than having fewer young people smoking. It is a genuine scourge. But the banning of flavored cigarettes is a prime example of trying to
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regulate every ill out of society. It seems absurd that, with the majority of Americans over 18 years old, people won’t be able to buy a flavored smoke on the premise that kids will have to smoke the unflavored variety if they want to get hooked.

Believe me, some kids will smoke flavored or unflavored cigarettes, until the dwindling young social groups that still see it as cool finally fade out of existence. It’s why education — and not just the kind handed down from bureaucrats — is the answer. It doesn’t try to remove the choice, it aims to have people make better choices.

While there are hundreds of dangers we’ve regulated, many of which we’ve regulated straight into criminal enterprises, there are a thousand more dangers that lie ahead. The question is not the flavored cigarette. The question is whether we will try to restrict access to every ill, even for people perfectly able to choose for themselves, in an effort to protect everyone.

Because if we should regulate all of those ills, let me recommend the next target: Sugary cereals that make kids fat and rot their teeth. Then we can tackle soda and fast food. And boyfriends. And skateboards.

Or we can go the slow road and continue to show kids how to choose wisely — presuming they will still be able to choose at all.


John Driscoll/The Times-Standard
09/28/2009

With each drag, clove cigarettes and an assortment of flavored tobacco products are slowly beginning to disappear as a result of the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act.

This new law, signed by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2009, gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to regulate tobacco products. The FDA’s new role enables them to enforce a national ban on all flavored tobacco products including cigarettes, blunt wraps and “little cigars.” Coming this October, stores around the country will no longer be stocking up on flavored tobacco products.

Vanilla, mocha, and clove-flavored tobacco products drown the harsh quality of cigarettes in a deceitful blend of artificial savor. “It helps you smoke tobacco, when you don’t like smoking tobacco,” shared Andrew McMullen, a student at HSU. Recalling his first time buying cigarettes, McMullen revealed with a telling smile that despite the fact that he hated tobacco, he purchased a pack of cloves.

For Rachel Garcia, an HSU Business major, cloves acquired their initial appeal due to the simple fact that her non-smoker friends were not as offended by the habit. Sitting in a patch of shade, a sweet cinnamon trail of smoke pulsed from her Djarum special as Garcia spoke of the positive impact the ban will have on her life.

“It’ll be a relief when I don’t need them anymore,” she said with a delicate sincerity. Referring to smoking as an “occupation of time,” the new ban will give her an opportunity to quit altogether.

Under the law, the FDA also holds a unique power over the tobacco industry by restricting the marketing and advertisement aspect. Phrases that imply a more health conscious cigarette such as “light,” “low tar” or “mild” will no longer be used on cartons or ads. In addition, the FDA will now have the ability to alter the tar and nicotine levels and is requiring tobacco companies to reveal the amount of additives within their products.

The overall intention behind this bill is to create a greater drift between the intrigue of smoking and children. According to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, 80 percent of young smokers choose three heavily marketed brands, while 54 percent of adult smokers buy these same brands.

The tobacco industry has been accused of marketing to children in the past. In 2006, USA v. Philip Morris found that major U.S. cigarette companies continually market to minors.
But an interesting exception to the law is menthols, which are the only flavored cigarettes that remain unscathed by the new law. Ironically, menthol flavored cigarettes are also the most profitable flavor, making up 27 percent of the cigarette market. Although menthols are not in the clear just yet, according to Reuters they are going to be pursued with special interest by the FDA. Studies regarding the effects of menthols are planned and the results could ultimately lead to menthols being included in the ban after all.

“I didn’t feel it was a personal affront,” responded Bionca Johnston-Marquez, an HSU student and casual smoker who preferred cloves, when asked her initial reaction to the ban. Although a clear division has spanned the American public. To some, this law is a genuine attempt by the government to prevent children from forming smoking habits at such a young age and hopefully not at all. While other individuals see this national ban as a breach of their rights as an American and don’t want the government to have control over tobacco products.

A recent Gallup Poll revealed that 46 percent of adult Americans support the law, while 52 percent oppose it. Yet, with time, people may begin to embrace a new infringement of the government and the days of the strawberry blunt will simply be a distant memory.


September 9, 2009 Thejackonline

China Kangtai Cactus Biotech Inc announced plans to launch low nicotine and zero nicotine cigarettes based on cacti in the fourth quarter of 2009, following the successful completion of trial production.

The Nevada-based and China-focused group grows, develops, produces, and markets cactus-derived products including nutraceuticals, nutritious food, health and energy drinks, beer, wine and liquor, extracts and powders, and animal feed.

The new patented cactus cigarettes, under the registered trademark “Shengcao”, are expected to increase sales by approximately US$220,000 in the fourth quarter, the group said in a statement.

The low nicotine cigarette is made from cactus, honeysuckle, ginkgo biloba leaves and a small amount of tobacco leaves. This cactus-derived cigarette lowers tar and nicotine content by 70 percent. The zero nicotine cigarette is made without any tobacco leaves.

China Kangtai CEO Jinjiang Wang said: “The cactus cigarette market shows huge potential for growth in China. China has about 390 million smokers, accounting for 30 percent of global smokers.”

China Kangtai controls over 387 acres of plants and maintains an active R&D group that holds 18 product patents and is seeking another 12. China Kangtai’s products are sold throughout China via a distribution network that covers 12 of China’s 23 provinces and two of China’s four municipalities.

© Sept 02, 2009 Proactiveinvestors