Tobacco, taxes, ideas.........

[Maximus]

Make sure to check with your ryo tobacco suppliers to see if maybe they haven't changed the cut to a longer cut similar to pipe tobacco. That cut changes the tax back down a bit. You could still smoke it as a ryo, it would just be a different pack to it.

[snusjus]

It angers me to see electronic cigarettes getting banned. They are less harmful than traditional cigarettes yet they are considered "illegal" because they don't contain tobacco, the harmful part of smoking. The FDA needs to realize that electronic cigarettes could save lives if they are marketed more aggressively. It makes no sense to keep regular cigarettes widely available while banning a product that is much safer.

[mercvrivs]

Why do I feel like tobacco users lack representation when it comes to these issues?

[Mohave]

As mentioned by others above and shown in the tax table, the increase is not so outrageous for chewing tobacco (which I presume includes snus) and pipe tobacco.

But, don't get too comfortable about that. For example:
"...smoking control advocates such as Lindblom [of the organization Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids] say tobacco taxes should be even higher. "There's a lot of room to go after cigars and smokeless," he said. "We are certainly hopeful that health care reform will include some more increases."
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...obaccotax.html

Make sure to check with your ryo tobacco suppliers to see if maybe they haven't changed the cut to a longer cut similar to pipe tobacco. That cut changes the tax back down a bit. You could still smoke it as a ryo, it would just be a different pack to it.

That is interesting. Never occurred to me substitution might be practical. I'd like to look into that idea further, but I'm not sure how or where to do so.

[Skimo]

What's important to know is that Governments seek control, our government is at least as corrupt as any other.

Bills with good parts have tag alongs, lobbiests for the pharma/big tobacco/military contractors/special interest groups.

Add in the fact that the people aren't represented, lobbiests are activists are.

Getting laws passed is a pay to play scheme. you really think that they have our interest at heart?

The only way to beat the system is to make the system or pay to change the system.

Pardon me, I'm just a bit disgruntled.

two things in life are certain, deatha and taxes.

[deebocools]

I heard about the roll-your-own tax hike. True insanity.

now is the time, however, for snus companies to up their game in the US. Since there actually is scientific data to back up harm reduction, It would have a dog in the fight at least.

Even with the $8 prices we heard about for general in the US, it's a better deal for smokers of all kinds now. Even using 12/portions a day is $4 a day which is comparable.

[TropicalBob]

On top of the tax is Big Tobacco's fear of losing more lawsuits after the recent damage award in Florida. So prices are going up -- even without government's hand being stuck out.

The e-cig developments are sad, but are purely the manufacturers' faults. They created a product that vaporized a liquid mixture containing nicotine, never tested it, never applied for approvals and now find themselves slapped with accusations of selling an unapproved drug-delivery device and liquid. Duh.

I've used e-cigs since January 2008, along with multiple brands of my favorite snus products, ordered online. The e-cig has been a miracle for many smokers, getting them off the habit/addiction with something that closely replicates cigarette smoking. (Franky, snus delivers more nicotine than even the highest 36mg liquid).

Canada banned e-cigs this past Friday. Mexico banned them last year. Australia banned them earlier this year. The U.S. is poised to act in days, likely banning both sale and importation (not possession or use).

Are we just like Hong Kong? It raised tobacco taxes one day and on the next day it banned e-cigs and made arrests to show it was serious. I never thought the U.S. would travel that route and am greatly saddened by developments.

But the truth is no nation has approved e-cigs. Many have banned them. Too many unknowns ....

[chainsnuser]

The more people continue to smoke cigarettes the more

- jobs are secure for anti-tobacco-workers and doctors
- tax-money can be earned by the governments
- pension-payments can be avoided through premature deaths

The last thing governments, doctors and anti-tobacco-professionals need, is harm-reduction, or am I wrong?

Besides of these perfectly logical (IMHO) economic facts, the fight against tobacco also has traits of a mass-psychosis with approx. 70% of the population, who nowadays have a pathological fear of tobacco.

I absolutely don't know where this will end. It's sad and crazy.

Cheers!

[Maximus]

As mentioned by others above and shown in the tax table, the increase is not so outrageous for chewing tobacco (which I presume includes snus) and pipe tobacco.

But, don't get too comfortable about that. For example:
"...smoking control advocates such as Lindblom [of the organization Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids] say tobacco taxes should be even higher. "There's a lot of room to go after cigars and smokeless," he said. "We are certainly hopeful that health care reform will include some more increases."
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...obaccotax.html

Make sure to check with your ryo tobacco suppliers to see if maybe they haven't changed the cut to a longer cut similar to pipe tobacco. That cut changes the tax back down a bit. You could still smoke it as a ryo, it would just be a different pack to it.

That is interesting. Never occurred to me substitution might be practical. I'd like to look into that idea further, but I'm not sure how or where to do so.

I have a friend who's wife used ryo. With the increase in taxes she saw that her distributor seemed to be going out of business. She made a phone call to them and they were changing to selling pipe tobacco which is basically a longer cut. She asked if she could still ryo with this and they said yes and that it would probably burn better even. She is now able to continue to order from who she did previously. They just needed to reclassify what they were selling and how. I think you will find many of the ryo distributors changing to this.

[TropicalBob]

The 'end game' is to round up tobacco users and force them into the Cigarette Corral. There, products can be taxed and regulated, especially if Congress approves the bill handing over tobacco control to the FDA. But 'end game' is a few years away.

In the meantime, the anti-tobacco crowd wants to stomp out roll your own. No question. They want it gone. That's one reason it was hit for the biggest tax hike of all. The idea is to make RYO cost the same as regular cigarettes. Cut no corner. Pay up.

But the very idea that pipe tobacco can be substituted for cigarette tobacco is already raising eyebrows -- mine included. I smoke a pipe.

Fine pipe tobacco is reasonably priced. Its taxes are reasonable. It is safe to enjoy pleasant, fragrant puffs (real pipe smokers do not inhale). And pipe smokers are not viewed with the same level of disdain aimed at cigarette smokers.

RYO is not safe. Treating pipe tobacco as an inhaling tobacco means users are assuming all the known health hazards of cigarette smoking. That will not go unnoticed. RYO types using pipe tobacco are likely dooming pipe smokers to an oppressive future of high taxation -- because cigarettes are so despised and anything used in RYO will be clobbered over and over.

Oh my, I see the end of yet another pleasure. Now, leave my snus alone, please.

[bearcat87]

I heard about the roll-your-own tax hike. True insanity.

now is the time, however, for snus companies to up their game in the US. Since there actually is scientific data to back up harm reduction, It would have a dog in the fight at least.

Even with the $8 prices we heard about for general in the US, it's a better deal for smokers of all kinds now. Even using 12/portions a day is $4 a day which is comparable.

I have mixed feelings. Part of me wants people to find snus to enjoy and relatively safe way to partake in tobacco. Another part of me doesn't want it to be taxed. Right now any tax on snus would be devastating. I sacrifice many things in order to afford snus. Give me a few years and it won't be a big deal but right now.... no tax please!