Cigarette Wars

[Ephemeris]

When I got to the part with Mike Bloomberg, I had to turn off my TV. I got so angry that I almost punched the screen out. One day this clown will choke on his own arrogance. At his funeral, I'll drop cigarettes, salt, pornographic magazines, a gun, soda, the US Constitution and transfat-loaded potato chips into his casket so he can spend eternity surrounded by the things he tried to destroy.

[Darwin]

When I got to the part with Mike Bloomberg, I had to turn off my TV. I got so angry that I almost punched the screen out. One day this clown will choke on his own arrogance. At his funeral, I'll drop cigarettes, salt, pornographic magazines, a gun, soda, the US Constitution and transfat-loaded potato chips into his casket so he can spend eternity surrounded by the things he tried to destroy.

A man after my own metaphorical heart.

[bshactman]

Brian Shactman here ... stumbled on the thread. I appreciate all the responses. We will try and get it on Hulu as soon as we can, and it re-airs SUNDAY @ 10 pm ET. I understand the frustration. We had ZERO agenda here, honestly. The tobacco companies did not speak to us on camera, which is a respectable decision, but there is nothing we can do about that. I struggle with the civil liberties side of it myself. The one counter that I did not have to Bloomberg was the 2nd hand smoke to workers. If they can't get a job anywhere else, that's a tough pill to have to swallow. Feel free to email me any comments: brian.shactman@nbcuni.com.

[fishmeat]

Brian Shactman here ... stumbled on the thread. I appreciate all the responses. We will try and get it on Hulu as soon as we can, and it re-airs SUNDAY @ 10 pm ET. I understand the frustration. We had ZERO agenda here, honestly. The tobacco companies did not speak to us on camera, which is a respectable decision, but there is nothing we can do about that. I struggle with the civil liberties side of it myself. The one counter that I did not have to Bloomberg was the 2nd hand smoke to workers. If they can't get a job anywhere else, that's a tough pill to have to swallow. Feel free to email me any comments: brian.shactman@nbcuni.com.

I suggest you whole heartedly do a show on snus and not like 60 Minutes did. Cover its history, the "safer" process that goes into making it, the fact that it was helped countless smokers stop smoking. I'm sure V2 or Swedish Match would love to go on air about snus. Also it would be awesome if you chose someone whom uses snus and knows quite a bit about it to do an interview. The guy that 60 Minutes chose was absolutely the wrong guy for the job. He is a dual-user of cigarettes and snus, he did nothing but give the anti-tobacco crowd more ammo to fire back at us.

[tom502]

This makes me yearn back to the days of smoking, and back to when no one cared if you smoked and could smoke anywhere.

[EricHill78]

Brian Shactman here ... stumbled on the thread. I appreciate all the responses. We will try and get it on Hulu as soon as we can, and it re-airs SUNDAY @ 10 pm ET. I understand the frustration. We had ZERO agenda here, honestly. The tobacco companies did not speak to us on camera, which is a respectable decision, but there is nothing we can do about that. I struggle with the civil liberties side of it myself. The one counter that I did not have to Bloomberg was the 2nd hand smoke to workers. If they can't get a job anywhere else, that's a tough pill to have to swallow. Feel free to email me any comments: brian.shactman@nbcuni.com.

Wow.. the power of snuson when someone who actually was part of the show posted something. Too cool if you ask me.

[LincolnSnuff]

Agreed. I wonder if the grower who traveled around the world trying to sell American burley tobacco to foreign blenders (with little success) has approached any of the snus manufacturers like Swedish Match, Gotlands, or V2?

If Mr. Shactman is still following this thread, I would echo that an unbiased program about Swedish snus as a form of nicotine replacement therapy for smokers would be an excellent idea and could save a lot of lives.

[Jwalker]

Yeah lol they could switch to dark air cured for snus or dark fired for dip which I saw in the news a lot of farmers are doing. I'll have to watch the show when it's on Hulu. The preview clips don't look too biased they interview a guy with a cigarette bar and stuff. I know when history channel did their documentary swedish match, cornehl and diehl, and A. Fuente were the only people they could interview.

[Ephemeris]

Brian Shactman here ... stumbled on the thread. I appreciate all the responses. We will try and get it on Hulu as soon as we can, and it re-airs SUNDAY @ 10 pm ET. I understand the frustration. We had ZERO agenda here, honestly. The tobacco companies did not speak to us on camera, which is a respectable decision, but there is nothing we can do about that. I struggle with the civil liberties side of it myself. The one counter that I did not have to Bloomberg was the 2nd hand smoke to workers. If they can't get a job anywhere else, that's a tough pill to have to swallow. Feel free to email me any comments: brian.shactman@nbcuni.com.

I think you did a pretty good job of presenting the facts as they were. I guess the best thing I can hope for from a mainstream news outlet is that one day a real, unbiased genuine piece of journalism regarding tobacco (not just cigarettes) will help to sway the public opinion in our favor. Snus, snuff and other alternative means of using tobacco are damn near harmless, but all we hear about is the dangers of American smokeless products and the lung cancer rates of smokers. Smoking is still the most popular method of using tobacco, but there are so many other means to enjoy this herb that don't receive any airtime because they don't result in death and cancer, which seems to be the most newsworthy aspect of tobacco use.

As for the lack of cooperation from the cigarette companies, no surprise there. Even as pro-tobacco as my publication is, the "Big Three" refuse to participate unless we give them complete free reign to present themselves as they see fit. If a representative of American Big Tobacco did happen to agree to an interview with you, they would probably demand final cut approval and complete control of the way that they are presented, which would completely undercut any claims to being unbiased and objective. It's not worth the headache in my opinion.

Swedish Match however seems always willing to talk to the press, even when it's not necessarily in their best interest. They are the only large tobacco company that I know of that operates with any degree of transparency towards the public.

[MGX]

They did mention the ban that Canada enacted on "flavored" cigarettes. They said 200 countries have vowed to follow their lead since "flavored cigarettes lead to youth smoking" Do they have any idea how F**king stupid that sounds?

That's pretty sweet considering Earth has less than 200 countries.