Burglars Hit West St. Paul Tobacco Shop Three Times

For the third time in about a month, someone broke into Joseph's Tobacco Sales in West St. Paul. The Wazwaz family says a man drove a truck into the business after hours last Wednesday, breaking in and stealing cigarettes.
the incident was caught on eleven different surveillance cameras. Ken Wazwaz says the man took about 70 cartons of cigarettesworth more than $3,500.
"Cigarettes are very expensive with the taxes and such, they're a hot commodity on the black marget in the area," said Lt. Brian Sturgeon with the West St. Paul Police Department.
Police are trying to track down the man in the video. They want to know if he's the same man who drove a pick-up truck into the same tobacco store in late November, taking cigarettes and leaving a mess.
They don't think the smash and grabs are related to a third break-in at the shop. In that case, several people broke into several businesses in the strip mall through the walls.
The Wazwaz family has owned this shop for two years. Until last month, they had never had a break-in.

New Mich. cigarette law has some smokers fuming

A new state law intended to reduce the fire hazard posed by smoldering cigarettes has frustrated some Michigan smokers, who complain that the safer cigarettes taste foul.
The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, requires all cigarettes sold in Michigan to be engineered to automatically extinguish when left unattended. To comply, cigarette companies usually add two or three special bands to the cigarettes’ paper that, when lit, reduce the flow of oxygen to the tobacco, thereby slowing the stick’s rate of burn.
If a smoker does not draw on the lit cigarette, the bands effectively smother it.
Ashley May, a 22-year-old smoker from Roseville, told The Detroit News that the fire-safe smokes taste foul and are hard to keep lit.
“I don’t like them,” she said after a drag from a Kool. “You have to constantly puff on them every 30 seconds or else they’re going out. And then when you try to re-light them, they taste horrible.”
Although May and her husband Ed do not like the fire-safe cigarettes, they said they are a good idea if they end up reducing the number of house fires caused by unattended cigarettes.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved the law in June, making Michigan the 49th state to pass fire-safe cigarette legislation.
The new cigarettes won’t end all fires started by smoking materials, but they will help lower the numbers of deaths and injuries caused by them, said Ronald Farr, Michigan’s Fire Marshal.
“It’s a life-safety issue,” he said. “That’s the single biggest point for them.”
Fires caused by smoking-related materials in Michigan killed four people last year and injured 33 others, including seven firefighters, according to the state’s Bureau of Fire Services.
Nationwide, fires ignited by cigarettes claimed 780 lives in the United States in 2006, according to the Massachussetts-based National Fire Protection Association.
With Michigan’s new law looming, tobacco retailers such as Joe Odisho, the owner of Smokers’ Planet in Roseville, have heard plenty of complaints about the new cigarettes.
“I’ve had people come in (and) ask if I have a brand without (the fire-safe cigarettes) and then turn around and walk out when I tell them ‘no,”’ he said.
Under the new law, cigarette manufacturers that want to sell their products in the state have to register them with the state’s Bureau of Fire Services. They also must certify that their cigarettes were made with the self-extinguishing technology.
The state will charge cigarette makers a $1,250 fee to register each family brand of their products they want sold in Michigan. The companies will also have to re-certify their products every three years.
The packaging for cigarettes must carry a special mark on them – FSC for Fire Standard Complaint – as well.
Any manufacturer, distributor or retailer who continues to sell unsafe cigarettes after Jan. 1 faces fines of $100 per pack and seizure of the product, according to the law.

Marijuana Use Rises Among Teens; Cigarette Smoking Lowest Since '75

Marijuana use among teenagers increased this year after previous declines, while the use of other illicit drugs like cocaine mostly declined.
According to an annual National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded survey of nearly 47,000 students, almost one-third of 12th-graders and more than one-quarter of 10th-graders reported using marijuana in 2009. Almost 12% of eighth-graders reported marijuana use, an increase from about 11% in 2008.
The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, asked teenagers to report on the use of smoking, alcohol use and drug use, including non-medical uses of prescription painkillers and over-the-counter cold and cough products.
The report showed cigarette smoking was at the lowest point since the survey started in 1975, although the use of smokeless-tobacco products increased on some measures this year.Daily cigarette use by 12th-graders was 11.2%, a slight drop from 11.4% in 2008, while any use during the past 30 days was 20.1%, also a slight decline from 2008. Smokeless-tobacco use during the past 30 days in 2009 was reported by 8.4% of students in 12th grade, up from 6.5% in 2008.
Researchers said one of the reasons smoking rates have declined is that the percentage of students who reported ever trying smoking has "fallen dramatically." For example in 1996, 49% of eighth-graders reported trying cigarettes, compared with 20% this year.
Alcohol use stayed about the same last year, with more than half of 10th-graders and about two-thirds of seniors reporting alcohol use in the past year.
The survey showed past-year use of cocaine decreased to 3.4% from 4.4% in 2008 among 12th-graders, along with declines in the use of hallucinogens and methamphetamine.
The use of over-the-counter cold and cough medicines to get high, however, edged up among all age groups, with 6% of 10th-graders reporting non-medical use of the products last year.
The annual survey also found continuing high rates of prescription-drug abuse, with almost 10% of 12th-graders reporting non-medical use of the painkiller Vicodin last year, the same rate as 2008. Almost 5% of high-school seniors reported using OxyContin for a non-medical use in 2009, a slight uptick from 2008.
Researchers said 66% of teens reported obtaining the prescription drugs from a friend or relative, while 19% said they received the drugs with a doctor's prescription, and 8% said they bought the drugs from a dealer.

Teens smoking more pot, less tobacco

Cigarette smoking is out but pot use is in among the nation's teenagers, who also report a higher use of prescription painkillers and a waning perception about the risk of illicit drugs, a federal study on students has found.
As more states move to approve medical marijuana, and pot legalization and decriminalization become more mainstream in the national discussion, teens seem more accepting of pot use, according to a study released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
The national survey, "Monitoring the Future," was conducted by the University of Michigan and queried 47,097 students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades.
It found that one-fifth of seniors - 20.6 percent - reported using marijuana in the previous month, up from 18.3 percent in 2006. High school sophomores' pot smoking rose from 13.8 percent in 2008 to 15.9 percent this year, statistics that researchers said should capture the nation's attention.
"So far, we have not seen any dramatic rise in marijuana use, but the upward trending of the past two or three years stands in stark contrast to the steady decline that preceded it for nearly a decade," said Lloyd Johnston, who serves as principal investigator on the Michigan study, which has tracked teen drug use since 1975.
"Not only is use rising, but a key belief about the degree of risk associated with marijuana use has been in decline among young people even longer, and the degree to which teens disapprove of use of the drug has recently begun to decline," Mr. Johnston said. "Changes in these beliefs and attitudes are often very influential in driving changes in use."
Judy Kreamer, president of Educating Voices Inc., a nonprofit drug-education and drug-prevention organization in Naperville, Ill., called the survey results "very disturbing" but said they come as no surprise given the messages that advocates have sent youths in recent years.
"Today, if you watch television or listen to the radio, you cannot help but hear people laugh and tell jokes about marijuana," she said. "There is a lot of information out there that it's just a medicine and isn't as bad as alcohol. We have to straighten that misinformation out - for our children's sake.
"I want people to understand that marijuana is a harmful drug, and we have to keep our children safe. It's our responsibility, and part of that requires that we educate ourselves about the harms associated with marijuana and that we then impart those concerns to our young people so that they understand."
Among the study's bright spots: Methamphetamine use, binge drinking and cigarette smoking have declined.
The number of eighth-graders who reported smoking within the past month dropped from 19.4 percent in 1997 to 6.5 percent this year. Twelfth-grader smoking also dipped, from 36.5 percent in 1997 to 20.1 percent in 2009, marking the "lowest point in the history of the survey on all measures," among all grades surveyed, researchers said.
Cocaine use was also on the decline, with use among seniors falling from 4.4 percent in 2008 to 3.4 percent in 2009.
Seniors also registered an attitude shift on the perceived harmfulness of hallucinogens such as LSD, along with amphetamines, sedatives/barbiturates and heroin, and there was a heightened perception that drug availability was declining.
"These latest data confirm that we must redouble our efforts to implement a comprehensive, evidence-based approach to preventing and treating drug use," said Gil Kerlikowske, who heads the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"Continued erosion in youth attitudes and behavior toward substance abuse should give pause to all parents and policymakers," Mr. Kerlikowske said Monday as results from the study were released at the National Press Club in Washington.
The University of Michigan researchers noted that the percentage of teens using any illicit drug is up in 2009 over the past two years, but that the proportion of the students who reported using any drug other than pot is declining for those in the eighth and 12th grades.
The investigators said they remained concerned, however, that the perceived risk of using such drugs as Ecstasy, LSD and other inhalants has fallen, even as their reported use among teens has dropped.
"Given the glamorous name and reputation of [Ecstasy], I could easily imagine it making a comeback as younger children entering their teens become increasingly unaware of its risks," Mr. Johnston said.
"While LSD use is at historically low levels at present, the proportion of students seeing its use as dangerous has been in decline for a long time (although it did not decline further this year in two of the three grades), removing a major obstacle to experimentation. We have seen LSD make a comeback before. Clearly, it could happen again," he said.

Cigarette burns mattress in Rochester home

Some Rochester residents should consider themselves very lucky after a dropped cigarette started a mattress fire early Tuesday morning.
The Rochester Fire Department says it received a 911 call around 5:20 a.m. and when firefighters arrived at the home on 10 1/2 Street Southeast, they found a smoldering mattress.
The owner tried to put the flames out with a fire extinguisher, but the cotton and other textiles used in the padding made it hard to put out.
No one was hurt, but there were no working smoke detectors in the home.
"This was a very dangerous situation," says Battalion Chief Steven Belau of the Rochester Fire Department. "If it had happened earlier in the night, the outcome almost certainly would have been tragically different. The occupants of this house were extremely lucky that someone was awake and smelled the smoke from the fire. Cigarettes in bed and no operating smoke detectors where people sleep are a deadly combination."
Damage estimates are around $350.

CEPS Destroys 330,000 Cartons Of Cigarettes

The Northern Sector Command of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Services (CEPS) on Saturday destroyed 330,000 cartons of seized cigarettes.
The cigarettes which were of different brands were destroyed because they were either smuggled goods or did not have the health warning: "Cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health".
Mr. Ernest Frimpong-Nuamah, the Sector Commander led a team of CEPs personnel and officials of the Foods and Drugs Board and the Environmental Protection Agency to witness the destruction of the items.
Mr. William Annan, Principal Collector and Preventive Officer of CEPS said the destruction of the items was to serve as a deterrent to others who may be anticipating smuggling goods into the country without passing through the necessary procedures.

Tobacco company gives to GOP funds

Once again, the tobacco industry is weighing in on the side of Republicans in Oregon legislative races. New disclosure reports show that Philip Morris, one of the industry giants, gave $13,500 each to the House and Senate GOP caucus funds.
While this is not game-changing money, it's bigger than your typical corporate contributiion to a legislative committee.
The company did give $1,000 to a Democratic legislator, Rep. Terry Beyer of Springfield. But if you scroll down this list of contributions from the 2008 campiagn, you'll see the company sides almost exclusively with Republicans.
Democrats earned the industry's enmity by pushing through a tough indoor smoking ban in the 2007 Legislature as well as a big tobacco tax increase that voters later rejected.

Cigarettes where chic back in the day

A couple of things lately have reminded me of some of the outstanding advertising campaigns of the past. There are some great ones now, the lizard, the duck, the kids feeling cheated ...
It’s good to see car companies perking up. Ford has been getting good reviews, and its Fusion has been named Motor Trend’s Car of the Year. Makes me remember the big billboard signs with the beautiful girl in the convertible, with the words: “Watch the Fords go by!” And, right after the war, when new cars were being (literally) fought over, the big crystal ball with just the snout of the ‘46 showing, and the words, “There’s a Ford in Your Future.”
Chevy’s best advertising was Dinah Shore singing, “See the USA in your Chevrolet ...” For Packard, it was “Ask the Man Who Owns One.” And “When better cars are built, Buick will build them.”
Tobacco companies were the most inventive. But right now, a member of the Reynolds family (Camels) is on a crusade to end smoking. And word is out that EAMC (that’s East Alabama Medical Center, not East Alabama Male College, where some of us went to school) is cutting out smoking even in the parking lot. Quite a change from when Ted Williams endorsed Camels and “More doctors recommend Philip Morris ...”
Fellow named ... what is his name, Hill, Mesa, Ridge ... some kind of high ground, is very upset about it. You mean I can’t even smoke in my truck with the windows closed? Fume, fume,fume.
I used to smoke. Started off on Luckies (So round, so firm, so fully packed), but I felt sorry for the Reynolds family and switched to Camels (I’d walk a mile for a camel)’til I quit, cold
turkey, never to smoke again.
Funny how you’d pick a certain brand. Uncle Jeff smoked Raleighs. Uncle Grady smoked Old Golds. Frosty’s dad smoked Camels. Cousin James smoked Chesterfields (“Smoke dreams from smoke rings, while a Chesterfield burns ...”) Our hired man smoked Country Gentleman through the week, Prince Albert on weekends. As we worked together, I’d quiz him about why he liked certain brands. The tobacco business fascinated me.
When I was growing up, the men at Mt. Pisgah, between Sunday School and preaching, would step outside for a smoke. Cigarettes were as ubiquitous as men’s hats.
When I quit smoking, the mother of my grandkids who are in college was a baby. Unlike most ex-smokers, it doesn’t bother me to be around smokes, which are, like men’s hats, a vanishing breed.
But stubborn ones like Hill, Mesa, whatever, will, as Tex Williams said, make St. Peter at the Golden Gate wait, while they have another cigarette.

Man takes cigarettes at knifepoint from Sun Valley store

Washoe County sheriff's deputies are looking for a man who robbed a Sun Valley store early Monday morning.
About 1:40 a.m., the man entered the Bi-Rite market, 5690 Sun Valley Boulevard, and asked the clerk for a pack of cigarettes. The clerk told the man how much they cost, and the man placed a dollar bill and some change on the counter and said, "This is all I have."
The suspect put his leg on the counter, revealing a large, black-handled knife. He took the cigarettes and went east on Sun Valley Boulevard, deputies said.
The suspect was described as Hispanic, in his 30s, about 5-foot-7, with dark hair and a dark goatee and wore a gray, long-sleeve shirt, dark pants and silver glasses.

Cigarette butts toxic to fish, say researchers

Cigarette butts are toxic to fish and should be labeled as toxic hazardous waste, U.S. researchers say.
Scientists at San Diego State University say that a single cigarette butt containing a small amount of unburnt tobacco is enough to contaminate a litre of water and kill half of the fish swimming in it.
"Based on this new research, we believe that cigarettes should be considered toxic waste and new requirements need to be established for how they are disposed," Tom Novotny, a public health professor at San Diego State University, said in a statement.
The researchers tested the toxicity of the tobacco on fresh and saltwater fish: fathead minnows and top smelt — two species that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency typically uses in pollution studies.
The cigarette butts were left soaking in the water for a day before fish were placed in it for testing.
Whole cigarettes and cigarette butts with unburnt tobacco were found to be the most toxic, but even filters that had been smoked and that had no tobacco left on them were found to be toxic.
Cigarette filters are made of cellulose-acetate, which does not biodegrade.
The researchers presented their conclusion at a meeting of the American Public Health Association in Philadelphia earlier this month, and have submitted their study for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
Cigarette butts are considered the most littered item in the world. Novotny recently estimated that 767 million kilograms of cigarette butts — or about 4.5 trillion butts — end up as litter every year.

Perata's cigarette tax measure finds First 5 foes

Fresh out of the gate, a ballot measure to raise cigarette taxes for cancer research proposed by former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata is taking heat from early childhood education advocates who rely on tobacco taxes, too.
Perata — a 2010 Oakland mayoral candidate — had hoped this California Cancer Research Act, launched at a news conference Monday, would garner good publicity and widespread public support as a war on Big Tobacco. Instead, some say, it could end up facing united opposition from tobacco companies and the education advocates who warred with them 11 years ago.
California law already called for a cigarette tax of up to 12 cents per pack, paid into the state's general fund, by the time voters approved Proposition 99 of 1988, which added a 25-cent-per-pack tax to fund tobacco-related health education and disease research, hospital care for the indigent, park and wildlife restoration and other causes.
When producer, actor and director Rob Reiner put his successful Prop. 10 on the ballot in 1998 — a 50-cent-per-pack tax to fund early childhood education via a new "First 5 California" bureaucracy — he included a "backfill" provision. This required the state to compute how much the new tax would reduce cigarette sales, and transfer a cut of the new Prop. 10 revenue to offset the decrease in Prop. 99 and general fund revenue.
Perata's proposed measure includes a backfill provision for Prop.99 and the general fund but not Prop. 10, so this new $1-per-pack tax would drain tens of millions of dollars from early childhood education across the state by suppressing cigarette sales with out replenishing Prop. 10 losses, Prop. 10 campaign manager and longtime Reiner political consultant Chad Griffin said Tuesday.
That won't sit well with education advocates, labor unions and others who backed Prop. 10 against tobacco companies' $30 million campaign onslaught, he said.
"Unless this is corrected, and hopefully this was a mistaken omission and can be refiled quickly ... I think you'd see a wide coalition of people including Rob Reiner and children's health and education groups across the state actively opposing something that ideally we'd be supporting," Griffin said — a big problem for the measure "given the unity needed to beat Big Tobacco" next year.
But the omission was no mistake.
"While we admire and support the goals of First 5, we had to recognize as we put this initiative together that we're living in an era of limits, where only one in 10 promising research proposals is getting the funding it needs," said longtime Perata campaign consultant Paul Hefner. "We came down on the side of providing the greatest possible support for research that will save lives and protect Californians, and we think our proposal made the right call."
The Prop. 10 cigarette tax now generates about $500 million per year, and some critics have accused First 5 California and its 58 county counterparts of sitting on or mismanaging much of that while many state programs fall to the budget-cut ax. Still, 66 percent of voters in May's special election rejected Prop. 1D, which would've redirected $1.7 billion of Prop. 10 revenue into the general fund over five years.
"I have absolutely no issue with a tobacco tax initiative to support tobacco related illness ... That is not the issue at all, and I don't want to be seen in a kids-versus-cancer scenario," First 5 Contra Costa Executive Director Sean Casey said Tuesday. "But there is a time-honored practice when an initiative is put forward to honor the previous initiatives that may be affected by it."
His commission expects about $9.4 million in Prop. 10 tax revenue this year, anticipating a 5 percent to 8 percent reduction from last year because of a 60-cent-per-pack federal cigarette tax increase that took effect in April. An additional $1-per-pack hike from Perata's measure, he assumes, could mean another hit of up to 10 percent.
Casey said his agency just finished developing a five-year, $70 million strategic plan to fund services from community resource centers to home visits for mothers of newborns to scholarships for early preschool. That plan draws down savings put away in earlier years of Prop. 10 funding, in anticipation of the gradual and predictable decline in smoking — a prediction that could be rendered useless by the new tax measure.
"We will feel it in Contra Costa, it will be real, and this is just not the time for that," Casey said.
Perata said Monday he expects tobacco companies will "empty the vault" to oppose this measure. Spokesmen for tobacco giants R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris voiced their opposition later Monday, and the California Taxpayers Association and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association said they'll probably oppose it, too.

Cigarette firm halts trendsetter marketing

British cigarette maker Imperial Tobacco has stopped using young Dutch trendsetters to promote smoking, the NRC reports.
The food and product safety authority had decided to investigate the marketing scheme in which 60 artists, designers and other hip twentysomethings were paid in Gauloise cigarettes to come up with marketing ideas.
The 60 artists, spread over Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht and the Hague had to sign a contract pledging to keep the agreement secret. In return for attending three marketing meetings a year, they were paid 'compensation' of €960 in the form of two cartons of cigarettes a month.
The company denies it is using trendsetters to try to get other smokers to switch brands. 'Our interpretation is that we are sticking to the law,' the paper quoted a spokesman as saying.
In Dutch law, tobacco companies are not allowed to give away cigarettes or advertise them.
Among the young smokers who signed the contract with Imperial Tobacco are designers Bas Kosters and Daryl van Wouw as well as singers and clothes store owners, the paper says.
Designer Tomas Overtoom told the NRC when it broke the story last weekend: 'The brainstorming session is really a cover to get a whole group of people to smoke these cigarettes. Manufacturers are tied to the rules which is why this is so clever. It is a new form of marketing.'

FDA Goes After Online Sales of Flavored Cigarettes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning more than a dozen online cigarette sellers that they may be in violation of the new regulations against selling most types of flavored cigarettes to U.S. citizens and have 15 days to prove that they have stopped those sales or risk government action.A ban on the U.S. sale of cigarettes flavored with anything other than menthol went into effect on Sept. 22 as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.
That law, enacted in June, gives the FDA power to regulate the content of tobacco products, along with the marketing and distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, and the impact of ads for those products on young people. The new law also lets the FDA limit the amount of nicotine in products and block labels such as “light” and “low tar” that appear to offer “healthier” cigarettes.
The warning letters went out to 14 owners of Web sites that the FDA says are still offering the banned flavored cigarettes for sale to U.S. customers, according to Internet searches conducted by its own Office of Enforcement and by its new Center for Tobacco Products, a division created within the FDA in August to administer the new tobacco ad and promotion policies and review applications for the exemption of new tobacco products.
The FDA sent a previous letter to the tobacco industry at large on Sept. 14 reminding them of the flavored-cigarette ban and stating that company selling the banned products would be subject to enforcement.
This latest round of notices went out to individual merchants, some located in the United States and some based overseas but selling to U.S. citizens through their Web sites. All the letters cite the language of the new bill that “A cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.”
If the products listed for sale on the merchants’ Web sites do contain such flavorings, the letters say, they are adulterated tobacco products and subject to FDA penalty. If they don’t, they are misleadingly labeled and also subject to FDA penalty.
Merchants not based in the U.S. who received FDA letters were told that the agency will work to have their shipments into the U.S. stopped at customs, and that the FDA will notify authorities in their home countries that their banned products will not be allowed into the U.S.
The FDA’s enforcement effort is part of its initiative to prevent children and adolescents from taking up the smoking habit—something they can be lead into by candy- or fruit-flavored tobacco products, as well as marketing aimed at young audiences.
“FDA takes the enforcement of this flavored cigarette ban seriously,” Center for Tobacco products director Lawrence Deyton said in a release. ”These actions should send a clear message to those who continue to break the law that FDA will take necessary actions to protect our children from initiating tobacco use.”
In related news, a U.S. District Court ruled a week ago that tobacco companies have little chance of blocking enforcement of the Family Smoking Prevention Act on the grounds that it restricts their free speech rights to market new tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco and so-called “electronic cigarettes.”
R. J. Reynolds, which markets the Camel cigarettes product line, and Lorillard Inc., maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, filed suit against the law Aug. 31 in Richmond, VA, along with several other smaller tobacco marketers. In its filing, Reynolds asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction against the law, arguing that it impaired “their First Amendment right to communicate with adult tobacco consumers about their products.” If granted, the ruling would have prevented the FDA from enforcing the law while the plaintiffs pursued their broader case against it.
But U.S. District Court Judge Joseph McKinley denied the injunction on Nov. 5, saying that the “plaintiffs have little likelihood of success” in challenging the provisions of the law governing new “modified-risk” tobacco products.
The ruling means the tobacco makers will have to comply with the FDA’s new manufacturing and marketing regulations while the plaintiffs’ lawsuit moves forward.
That suit contends that the new law prohibits their use of “color lettering, trademarks, logos or any other imagery in most advertisements, including virtually all point-of-sale and direct-mail advertisements.” They also allege that new, more prominent health warnings on package fronts and cartons will relegate their branding to the bottom half of cigarette packaging and make it difficult, if not impossible, to see.”

Sandwich swap aims to put bite on smoking

A local anti-tobacco coalition hopes free sandwiches will give smokers that little extra incentive next week to quit, if only for a day.
"It's a starting place," said Darlene Cunningham, director for the coalition.
Free sandwiches will be given away in exchange for half-packages of cigarettes during the American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout Event Nov. 19.
This is the first year the Olive Branch YMCA has participated as the new fiscal agent for the state Office of Tobacco Control, Cunningham said. The coalition is sponsoring the sandwich giveaway with Lenny's Sub Shops.
"There are four Lenny's Sub Shops, so we have every section of the county covered," Cunningham said.
"I think it's a good idea," said Bonnie Crenshaw, manager of the Lenny's near the movie theater in Southaven. "I wish everybody would stop smoking."
Regular-size submarine sandwiches will be given away with the purchase of one of equal or lesser value at at 8110 Camp Creek in Olive Branch, 3019 Goodman in Horn Lake, 2408 E. Parkway in Hernando and 7090 Malco Boulevard in Southaven.
Volunteers from the Olive Branch High School Interact Club will be at the Lenny's stores between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again between 5-7 p.m. during the Great American Smokeout to collect surrendered cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.
They also will hand out cards with the state Quit Line, a telephone number for smokers to call to get help quitting smoking, including free nicotine patches, Cunningham said.
Having the teens participate in an anti-tobacco event will hopefully encourage their peers to be smoke-free, Cunningham said.
According to the state Department of Health, 19.2 percent of high school students in Mississippi smoke and 22.7 percent of adults smoke.
The mission of local coalitions like the one serving DeSoto and Tate counties includes keeping young people from starting to use tobacco.
The Olive Branch YMCA has been very involved in the health of youth, Cunningham said, for example in fighting childhood obesity.
"This is just one more way to have a healthier community," Cunningham said.

Earnings Preview: Lorillard Inc.

RICHMOND, Va. — Tobacco maker Lorillard Inc. reports its third-quarter results on Monday. The following is a summary of key developments and analyst opinion related to the period.
OVERVIEW: The oldest continuously operating U.S. tobacco company and maker of Newport menthol cigarettes, based in Greensboro, N.C., said in July that it was selling more cigarettes even after it raised prices and a federal tax increase went into effect April 1.
Cigarette volumes at Lorillard, whose brands also include Kent, True, Maverick, Old Gold and Max, increased 2.1 percent for the second quarter, when the company estimated volumes fell 4.1 percent across the industry.
It is the fourth major tobacco company to report on its earnings this month. Altria Group Inc. — owner of the nation's biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, which makes Marlboros — said cost-cutting and higher cigar sales helped its third-quarter profit rise 1.7 percent, even though it sold fewer cigarettes. Altria said its overall cigarette volume fell 12 percent for the quarter, and it estimated a 10 percent drop industrywide.
Reynolds American Inc. — the second-biggest cigarette seller in the U.S. and maker of Camel and Pall Mall — recorded 72 percent higher profit than in last year's third quarter, when restructuring costs and the falling value of its trademarks dampened its earnings. It said its estimated 11 percent drop in volume was better than the industry's decline, which it pegged at 12.6 percent.
Lorillard joined Reynolds and several smaller tobacco companies in suing the U. S. Food and Drug Administration over statements it has made under the new authority it won in June to regulate the tobacco industry. A federal judge in Kentucky is considering the case.
BY THE NUMBERS: Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial on average expect Lorillard to post a profit of $1.52 per share on revenue of $1.32 billion. In the third quarter a year earlier, the company earned $1.38 per share on revenue of $1.12 billion.
ANALYST TAKE: Analysts hope the third quarter sheds light on cigarette volumes for the year as the industry recovers from turbulence surrounding the federal tax increase.
Credit Suisse analyst Thilo Wrede told investors Oct. 13 that despite volume declines he expects Newport to keep gaining market share and he said Lorillard's Maverick brand would post double-digit volume gains.
In a separate note Sept. 21, Wrede said Lorillard is the best U.S. tobacco company.
"Lorillard continues to have the best margins, volume growth outlook and brand equity," Wrede wrote, adding that Maverick is drawing budget-conscious smokers.
WHAT'S AHEAD: The tobacco industry is anticipating more fallout from the FDA's new regulatory authority. Although a ban on flavored cigarettes went into effect last month, the FDA has not clarified how it will treat menthol cigarettes like Lorillard's popular Newport brand. And both Altria and Reynolds American hope to take some of Lorillard's share of the menthol market.
Wall Street will be looking at how further smoking bans, tax increases and regulation could affect cigarette volumes and profitability.
STOCK PERFORMANCE: During the quarter that ended Sept. 30, shares of Lorillard rose about 7.2 percent to $74.30. Over the previous 52 weeks, the stock traded between $52.50 and $79.02.

Half of stores sell cigarettes to 15-year-old

TRADING standards bosses last night said they were appalled after 50 per cent of stores in an Oxford Mail test sold cigarettes to a 15-year-old schoolgirl.
A survey of eight newsagents, an off-licence and one post office in Oxford, showed two years after the legal age to buy cigarettes increased from 16 to 18-years-old, many shops were still not asking for identification.
Vanessa Walters, 15, from Bicester, did not try to conceal her age and admitted she was under 18 if challenged at the counter during last week’s test.
The five failures were Quix, in Cowley Road, East Oxford; Littlemore Post Office, in Cowley Road, Littlemore; Martin’s, in Blackbird Leys; Globe Newsmarket, in Iffley Road; and Caspian News, in George Street.
Richard Webb, deputy head of Oxfordshire County Council trading standards, said: “It is appalling that half of the shops failed.
“That is an even higher failure rate than our operations.
“We are disappointed, but from our experience when we conduct interviews with shops that have failed, all their staff are correctly trained and every one knows the law. It is often just down to one member of staff who is not thinking at that time.
“We are glad this operation has been brought to our attention.”
The test-purchase operation was carried out on Friday during the school half-term holiday.
It is not illegal for anyone below 18-years-old to buy cigarettes, but it is against the law for the shop to sell them.
Trading Standards tested 32 premises across Oxfordshire and nine failed during 2008/09.
Since April this year, trading standards have test-purchased 19 businesses. Three have failed.
Any shop which fails three times in a year risks losing its right to sell tobacco.
Amanda Sandford, of anti-smoking campaign group ASH, said: “It is shocking that retailers are still not upholding the law.
“What they are doing is aiding and abetting young people’s potential addiction – for life.”
Staff at the Co-operative Swift Shop, in Walton Street, Jericho; Martin’s, in Banbury Road, Summertown; Balfour News, in Cherwell Drive, Marston; Girdlestone Stores, in Headington; and Just Booze, in Wood Farm, all asked for ID and refused to sell to Miss Walters.
Kiren Turna, manager of Just Booze, said: “If I doubt anyone’s age and they have no ID I refuse to sell to them.”
During an Oxford Mail test purchase operation in November two years ago all 10 shops tested failed.
Quix, in Cowley Road, and Martin’s, in Blackbird Leys, which were two of the shops failed this year, sold cigarettes to a 16-year-old girl.

Man fined NT$2,000 for stealing cigarette

TAOYUAN, Taiwan -- You would have to be smoking mad to go to court for a stolen cigarette.
A Taoyuan man felt the burn yesterday when the district court slapped him with a NT$2,000 fine for swiping the cigarette of the man beside him at a local Internet cafe.
According to the Taoyuan District Court, the desperate smoker, surnamed Yuan, 39, was at an Internet cafe last November when the urge to light up arose. Noting the fresh pack of cigarettes on the table beside him and that its owner had fallen asleep, Yuan opened the pack and retrieved a single smoke.
The action alerted the friend of the sleeping man, who shook him awake and blew Yuan's cover. Yuan and the man, surnamed Lin, got into a heated dispute and the police were called.
A lawsuit at the district court level ensued. During the gathering of evidence, prosecutors asked various witnesses within the cafe whether they saw Yuan “take that cigarette?” Yuan was found guilty and charged NT$2,000 for his misdemeanor.

Free Cigarettes Results In Assault

Ruffin, NC -- A man attempting to get free cigarettes from a gas station told deputies the store clerk assaulted him.
Rockingham County Sheriff's Office says a David Kendrick purchased $50 worth of gas from Ruffin Grocery Convenience Store Tuesday night. He saw a sign on the pump saying customers who buy at least $10 in gas would receive a free pack of cigarettes.
Kendrick went inside the store to get his free pack of cigarettes, but the clerk said he wasn't familiar with the offer. The two men got into a verbal altercation, with the clerk demanding Kendrick leave. When he didn't immediately leave the store, the clerk punched kendrick in the ribs.
Kendrick was transported to Anne Penn Hospital. He later obtained a warrant for the arrest of the clerk, Kenneth Stone. Stone is is charged with assault and given a $5,000 bond.

Tobacco delegation from China to visit NC

RALEIGH, N.C. More than 20 people representing China's tobacco industry are visiting North Carolina to learn more about the state's homegrown product.
State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler will host the 22-person delegation on Saturday afternoon at the State Fair in Raleigh. The delegation will tour the Got to Be NC Agriculture exhibit, the tobacco barn and other exhibits.
Troxler visited China on a trade mission in August. He said he's trying to expand the Chinese market for North Carolina tobacco.

Cigarette tax hike? Idea is smoldering back to life in Legislature

After their bid for a tobacco tax hike went up in smoke last session, crusaders for the cause are coming back again, confident that Utahns will soon be paying more for their cigarette fix.
"It's 100 percent," said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, who has unsuccessfully sponsored the bill for the past several years.
Christensen said he plans to push to raise the 69.5-cent per-pack tax up to $2. It would make Utah's tax on par with Arizona's and give the state the 11th-highest cigarette tax in the country. Earlier this year, Congress raised the federal cigarette tax 62 cents per pack to $1.01.
Advocates for the tobacco tax hike, like the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association, hope the higher tax would motivate 3,000 teens and 10,000 adult smokers to kick the habit and thousands more to never pick up the habit.
The tobacco companies and Utah Food Industry Association have argued that a higher Utah tax would just force sales into neighboring states or onto Indian reservations or military bases.
Utah already has the lowest rate of smokers in the country, and its cigarette sales have been falling since the 1980s, meaning it could be a diminishing source of revenue.
Legislative leaders said earlier this year that a tobacco tax increase was likely.
"I think it will happen," Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said in May. "The question is the amount. Will it be a buck? Will itbe more?"
The estimated $76 million the tobacco tax increase could generate could help cover part of the state's budget shortfall, Waddoups said. The state is expected to have a budget shortfall as high as $850 million.
But it may be premature to start counting those tobacco dollars just yet. While supporters had former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s support for a tobacco tax increase last year, Gov. Gary Herbert says he won't recommend a tobacco tax hike in his budget proposal due out in December.
"I'm not proposing or pushing any tax increases," he said in an interview last week.
And now legislative leaders are waffling on their seeming endorsement of the tobacco tax hike.
It boils down to a well-choreographed dance: Herbert won't propose a tax hike, passing the buck to the Legislature. The Legislature, calling Herbert's bluff, is challenging him to show how he will balance the budget without gutting state programs.
Waddoups said this week that he has told the governor he will support him in trying to pass a budget without new taxes, but the tobacco tax remains an option if legislators can't get the budget balanced.
If it comes to that, the tobacco tax battle will likely draw another swarm of lobbying from big tobacco companies and could pit members of the dominant Republican Party against each other.
House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, says tax hikes may be a nonstarter next year.
"I don't think anyone is eager to raise taxes right now in this environment we're in," said Garn. "I think we'd have a tough time raising taxes in the economy we're in right now. ... I don't think there's a lot of support for it."
And leading conservative legislators say they will fight any effort to increase the tobacco tax.
"As I've discussed this budget with my conservative colleagues, we have pretty much been in agreement that now is probably the worst time to consider tax increases when we're hoping to see this economy recover," said Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, co-chairman of the House Conservative Caucus, which includes about 30 House members.
He said there is also concern that allowing a tobacco tax increase could open the door to other "sin taxes" such as soda and fatty food. Hughes said that between the cuts made last year and use of at least half of the $518 million held back in the state's Rainy Day Fund and Education Growth Fund, the budget can be balanced without a tax hike.
House Speaker David Clark, R-Santa Clara, suggested last session that the tobacco tax be kept in reserve in case it's needed in the coming year, and he thinks it might prove to be useful.
"As the financial pressure builds on the state more and more, I think that improves the likelihood of [the tobacco tax] passing," Clark said. "As the pain of the cuts become closer to reality, there may be more of an appetite to look at some of those revenue enhancements and tobacco has been one of them."

E-Cigarette Battle Continues

PHOENIX – Despite concerns by public health officials as to their safety, electronic cigarettes are gaining ground in the United States, USA Today reports. The battery-powered device uses nicotine, flavoring and chemicals in a cartridge, which turns the nicotine into a vapor to be inhaled by the user.
State and local lawmakers are considering ways to restrict the smokeless product, which some use to get around smoking bans. The Electronic Cigarette Association (ECA) says at least 500,000 Americans use e-cigarettes. “People who smoke ought to have better alternatives because some can’t quit,” said Matt Salmon, who leads the ECA.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested e-cigarettes and found the devices to have carcinogens. In a lawsuit, electronic cigarette distributors are challenging the FDA’s authority to regulate the products.
Across the country, several states are trying to restrict access to the products. “We’re actively investigating these companies and their products,” said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
California banned the sale of e-cigarettes but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill. In Oregon, the state attorney general reached an agreement with retailers and distributors to keep the products off shelves.
A New Hampshire state representative is proposing a bill to make it illegal to sell the devices to minors, while in New Jersey, an assemblywoman will be submitting a bill to put e-cigarettes under the same restrictions as cigarettes.

Suspects Sought In Antioch Tobacco Store Robbery

Police are seeking help from the public in identifying four armed suspects who took over and robbed a tobacco store in Antioch Tuesday afternoon.
Units responded to reports of an armed robbery at Tobaccoville located at 2717 Contra Loma Blvd. at around 2:15 p.m., according to Antioch police.
Four men armed with handguns stormed the business and forced a sales clerk to the ground at gunpoint, according to police.
The four men, described only as black men in their 20s with medium to large builds, stole tobacco products and an undisclosed amount of money.
The robbery was captured on closed-circuit security surveillance, and police on Tuesday released suspect photographs from the footage.

More than $100,000 worth of cigarettes, Bacardi liquor and pharmaceuticals stolen

LOXAHATCHEE -- A 48-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on charges he stole more than $100,000 worth of cigarettes, Bacardi liquor, and pharmaceuticals and was storing the goods at his house in Loxahatchee.
Servando Gomez has been charged with grand theft over $100,000 and is in the Palm Beach county jail on $15,000 bond.
Investigators said they traced Gomez back to a home off Okeechobee Boulevard, where they discovered pharmaceuticals stacked floor to ceiling, according to an arrest report.
The cancer-fighting pharmaceuticals were reported stolen by a company in Tennessee.

Somonauk retailers pass tobacco compliance check

All four Somonauk retailers checked for compliance with state tobacco laws passed, according to Somonauk police.
"It is very rewarding to see that our local businesses are adhering to the laws that have been created to safeguard our local children against the purchase of tobacco products," Chief Richard A. Smith said in a press release.
Tobacco retailers were inspected as the first of three rounds of compliance checks. An underage agent of the police department was sent to each establishment and attempted to purchase cigarettes. None of the businesses sold tobacco to the minor.
The compliance checks are paid for, in part, with a grand awarded by the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. The police department has been educating retailers on the minimum-age tobacco laws and the importance of verifying the age of their customers while conducting the compliance checks.

MAILBAG: Hard-drug use is worse than ever

A recent article (“How to say no to drugs,” Sept. 24) focuses on the proliferation of the possession of hard drugs such as ecstasy, heroin and LSD by students in Glendale, and primarily in La Crescenta. It draws attention to the lack of fear students feel when being confronted with such dangerous substances.
In September, a Rosemont Middle School student was arrested for the ownership of ecstasy, and a Crescenta Valley High School student was caught with two tablets of LSD. Such fearlessness toward experiencing hazardous drugs has never before been apparent in any other generation. The fear and knowledge preventing students from wanting to experiment with these drugs should be returned and enforced by drug classes in schools. School officials and law enforcement should work together to eliminate any such possibility of these illegal substances being brought onto campus.
In previous years, the main problem drugs were tobacco and marijuana. These days, students are going a step further in the world of drug experience. Rather than affecting one’s lungs or heart, hard drugs such as LSD and ecstasy pinpoint regions in the user’s brain and gradually disintegrate those vital connections. Lately, detailed research of present and previous ecstasy and heroin users demonstrates severe memory loss and progressing brain damage.
Users in elementary and middle school are particularly at risk, given that their brains aren’t nearly as developed as they should be to contain the damage and handle the effects of these substances. Banning and preventing possession of these drugs should be one of the main focuses and priorities of school laws and organizations. Frequent and unannounced drug dog and police searches should be made a norm at schools in our area.
It is extremely vital to educate students on how risky it is to even try these high-level drugs, and to minimize greatly the exposure to these substances.

Wine And Cigarette Smuggler Fined $2,080

Bandar Seri Begawan - A Man who tried to smuggle several bottles of wine and packets of cigarettes into Brunei Darussalam ended up paying a fine of $2,080 or one-month imprisonment in default after he admitted to committing the offence three days ago.
The defendant, Khaw Chin Hock, 51, who appeared before the Bandar Seri Begawan Magistrate's Court yesterday pleaded guilty to concealing 15 bottles of white wine and 80 packets of 'Era' cigarettes in his employer's car.
The Royal Customs and Excise Department Prosecuting Officer said all the uncustomed goods were found concealed by the defendant who is a Malaysian in various parts of the car by customs officers who detained the defendant's car at the Kuala Lurah Customs checkpoint upon his arrival from Limbang.
The wine and the cigarettes estimated to be worth $122 were ordered to be forfeited to the state for destroyal. The defendant paid the fine.
In Brunei Darussalam, in the case of unexcisable goods, such goods being dutiable goods, a fine of not less than six times the amount of the excise duty or $40,000, whichever is the lesser amount, and of not more than 20 times the amount of excise duty or $40,000, whichever is the greater amount, and for a second or any subsequent conviction, to such fine, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both could be imposed if the defendant is convicted.

Cigarettes stolen from gas station

A man broke into the McTeer Food and Fuel at 4150 Windsor Spring Road in Hephzibah early Monday and stole cigarettes and cigars.
A Richmond County sheriff’s report says that a newspaper deliveryman arrived at the gas station and found the front glass door broken and a large rock on the floor inside. The burglar had stolen an unknown amount of cigarettes and cigars from the business.
Video surveillance footage showed that the burglar was black, 35 to 40 years old, about 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed about 185 pounds.

Revenue & Customs had to review 4,000 smuggling cases

An urgent review has begun of 4,000 cases in which the wrong legislation was used to confiscate cash and assets from people convicted of tobacco smuggling.
More than £88 million has been seized from people found guilty of counterfeiting tobacco brands since 2005. But an appeal by one man, William Chambers, revealed that Customs officers and prosecutors obtained a confiscation order against him under 1992 excise duty regulations, amended in 2001 to exclude tobacco products.
The case forced the Revenue & Customs Prosecution Office (RCPO) to track back through 4,000 case files. Dozens of similar errors have been unearthed, with many more files still to be examined. The RCPO faces repaying millions and being sued by people who had to sell their homes to meet the confiscation demands.
Among those appealing is John Rowbotham, who was arrested in 2003 in possession of two million contraband cigarettes and stopped a year later on the M6 driving a van containing 420,000 cigarettes for which no duty had been paid.Rowbotham was jailed for two years in 2004 and a confiscation order of £249,252 was imposed on him with three years’ jail in default of payment. He had an appeal dismissed in 2006 but applied to the Criminal Cases Review Commission for a further appeal after being informed of the Chambers Review. The commission said: “There is a real possibility that the Court of Appeal will quash the confiscation order.”
The issue goes to the heart of a key legal concern over confiscation proceedings which are said to punish people twice for the same offence. Rowbotham, for example, was jailed and then faced a confiscation order which threatened further imprisonment if he did not pay up.
In a statement on its website, the RCPO says: “For a period of some time textbook authors, HM Revenue & Customs investigators, solicitors, counsel and courts had not appreciated that the regulations no longer applied to tobacco products.”

Training is smoking hot for firefighters

Last week, fire departments from around north Okaloosa County gave a helping hand for the fourth annual Northwest Florida Volunteer Firefighter Weekend.
The event at Northwest Florida State College ran Sept. 18 – 20 and provided volunteer firefighters from across the state with free training and class instruction.
Without the help of many of the local departments, this event, which boasted 205 participants, would not have been nearly as successful as it was, organizers said.
The first day of the event began with a demonstration of vehicle extrication. Crews from Almarante and Dorcas provided water, lighting and equipment support, as firefighters cut away at the four vehicles set out.
With the help of some nationally known companies, both newcomers and veterans, fire personnel were able to play with some new tools of the trade, and learn or refresh their skills.
The second morning dawned with the burn tower. Crews from Crestview, North Okaloosa, Laurel Hill and Holt fire departments provided apparatus, equipment, water and medical support, as new recruits experienced their first structure fire.
Without this training firefighters cannot enter a structure and the drill is a critical component of their training.
For those who had already achieved the certification, this was a controlled practice environment not occurring during actual firefighting. Inside of the burn tower, temperatures were controlled at around 800 degrees. At times, the fire spiked up to 1000 degrees, allowing the firefighters to safely experience the grueling heat they will encounter during future fires.
During the exercise, the crew, consisting of an instructor and six firefighters, would enter the structure and extinguish the fire, which was composed of wooden pallets and hay to simulate furniture.
While working the blaze, firefighters are taught about fire and thermal currents with the use of a thermal imaging camera.
In addition to continued training in the burn tower, the afternoon events included several other training sessions, including but not limited to, department vehicle and apparatus operations, search and rescue techniques, pump operations and a foam-based fire attack.
The first fire consisted of wooden pallets and hay, your typical brush fire. The attack truck was used to spray foam out of a small nozzle, extinguishing the fire within 30 seconds.
The second fire was much more intense; an alcohol fire. This alcohol wasn't your typical store brand, but rather 100 percent pure alcohol.
A “pool” of alcohol was lit with a large “whoof” sound. Alcohol burns with very light and hazy white smoke at around 800 degrees and the base of the fire is invisible, making this fire very dangerous.
Water was first applied with no success; the water evaporated before it even reached the fire due to the intense heat.
Next the attack truck was used and foam sprayed out with force, but the wind currents caused by the spraying foam just spread the fire and made it more intense. The final attempt was with a small hand-held device reminiscent of a super-sized gas can.
At the back of this “gas can,” a small water supply hose was connected. The front had a 15-foot rubber hose with a large funnel-type nozzle like that found on an industrial-size fire extinguisher.
The final fire was a dangerous mix of alcohol and gasoline. The smoke was dark black and the fire intense.
On this fire, only the portable foam device was used. Despite the fire burning hot and strong, the firefighters were able to cover and extinguish the fire within 15 seconds.
By the end of the third day, all of the firefighters, from new recruits and volunteers to well-seasoned veterans, were displaying their newly acquired skills and techniques.

Americans give electronic cigarettes mixed reviews

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Should electronic cigarettes be a new option for smokers trying to kick the habit? Reactions from Americans are mixed.
More than half of people questioned in a poll think electronic cigarettes should be regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but 47 percent believe the devices should be available to smokers who want to quit.
"In the hunt for a safer cigarette, electronic cigarettes, often referred to as ecigarettes, are becoming a popular option among those either trying to quit or who are looking to replace standard tobacco smoke with an alternative that manufacturers claim to be safer," Zogby International, which conducted the poll, said in a statement.
About half of the 4,611 adults who took part in the poll had heard about ecigarettes, which are battery-powered, or rechargeable devices that vaporize a liquid nicotine solution. They do not produce smoke but an odorless water vapor.
Sold mostly on the Internet, ecigarettes were first made in China. Last year the World Health Organization (WHO) warned against using electronic cigarettes, saying there was no evidence to prove they were safe or helped smokers break the habit.
The WHO said people who puff on ecigarettes inhale a fine mist of nicotine in the lungs.
Nearly a third of people questioned in the poll think that e-cigarettes, because they don't produce smoke, should be allowed in places where smoking is forbidden, but 46 percent disagreed.
Men who were aware of the availability of ecigarettes were more likely than women to say they should be an option available to smokers who want to quit.
Young people, aged 18-29, and singles were the groups most open to trying electronic cigarettes.
Tobacco is the single largest cause of preventable death worldwide, according to the WHO.

Luci E Cigarettes Now Part of the E Cigarettes National Elite Lineup

Not just any electronic cigarette line can grace the pages of E CigarettesNational’s website. The company prides itself on only offering what it considers the highest of quality e cigarette kits to the public and has added the Luci brand to its premier lineup.
They claim to offer only the top electronic cigarettes on the market based on several criteria that they claim makes the selection that the offer the best on the market. They look at companystability, quality of products and availability inside the U.S., among other important factors.
The company has now announced that the Luci Brand will now grace the pages of E Cigarettes National because of the attention to detail, product reliability, product quality, and sound financial history of the founders of the company.
“We can not just sell any products that may or may not work, and even further, we can not sell products that are not readily available to us so that we can provide top quality customer serviceand product replacements if there is an issue with one of the kits or products,” states Tiffany Ellis, Marketing Director of E Cigarettes National. “It would be devastating to our company if there were some problems and we could not get the replacement parts in a timely manner to support our clients. We make decisions on carrying products based on the best interest of our customers.”
The company claims that the reason for their success is the ability to talk to a human being 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for help with ordering or to start any customer service issue. Customer service problems are handled within 12 to 24 hours after receiving the contacts.
“Only satisfied customers will do for us and we go the extra mile to make sure that happens with all of them and we believe that Luci will stand the test of time in an ongoing relationship with E Cigarettes National and our great and loyal clients,” says Tiffany.

$100G in cigarettes with fake tax stamps seized in Linden; were headed to Hudson: cops

More than $100,000 worth of smokes and nearly $280,000 in cash was seized in a crackdown on a ring that forged the stamp on cigarette packs to avoid paying taxes, officials said.
Based on the scale of the enterprise, it is thought the state may have lost more than $1 million in tax revenue, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.
This type of operation "generates a tremendous profit for the defendants and, of course, is taking money from the citizens of New Jersey," said DeFazio, whose office conducted the investigation with the New Jersey departments of Homeland Security and Treasury. "This money would have gone into the treasury of the state and it is diverted instead to the pockets of these defendants."
Investigators believe the group regularly bought large quantities of untaxed cigarettes in other states at significantly lower prices than in New Jersey and transport them to a storage facility in Linden, DeFazio said.
They opened each carton and affixed a forged New Jersey or New York tax stamp to each pack before reloading the cartons and selling them at bargain prices to stores in Northern New Jersey and New York, DeFazio said.
During searches last week investigators also seized thousands of counterfeit tax stamps, DeFazio said, adding that a clothing iron was apparently used to affix the stamps to packs of cigarettes.
On Thursday investigators arrested Elizabeth residents Rajae Awad, 39; Anwar Ghani, 46; and Jamal Abbadi aka Jamal Alyazjeen, 40; as well as Ahmad Aldabesheh, 48, of Mohegan Lake, N.Y., DeFazio said.
They were charged with theft by deception, forgery and conspiracy and face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, DeFazio said
Those arrested are all natives of Jordan, DeFazio said, adding: "There is evidence that at least some of the money generated was forwarded to Jordan, but there is no reason to think it went to any sort of terrorist activity."
The Jordanian connection is the reason the NJ Department of Homeland Security joined the probe.
The investigation began months ago when officials got a tip that cigarettes with counterfeit tax stamps were being sold in Jersey City stores, DeFazio said. Surveillance in Jersey City led to the Linden storage facility, and to surveillance at other locations, DeFazio said.
Investigators believe a large portion of the cigarettes were purchased in North Carolina and detectives traveled there this weekend and recovered records at a storage facility believed to have been a staging site for the ring, DeFazio said. The prosecutor said vans were used to transport the cigarettes to New Jersey.

Tobacco laws to change in October

On June 22, President Barack Obama signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, or the FSPTCA. This law grants the FDA permission to control and regulate all tobacco products. According to the FDA’s Web site, the FDA plans to, by October, prohibit cigarettes from having “candy, fruit or spice flavors as their characterizing flavors.” The FDA is expected to set in more regulations as time passes. Such regulations may include:
By January 2010, tobacco manufacturers and importers are expected to have to submit product information to the FDA.y April 2010, the FDA plans to reissue a 1996 regulation aimed at reducing tobacco use among minors.
By July of 2010, it is expected that tobacco manufacturers will no longer be able to use the terms “light,” “low” or “mild” without a special order from the FDA. The FDA also plans to revise warning labels on smokeless tobacco products
By October 2012, the FDA plans to strengthen the warning labels on cigarette packs.
In St. Cloud, some businesses rely on the sale of flavored tobacco products.
The Smoke Shop, located on Division Street, is one such shop
The manager of the Smoke Shop, Alex Dodin, said that Djarum cigarettes and Dream cigarettes were going to be banned along with flavored cigarillos as of Sept. 22.
He said he was not sure what else would be taken off the market and said these news laws against flavored tobacco would strongly affect his business.
“What else are they going to smoke after this?” Didon added.Ezekial Butler, SCSU junior and CA for Stearns Hall, had some opinions on the proposed ban. He said that he occasionally enjoyed the Dream cigarettes and will stock up before the ban takes hold.
“They [The FDA] have a decent reason to ban flavored cigarettes, but it’s unfair to those who are of age that enjoy them,” Butler said. “Even though I plan on quitting, this new ban is not going to stop me from smoking.”The new laws that are planned to be put into affect are aimed at decreasing smoking among adolescents, but it may also have consequences for those who sell and those who enjoy smoking tobacco legally.

Men with knives raid city shop

Two men armed with knives have robbed a shop in west Belfast.
Police received a report at about 1800 BST on Saturday that the men had entered the premises on the Stewartstown Road and threatened staff.
The robbers took a quantity of cash and cigarettes before making off in a small black vehicle.
A female member of staff sustained bruising to her shoulder during the incident after being struck with the handle of one of the knives.

The Many Problems Associated With Smoking Cigarettes

What cigarettes can do and how bad the damages can become is very well known these days. All cigarettes have chemicals and toxins in them which are very bad for your health and sometimes even those around you. There are over 4,000 chemicals in every cigarette and you are putting them in your body every time you smoke one. Cigarettes are very addictive and they are hard to quit for a lot of people, some worse than others. It can cause problems with your body like the way it functions and eventually even the way you live because it can change the things you are able to do the longer you smoke.

Smoking can hurt you in many ways, like from cancer, damaged organs, and much more. Your body become weaker by the day and over time you will see it. Your will feel the damages start to take their toll and you can become very sick. You can have breathing trouble and it can get so bad that you could end up having to stay on oxygen just to survive. It can ruin your lungs by turning them black and it can make it hard and eventually impossible for them to work. Having to carry around an oxygen tank with you everywhere you go will not be a very pleasant way to spend your retirement years, if you even make it that long.

Smoking can make it hard to do many things if the lungs are damaged because an inadequate amount of oxygen is getting into your blood stream. It can cause your body to age making your feel not as strong and make you look older than your real age. It can cause wrinkles, dark lines under the eyes, and bags as well. Your teeth will start to turn unappealing colors because the cigarettes will stain them and can damage the gum. Even the skin on your fingers can turn yellow from tobacco smoke stain.

It can affect your mind by damaging your brain and the cells. It could cause you to not think clearly. This is not good for you, you do not want this to happen at all. You need to stop smoking before too much damages is done to your body and your mind. It may not do anything to you for a few years, but it will happen sooner or later. For a woman who is pregnant and smokes, it can cause problems for the child she is carrying, low birth weight is very common among other things.

Tobacco Rules Challenged in U.S. Free-Speech Lawsuit

Tobacco legislation signed by President Barack Obama in June violates the First Amendment protections for free speech, according to a lawsuit joined by Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
The legislation “imposes unprecedented restrictions” on companies by “limiting their ability to disseminate truthful information about tobacco products to adult consumers,” according to the lawsuit, filed today in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Reynolds, the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, and third-biggest Lorillard Tobacco Co. sued after opposing the legislation that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight over tobacco products. The law goes beyond discouraging youth smoking and limits the use of colors and logos in most advertising and packaging so severely that the producers have “virtually no means” to communicate with adult tobacco users, the suit said.
Altria Group Inc.’s Philip Morris USA, which makes half of the cigarettes sold in the U.S., supported FDA regulation and endorsed the law. The Richmond, Virginia-based maker of Marlboro cigarettes hasn’t reviewed the litigation and had no immediate comment, said David Sylvia, an Altria spokesman.
The FDA doesn’t comment on pending litigation, Kathleen Quinn, an agency spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.
The top half of cigarette packaging would carry a U.S. government “anti-tobacco message including shocking, color graphic images,” leaving manufacturers a small area at the bottom of the packages for marketing, according to the suit.
“The obvious purpose of this is to force plaintiffs to stigmatize their own products through their own packaging,” the suit said. Reynolds, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, makes Winston and Camel cigarettes.
Lorillard Tobacco, a unit of Greensboro, North Carolina- based Lorillard Inc., makes Newport menthol cigarettes. Other plaintiffs in the suit include cigarette maker Commonwealth Brands Inc. and Discount Tobacco City & Lottery Inc., a retailer.

Man gets 18 months over cigarettes

A 27-Year-old man of chief Kaingu’s chiefdom in Itezhi-tezhi district has been slapped with an 18 month jail sentence for failing to pay for 12 cigarettes that he obtained from a makeshift shop.

Before Namwala Magistrates Munalula Mubita was Prosper Munyumbwe who was charged with the offence of obtaining pecuniary advantage by false pretences, contrary to Cap 301 Section One of the Laws of Zambia.

Facts of the matter were that on August 11, 2009 the complainant, a Mr Moboola, sent his 11-year-old nephew to sell his cigarettes in a makeshift shop but when he went to check on him, the nephew told him that Munyumbwe had taken 12 sticks of consulate cigarettes on pretense that he had no change and that he would pay later.

The court also heard that Munyumbwe was later found stealing 12 packets of consulate cigarettes at the same make shift shop prompting the owner to apprehend and take him to police where he was arrested and detained.

Munyumbwe pleaded guilty.

Australia May Raise Tobacco Tax by A$2 Billion, Australian Says

Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Australia may raise cigarette taxes by A$2 billion ($1.7 billion) if it adopts the recommendations of a panel of advisers, the Australian newspaper reported.

The National Preventative Health Taskforce recommended a price rise of 17.5 Australian cents a cigarette, raising the price of a packet to A$20, and an increase to alcohol pricing, the newspaper said, citing Taskforce Chairman Rob Moodie.

More than 800,000 people might be saved from early deaths if the strategy reduces smoking and drinking rates and obesity levels stabilize, the newspaper said.

How Smoking Cigarettes Can Change Your Looks

Have you looked in the mirror lately only to be surprised by the person looking back at you? You might wonder what happened to make you look so much older. You might be really surprised to find out that the cigarettes you smoke are making you not only feel older, they are making you look older too. These cigarettes put out that awful smoke and this settles on the skin of your body clogging up the pores that your skin gets its air supply through. It not only clogs up the pores on the outside, but on the inside as well.

This is why you might start losing your hair or your teeth at a early age. Your skin will start looking like the skin of a much older person. It will also become dry and rough to the touch and all of that flaking is your dead skin. On the inside of your body everything in there is starting to slow down or just quit doing its job. When this happens you will most likely end up in the hospital one day with some kind of smoking related illness or disease. The bad thing about this is that once the damage to your body is really bad, it usually does not much better even if you quit because some damages are irreversible.

When somethings stops working you can usually get it fixed or replace it with a new one, but that is not always so with parts of the human body. When these parts get sick and die ,you can not always have them replaced. You could have yourself or a member of your family put on a organ donor list, but it might be quite some time before one is found. Even if a matching donor is found, a body might not accept it and you will have to be placed back on the list if a transplant is a viable option and sometimes it is not. Some people never get one in time.

Try to imagine yourself older and what shape you could get in if you continue to smoke. Your body might be trying to tell you that you should stop smoking before it is too late. If you are a woman and find that you are having to use more make-up, then the damage has started. If you stop right then your body might be able to start cleaning itself up. You might be able to notice the changes in some of these things right away and then again you might not, but quitting smoking is always a better choice than continuing to do so.

3 million cigarettes seized in Carlow

Customs officers yesterday seized more than three million contraband cigarettes worth an estimated €1.2 million in Co Carlow.
The cigarettes arrived in Dublin from China on Friday in a 40-foot container supposedly carrying toys.
Customs officers, backed by members of the gardaí, kept the container under surveillance and when the cigarettes were being offloaded they moved in.
Three people from the Carlow area have been arrested in connection with the seizure and are being held at Carlow Garda station.

Cigar bars face legal fog

LINCOLN — It will be at least October before the first patron can legally light up in a Nebraska cigar bar.
Hobert Rupe, executive director of the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, said Thursday the wait will depend on how quickly a set of rules and regulations moves through the approval process.
He commented after a commission hearing on draft rules and regulations. The commission is expected to vote at its September meeting on adopting — and possibly amending — those rules.
A new state law takes effect Aug. 30 exempting specially licensed cigar bars from the statewide public smoking ban.
The exemption is in addition to those for tobacco shops, some hotel rooms, laboratories used for research on smoking and home-based businesses.
Charles Kline of Omaha said cigar bar owners recognize the opportunity the Legislature has provided and will put their best foot forward. Kline owns the S.G. Roi smoke shop and hopes to open a cigar bar.
But Mark Welsch, president of the Group to Alleviate Smoking Pollution, urged the commission to close potential loopholes in the draft rules.
Among his suggestions was a rule banning people from bringing food into cigar bars or smoking thin cigars, which are similar in size to cigarettes. Under the new law, cigar bars cannot sell food or allow cigarette smoking.
They also must get at least 10 percent of their gross revenue from selling tobacco products other than cigarettes and cannot boost tobacco revenue by offering drink specials with tobacco purchases.
The bars must have walk-in humidors — special rooms with temperature and humidity controls for storing and displaying cigars. The draft rules would require the humidors to be large enough for two adults.
Welsch said the rules should require cigar bars to keep their smoke from infiltrating other businesses.
The cigar bar law also faces a pending legal challenge. Big John's Billiards, an Omaha pool hall, has argued in Lancaster County District Court that exemptions to the smoking ban are arbitrary and amount to special legislation in violation of the Nebraska Constitution.

Police hunt cigarette thieves

A search is on for a gang who made off with R120 000 worth of cigarettes after robbing a truck in Nyanga, Western Cape police said.
Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said the robbers struck at around midday on Thursday, demanding boxes of cigarettes from the delivery truck driver before fleeing in a bakkie.
"They are still at large," he said.
A short while later, police recovered some of the stolen cartons at a house in Crossroads.
"The vehicle that was used during the incident was found abandoned nearby," said Sitshitshi.
Police established that the vehicle was reported stolen.
A search was on for the cigarette thieves.

Tobacco laws to cost Victorians

Australian Retailers Association (ARA) has warned Victorian retail outlets will need to make costly adjustments to their store configuration and operating procedures to comply with a proposed retail display ban on cigarette packets.

ARA Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said the proposed retail display ban on tobacco products would cost Victoria's small retailers $182 million in the first year.


"The total bill would be shared across 5000 convenience stores and 1000 grocery outlets in Victoria that would each be liable for up to $10,000 to meet their obligations under the planned tobacco display laws.

"In an indicative regulatory cost analysis by Deloitte, it was also found that a Victorian retail display ban would result in recurring costs of $116 million. This translates into the average 'mum and dad' convenience store having to bear ongoing costs of up to $17,560 per year, due to deterioration in customer transaction and service times.

"Under the proposed regulations, store owners can be fined or banned from selling tobacco products if cigarette packets are within the view of customers, which will result in a complete refit of current displays, as well as ongoing training, customer service and restocking issues.

"This is potentially a massive financial burden for small retailers to carry when we consider there is no international evidence that restricting the display of cigarettes actually reduces the uptake of smoking. In fact, New Zealand has dismissed similar regulations based on the huge expense and lack of supporting evidence.

"While retailers fully appreciate the health dangers associated with smoking, the financial impact of these regulations is not a public health issue. The ARA's concern is about an increased cost to retailers when they can least afford it.

Zimmerman said that to ease the burden and cut costs for small retailers the Brumby Government must reconsider and make amendments to the proposed tobacco display regulations to allow retailers to display price tickets or labels, use price notices at more than one point of sale and use product catalogues.

Analysis Finds Toxic Substances in Electronic Cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes contain traces of toxic substances and carcinogens, according to a preliminary analysis of the products by the Food and Drug Administration.

The findings, which were announced on Wednesday, contradict claims by electronic cigarette manufacturers that their products are safe alternatives to tobacco and contain little more than water vapor, nicotine and propylene glycol, which is used to create artificial smoke in theatrical productions. When heated, the liquid produces a vapor that users inhale through the battery-powered device.

“We’re concerned about them because of what we know is in them and what we don’t know about how they affect the human body,” said Joshua Sharfstein, the F.D.A.’s principal commissioner.

The agency analyzed 19 varieties of cartridges, which hold the liquid, and two cigarettes, one manufactured by NJoy and another by Smoking Everywhere.

The analysis found that several of the cartridges contained detectable levels of nitrosamines, tobacco-specific compounds known to cause cancer. One Smoking Everywhere cartridge was found to contain diethlyene glycol, a common ingredient in antifreeze that counterfeiters have substituted for glycerin in toothpaste, killing hundreds worldwide.

Dr. Sharfstein said the agency was “not sure” what type of effect the diethlyene glycol and other carcinogens have on the human body when inhaled through electronic cigarettes.

The Electronic Cigarette Association, an industry trade group, said in a statement that the F.D.A.’s testing was too “narrow to reach any valid and reliable conclusions” and that its members sell and market their products only to adults.

A statement from the chief executive officer of NJoy, Jack Ledbetter, said a third party had tested its products and found them to be “appropriate alternatives” for cigarettes, but he did not release the findings. The company said its experts would review its tests and the F.D.A.’s.

Electronic cigarettes, which are manufactured in China, are subject to little quality control, Dr. Sharfstein said. The study found the levels of nicotine to vary even in cartridges whose labels claim to have the same amount of nicotine. Some of the cartridges that claimed not to contain nicotine actually did, the analysis found.

The F.D.A. has called electronic cigarettes drug delivery devices and said they should not be allowed in the country. It has turned away about 50 shipments of the devices at the border, but they still continue to be sold in malls nationwide and online. The agency would not comment on whether it planned to ban or seize the devices. In April, Smoking Everywhere sued the F.D.A., claiming that it did not have jurisdiction to bar the electronic devices from entering the United States.

The agency and public health officials are especially worried that electronic cigarettes, which are offered in flavors including cherry and bubblegum, are enticing to children and may be easy for those under 18 to obtain online or in malls.

Electronic cigarette smokers warned of chemical dangers

Smokers using battery-powered electronic cigarettes to beat the smoking ban were warned yesterday that they are being exposed to poisonous and carcinogenic chemicals.


The e-cigarettes, which provide a smoke-free "high" by vaporising a liquid mix of nicotine, flavourings and other chemicals, were found by a scientific study to contain carcinogens and toxic chemicals such as diethylene glycol, which is found in anti-freeze.

While UK companies selling the cigarettes claim that they "contain none of the dangerous, carcinogenic toxins and chemicals that are found in standard cigarettes", the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which tested 19 varieties of electronic cigarette, warned that it was "concerned about the safety of these products and how they are marketed to the public". Despite the health fears surrounding e-cigarettes, their sale is not regulated by the Health Protection Agency or any other health body in the UK. A trading standards spokesperson said: "There is no specific regulation for electronic cigarettes, as they are not tobacco products. They are just subject to regular trading and safety laws as electrical products."

Concerns were first raised about the possible dangers of electronic cigarettes in the UK after a boom in sales linked to the introduction of the smoking ban in 2007. The FDA expressed concerns that e-cigarettes have not been submitted for evaluation or approval. While they are banned in some countries, such as Canada, e-cigarettes are available from a range of UK websites, with prices starting at about £39.99 for the cigarette, and nicotine cartridge refills available for less than £1 each. Some contain flavourings such as strawberry and caramel, which health campaigners fear may appeal to children.

"Electronic cigarettes are allowed on the marketplace without being subjected to the comprehensive testing required of medicinal products," said Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). "We would recommend that anyone trying to quit should use medicinal nicotine products such as patches, gum or the inhalator, which have been tested and found to be both safe and effective, rather than electronic cigarettes."

However, anti-smoking campaigners argue that the risks posed by electronic cigarettes are still lower than those of ordinary cigarettes. "Cigarettes contain thousands of different chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic and are particularly dangerous when burnt, and kill half all long-term smokers," Ms Arnott said.

In France the division "cigarettes" policemen is created.

However, in France until recently not too actively struggled with smoking cigarettes in public places. For example, the interdiction on cigarettes in the French bars and restaurants, theoretically, operates with 1991, however in practice all turns out exactly on the contrary: nobody forbids to allocate for smoking cigarettes special premises outside of a hall of restaurant, as is everywhere. Since January of the next year all will change: smoking cigarettes in institutions of a public catering.As an interdiction on smoking cigarettes in other public places will come into force in France since February, 1st. Infringers are threatened with the penalty at rate of 68 euro. By the right to check how this interdiction is carried out, are allocated not only the French policemen and gendarmerie, but also transport police and the whole army of inspectors. And still the French government hopes, that the interdiction will be observed not because of strengthening police measures, and owing to moral pressure of a society upon smokers.

Are Your Teenagers Still Being Pressured Into Smoking

In the world we live in today and in the past, many of our children are exposed to smoking on a daily basis. The kids have to deal with either smoking cigarettes or the peer pressure from a lot of their friends to try marijuana for the first time. It really does not matter if it is cigarettes or marijuana, they are both bad for your lungs. Some parents think that if their kids smoke marijuana when they are young, although it may not be good for them to experiment with, studies do show that most kids that do try it, usually do not keep that habit very long.

With marijuana the kids are just trying to be cool and fit in with their class mates an a lot of them do at least try it, but studies has proven that about 80% of them never end up smoking it after high school is over. It seems as if they lose interest in those high school days and the marijuana as well. But the same thing does not apply when it comes to smoking cigarettes, most kids want to try cigarettes for the first time just trying to fit in with the crowd. This is the age, and even before, that the parent should really express the important facts about not trying cigarettes or marijuana for the first time.

It is a proven fact that about 80% of kids that try cigarettes for the first time find themselves a few years later wanting to know why they just can not seem to be able to kick the habit of smoking cigarettes. Out of the high school, kids who try smoking cigarettes in high school are now hooked on a drug that has been covered up liked classified information. This is exactly what the cigarette companies know that they have created. There is no reason to advertise any more on television because their tobacco products are so entrenched in some parts of society, peer pressure is doing it for them.

All you have to do now days is just look around out in public at how many of us are lighting up on a regular basis. The kids that see this are just kids, but that does not mean their curiosity is not gotten by what they see. So, as parents we need to make sure that our kids are not being led into smoking cigarettes because when tobacco is compared to other addictive drugs, there really is no difference in the addictive quality or the damage it can cause to your health.

What It Takes To Stop Smoking Cigarettes

How do you make yourself stop smoking cigarettes? Many smokers have already reached the conclusion that they have to quit sooner or later and they also know that sooner is the better choice. Knowing that you need to stop smoking is one thing, getting around to actually getting it done is quite another. People that are addicted to other drugs often go to a rehabilitation center to help them kick their habits to other substances. It could be said that a smoker does not need that kind of serious intervention, but with no many that fail in the quest to quit, it might be something to consider after all.

If you are like most people that smoke, you probably could not afford to go to a rehab center anyway. So, most people do what everyone else has tried. They buy nicotine patches, nicotine gum, they try cold turkey, they join support groups, they get hypnotized, and any other trick they can think of. Sometimes these methods work for some and not for others. Some smokers can quit much easier than some. Some just give up and this the the worst mistake they can make. They get frustrated with the constant cravings. Of course, they should expect this since it is something they have been doing up to 20 times a day or more everyday for possibly years.

Willpower and determination are the two deciding factors whether you will be able to quit or not. It all boils down to that. You can buy all of the stop smoking aids you can find, but they will never work for you unless you are absolutely set on quitting. It is nothing that you will be able to accomplish with a halfhearted attitude. You either are firm in your decision or not. This can be said for many things you want to do in life. Saving money, losing weight, giving up drugs or alcohol. It all comes down to you.

It is a shame that so many smokers wait until they have developed some serious health issues before they can reach the point where they absolutely want to quit. Often, by the time they reach this point they already have a disease that will be with them for the rest of their life and sometimes this might not be very long. Do not let yourself be one of those that wait almost too late before you try to quit. Made your firm decision today. Everyday longer you wait to start the quitting process, the harder it is likely to be ands the more risk you are taking with what might be left of your good health.