Tobacco News

The last time you were at your local cigar lounge, you may have noticed that all the previously unmarked ashtrays now say Diamond Crown. Or that the Montecristo logo seems to appear on everything from matches to wall art. Bigger selection of Rocky Patel than you remember? It is very possible that your tobacconist has decided to brand his lounge. Branding can be as much a psychological approach to the market as it is an academic one, and applying it to the lounge dynamic is a recent trend in the industry that is giving cigar companies the chance to advertise and perpetuate their products by way of branded merchandise, promotional art, comprehensive cigar selections and, more abstractly, experience.
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The latest amendment in the restaurant licensing policy of the city police may sound the death knell for hookah bars in the city. As per the new norms, the permission to run hookah bars in established restaurants will be revoked and no new permission will be issued.

Sudhir Sinha, city police commissioner, told TOI that he has introduced change in the notification that allowed the hookah bars to run in the city. Ream more »

Severe restrictions on medical marijuana in Fresno County are a big step closer to reality. County Supervisors unanimously supported an ordinance that would ban every existing medical marijuana collective.

The county has been closing in on collectives for more than a year now and Tuesday’s vote is a big win for law enforcement, just as Sheriff Margaret Mims met with federal agents about the issue. But the war is far from over. Ream more »

Children exposed to secondhand smoke in the home increase their odds of developing common mental and behavioral disorders by 50 per cent, experts say.
Passive smoking is already known to increase the risk of cot death, asthma, meningitis and middle-ear infections among children.
In the latest study, scientists analysed more than 50,000 results from a U.S children’s health survey conducted between 2007 and 2008. Ream more »

Everyone loves to pay $30 to suck peach-flavored smoke out of skinny Slinkys, because it makes you look sophisticated and tastes great. But unfortunately teenagers seem to be abusing their hookah privileges, and two New York state pols want to harsh their buzz (which is delicious carbon monoxide). State Senator Martin Golden and Assemblyman Alec Krasny are putting their partisan differences aside and sponsoring a bill that would “prohibit the sale of hookahs, Ream more »

Labor disruptions characterized the production of cigars in Tampa during the early 1900s. Many of the disputes between manufacturers and workers turned violent and resembled something you’d see in a Western film. Abductions, shootings, and lynching were just some of the plotlines that graced these production standoffs. One of these battles among the industry’s good, bad, and ugly reached an epic pinnacle in 1901, when a wage dispute between Cuesta-Rey and a local, predominately Cuban cigar workers’ union resulted in a violent strike that crippled the Tampa economy and led to kidnappings and deportations.
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Today, E-CigaretteDirect unveiled their new savings calculator to help customers determine the exact amount of money they will be saving by switching to e-cigarettes. The new feature is easily accessible on the E-CigaretteDirect website in the left side navigation panel. The company continues to focus on bringing the latest developments in electronic cigarette savings to the public.
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As you might imagine, not one City Council member asked for a closer look at Kevin Keenan’s butt collection.

The GCASA Prevention Educator brought his plastic jugs and bags to the council business meeting last night. They contained thousands of cigarette butts collected by volunteer children at four area parks: Lambert, Lyons, Falleti and Austin. Keenan used them as evidence of the smoking that goes on in the parks.

“The kids picked these up within an hour,” Keenan stressed. “If we were there longer, we’d have picked up a lot more than that.” Ream more »

There are 17 hookah lounges in San Francisco, but before long, they could all be doneski — or at least hookah-less.

It seems that public health department officials are getting serious and quickly nearing their desire to shut down hookah lounges, “whose owners, they say, have refused to obey state and local laws that ban indoor smoking, despite mailed and in-person warnings over the past year.”
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Think New Zealand anti-smoking laws are tough? Iceland is considering banning cigarettes and making them prescription-only for those who cannot quit.
Former health minister Siv Fridleifsdottir has proposed a radical private member’s bill in parliament that would make cigarettes a prescription-only product, banning their sale in regular shops and only allowing pharmacies to distribute them, the UK’s Guardian reported. Ream more »