Cigarette reviews and news

The consequences of straying from legitimate supply routes were brought into sharp focus for a number of retailers last month, as Trading Standards teams and HM Revenue and Customs continued their assault on the black market tobacco trade.

In Nottingham, one operation led to the seizure of 3,600 counterfeit cigarettes and 30kg of rolling tobacco from a newsagent. A further stash of illegal tobacco products used to supply the store were also found at a nearby home. The individuals are awaiting sentencing.

Last month three prolific tobacco smugglers who were caught attempting to smuggle 35 million cigarettes into the West Midlands were sentenced to a total of 41 years in jail.

Lorraine Raynor, head of trading standards for community protection, said better partnership working was boosting seizure rates. Recently introduced anti-counterfeit technology, which enables the authorities to tell immediately whether a tobacco product is genuine, and additional government funding to tackle tax evasion, were also helping.

Federation of Wholesale Distributors chief executive James Bielby said retailers should think twice before straying from their usual wholesale partners, or be prepared for the consequences.

Tobacco Manufacturers Association (TMA) chief executive Christopher Ogden added: “All smuggled tobacco poses a serious threat to legitimate manufacturers and retailers. Although some retailers may be tempted by a cheaper product, we urge them not to buy or sell it. Selling illicit tobacco is a criminal offence and you could face severe penalties.”

More than 60% of adult smokers would like to see higher fines imposed on retailers who sell illicit products, new TMA survey findings have revealed.

Federal regulators on Wednesday outlined rules for the tobacco industry that for the first time require disclosure of any changes to their products, and that detail how to seek permission to market new products under the sweeping tobacco control law signed by President Obama in June 2009.

“Up to now, tobacco products have been the only mass-consumed products for which users do not know what they are consuming,” Dr. Lawrence R. Deyton, director of the Center for Tobacco Products of the Food and Drug Administration, said in a conference call with reporters.

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington advocacy group, praised the F.D.A. for its progress regulating tobacco. “As a result of the bright spotlight of F.D.A. scrutiny, tobacco companies will no longer be able to secretly manipulate their products in ways that make them more addictive and appealing,” he said in a statement.

Any tobacco product changed after Feb. 15, 2007, when the legislation was introduced in Congress, must be reviewed by the agency. The disclosures by the companies are expected by March 22. Companies may apply for a fast track review of new products that are “substantially equivalent” to earlier products.

One of the practical effects, Mr. Myers said, is that tobacco products changed after March 22 cannot be sold unless the F.D.A. permits it. The agency has the power to order some products to be removed from the market that were introduced in the period from Feb. 15, 2007, to March 22.

Steven Callahan, a spokesman for Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and the largest tobacco company, said the proposed rules were expected and under review by Altria.

David Howard, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, maker of Camel products and the second-largest tobacco firm, said the company’s products are all identical or substantially similar to earlier products, and it had applied for the designation. “We’ll see what happens,” he added.

Lorillard, the third-largest tobacco company, declined comment.

Lorillard is facing a F.D.A. review of menthol flavored products, which account for 90 percent of its sales. The F.D.A. Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee plans to hear evidence about menthol at a hearing Monday and Tuesday, and is expected to issue recommendations by March.

Also Wednesday, Gregory N. Connolly of the Harvard School of Public Health, a critic of the tobacco industry, said he had resigned from the scientific advisory panel. “The responsibilities of the advisory committee were very narrow, and they also place burdens on members in terms of you can’t report on your own science, you can’t communicate with your fellow members unless it’s in public, and implicit restraint from speaking with the media,” he said in an interview. “I think my effectiveness can be much greater not being on the board.”

He also said the panel was in effect acting as tobacco industry scientists and had been too cautious in attacking menthol and nicotine.

Dr. Connolly said he planned to testify on Monday about a new study showing the promotion of menthol cigarettes to women in Japan had increased the rate of female smoking even as Japanese men smoked less.

The American law banned candy-, fruit- and spice-flavored cigarettes but left the issue of menthol to the F.D.A. Congress questioned whether menthol contributed to smoking initiation or deterred quitting.

David J. Adelman, tobacco industry analyst for Morgan Stanley, said in a note to investors Wednesday that the chances of an F.D.A. ban of menthol were reduced by the resignations of Dr. Connolly and Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, the F.D.A. deputy commissioner.

Dr. Connolly was the “dominant antitobacco voice in the menthol hearings thus far,” Mr. Adelman wrote.

Dr. Sharfstein, who is leaving to become Maryland’s secretary of health, was a former Congressional staff member involved in developing the legislation.

The chief of Montana First Nation has been suspended after admitting her role in storing 14 million contraband cigarettes worth an estimated $7 million, were seized Thursday.

The cigarettes were found stored in a Quonset that belonged to the First Nation. Chief Carolyn Buffalo of the Montana First Nation did not deny that the cigarettes were in the possession of the First Nation.

Band members told CTV News Buffalo and band councillor Leonard Standingontheroad have both lost their roles with the band pending an investigation. Smoking effects on body are so many.

“I’ll apologize as many times as I need to,” said Buffalo. “The truth is we were trying to get our economy going because we have no money,” said Buffalo. [...]

Gino Samy spends nearly $70 a week for his pack-a-day smoking habit. Now that state lawmakers are considering raising cigarette taxes by a dollar, the Chicago resident thinks it’s time to use the money he spends on smoking — roughly $3,650 a year — on a vacation instead.

“Paying almost $10 for (a pack of) cigarettes? That’s a lot,” said Samy, 35. And then to tack on another dollar? “It’s time for quitting.”

Gov. Pat Quinn and top lawmakers are hoping to generate $377 million for education by raising cigarette taxes to $1.98 per pack. Combined with City of Chicago and Cook County taxes, cigarettes in the city would include $4.66 in taxes, pushing prices past the $11 mark at some downtown retailers. [...]

The former Union Health Minister, Anbumani Ramadoss, has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, expressing concern over the shoddy implementation of the new pictorial health warnings on tobacco products.

He alleged that the implementation of rotation for pictorial health warnings, one of the key strategies to create awareness on the adverse health impacts of tobacco, was ineffective. “Tobacco kills almost a million people every year in India,” he said in the letter.

“It is scientifically recognised and empirically established from the experiences of other countries that strong pictorial health warnings on tobacco products are powerful communication tools that can take the message of the toxic effects of tobacco to a vast majority of people, including the illiterate. Effective warnings will deter the non-starters and will motivate the tobacco consumers to quit,” he said. [...]

A new unpublished study has reported finding a 36% increase in heart attacks in Isle of Man following the implementation of an island-wide ban on smoking in public places and workplaces which was implemented in March 2008.

The study compared the number of heart attack admissions in Isle of Man during the two-year period prior to the smoking ban with the number of heart attack admissions during the two-year period following the smoking ban.

Because Isle of Man is an island with only one hospital, it serves as an excellent location in which to study changes in heart attack admissions in association with a smoking ban.

The study findings are presented as follows: “Before the smoke free legislation was introduced, myocardial infarctions episodes (admissions) were increasing at a rate of 0.23 per month. This means that roughly every 4 months there would be, on average, one more patient admitted with myocardial infarction in the Isle of Man than the previous 4 months? In the 2 years after the legislation was put in place, the results show that there was no longer an average increase.”

In all those years the man had smoked many cigarettes.

The study conclusion is as follows: “This study provides some evidence which, together with related studies carried out in different countries, demonstrates that laws enforcing smoke free regulations in public areas may be associated with a reduction in myocardial infarction admissions and so a concomitant reduction in the incidence of MI in the population.” [...]

The expanding availability of contraband tobacco products has flown under the radar for some time and has gone largely unnoticed by the general public. However, it is critical that everyone recognizes the impacts of this rapidly developing and highly profitable and dangerous criminal activity.

We should first all be concerned about how it impacts our youth. When both contraband and counterfeit tobacco products are available, it is mainly our youth that gravitate to these products because of the cost difference between the legitimate $71 to $90 per 200 cigarettes and the $10 to $30 dollars for the illegal replacements. The easy availability of cheap contraband or counterfeit tobacco runs counter to the strategy of keeping the cost of tobacco out of the reach of most of British Columbia’s youth.

Of course the availability of illegal tobacco products wreaks havoc with our statistics relating to smoking. While success in curbing smoking is measured by observing tobacco sales statistics they are misleading as they do not take into consideration the migration to contraband and counterfeit tobacco products. That concern is highlighted by the recently released study results by the Canadian Convenience Stores Association showing that contraband has now grown to levels as high as 18 per cent of total tobacco products sold in British Columbia. [...]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s ban on caffeinated alcoholic drinks presents a risk for the tobacco sector, and menthol cigarettes in particular.

While the drinks targeted by the FDA have faced a barrage of negative publicity linked to underage abuse and harm, the primary focus of the regulator’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (TPSAC) hearings on menthol is underage and minority smoking.

Tobacco is also regulated by the FDA, which is currently conducting a study of the health impact of menthol cigarettes, which account for 30% of U.S. cigarette volume and gaining. [...]

Results of a state-sponsored survey of 65 Wisconsin communities shows that Sauk County retailers are most likely to sell tobacco products to minors.
An official involved with the survey said the Sauk County numbers were alarming.
“I have been doing these investigations for five or six years and have never seen numbers this high,” said Jeff Melby, assistant coordinator of the South Central Wisconsin Tobacco Free Coalition.
Melby performs compliance checks for Wisconsin Wins, a state Department of Health Services program that seeks to reduce youth access to tobacco and tobacco-related products. [...]

India’s total cigarette production is valued at ’22,000 crore, of which 12 per cent is exported.

The cigarette market is dominated four key players — ITC, Godfrey Phillips, VST and GTC.

ITC is the market leader with a 60 per cent share

Cigarette sales in the country saw a drop in 2009 over 2008 due to high excise duties and other taxes.

The government has banned foreign direct investment in cigarette manufacturing for domestic consumption or exports, closing the doors for companies like Japan Tobacco, BAT and so on.