Homeless people get cigarettes for Christmas

The charity, called Omsorgsjul - Hemlösa (Care Christmas - the Homeless) has organized traditional Christmas smorgasbords in Norrköping for the past 17 years.

At this year's Christmas party, the charity handed out gifts like hats, warm clothes and boxes of chocolate to the homeless and other vulnerable people who attended the festivities. The guests also received a pack of cigarettes each.

"There would be an outcry if they didn't receive their cigarettes," Lennart Cederberg, head of the charity, told the local Folkbladet newspaper.

"It has become a tradition and, moreover, many of them are sick and they must have this," Cederberg said, adding that the 150 packs handed out this year were light cigarettes.

Lena Sjöberg, president of Dentistry Against Tobacco said handing out cigarettes "sends the wrong signal", according to .

"I think it is in the human interest to try to inspire people to take up more healthy habits, and giving cigarettes as Christmas presents is not the right way forward," said Sjöberg.

"Only the tobacco industry needs tobacco. Besides, the government has decided that we should try and reduce tobacco use among those who smoke the most, including the homeless."
The Local.
Asked if he thinks handing out cigarettes sends "the wrong signal", Cederberg replied: "These people are our friends whom we care about and in this context the cigarettes aren't that dangerous. They smoke all the time anyway."

"They have smoked for a long time. We can't take that away from them. The most important thing is that we don't hand out alcohol and money."

He said the recipients keep calm by smoking and that those who complain about the unorthodox Christmas gift should instead focus on the real problem, which is homelessness.

"Come and help them and make sure they receive accommodation instead of whining," Cederberg urged.

"Some of these people have to go into communal garbage rooms to smoke. The cigarettes help them stay awake and keep them from freezing to death."

None of the charity's donors have complained about the cigarette gifts. If they do, said Cederberg, the charity would have to rethink its policy.

"Otherwise we will continue handing out cigarettes at the Christmas party," he stated.

Washington State Cigarettes Nearly 40% Contraband

A soon-to-be published study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan reveals 36% of all cigarettes consumed in Washington are contraband, KREM.com reports.

"The bottom line here is that many governments are making tobacco products as valuable as illicit narcotics," said Mackinac's Michael LaFaive.

Contraband cigarettes for Washingtonians are any that do not pay the state’s $3.02 per pack tax. In 2010, Washington State increased its cigarette tax by a dollar a pack to the fourth highest state tax in the nation.
The Washington Department of Revenue’s Mike Gowrylow said his department will soon release its own contraband cigarette data, and he expects the number of contraband cigarettes to be about one in three.
“(That’s) substantial, to go from one in four contraband cigarettes (the figure prior to the 2010 tax hike) to one in three,” Gowrylow said.

By Washington State’s last estimate in 2011, 94 million packs of cigarettes were consumed in the state, a tax loss of $284 million for the state.

Officials have said it’s difficult to quantify how much of the smuggling is from criminal organizations and how much is “casual smuggling” — from people who purchase their cigarettes out of the state, where the tax is cheaper, reports NACS Online.

British American Tobacco Says World Coming Out Of Recession

British American Tobacco PLC (BATS.LN) Wednesday said the world is coming out of recession, as the second-biggest tobacco group by revenue recorded a rise in profit and sales driven by robust demand in emerging markets, and the rate of volume decline slowed.

BAT, which competes with U.S.-based global market leader Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) and U.K. peer Imperial Tobacco Group PLC (IMT.LN), is focused on building its position in developing economies such as Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia to offset a weaker performance in developed markets like Western Europe where smokers are struggling with tough economic conditions.

Consumers in mature markets are cutting back on spending in the light of government austerity measures, and switching to low-cost brands. The company has clawed back margin erosion caused by weak volumes and excise tax hikes through raising prices.

The London, England-based maker of Dunhill, Kent, Pall Mall and Lucky Strike said first-half cigarette volumes fell 1% to 344 billion, compared with a 3% drop in the same period a year ago and a 2.4% fall in the first quarter.

Explaining the deceleration, Michael Prideaux, director of corporate and regulatory affairs, said, "On an industry basis, the world is gradually coming out of recession. On a company basis, it is the ability to grow market share."

Prideaux added the share gains are well-spread, including Germany, Russia and Argentina. "We are doing pretty well all round. We look at our top 40 markets and we grew share in 26 of them."

The company improved its position in Spain, where falling demand due to economic woes led to a price war, even though it only has a small market share in the country.

Man accused of stealing $50,000 in cigarettes

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- South Carolina authorities are searching for a man who has stolen more than $50,000 in cigarettes from six convenience stores.

Authorities say the man has broken into Murphy USA stores in Spartanburg, Simpsonville, Union, Columbia, North Augusta and Belmont, N.C.

Police said that the man enters the stores and uses large trash cans to carry out the cigarettes.

Anyone who recognizes the man should call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

On Your Side: E-Cigarettes fuels fierce debate between users, medical community

Nich Wallace is smoking a vaporized version of nicotine. No tobacco. No cigarette smoke. An e-cigarette is a battery-operated device.
"All you're getting exposed to is a fog, a glycerine fog."
Also foggy -- the debate over the product's safety. Manufacturers say they are safer and healthier than regular cigarettes. It's an argument that's gotten the attention of the medical community.
"I am not going to say it is as dangerous as a cigarette. It is dangerous," said MCG Dr. Janie Heath.
Even if it's not the same as cigarettes, Dr. Heath still doesn't recommend it for people trying to quit smoking.
FDA studies found the vapor includes a chemical found in antifreeze and some amounts of carcinogens. But the FDA admits they've done just limited testing.
A federal court judge issued an injunction against the FDA on Thursday, ordering them to stop detaining imports of e-cigarettes that cross into the United States. The decision said the products could not be defined as a drug-device and are for therapeutic purposes. The FDA has been trying to regulate the drug by calling it a drug-device for its supposed similarities to cigarettes.
"We need more science to be able to say, yes it's OK, this is better to consume in a cigarette -- that there are 4800 toxins in one cigarette," said Heath.
Because it's not classified as a drug there are no mandated health warnings. Some retailers have them anyway -- to keep young people away.
"It's really appealing to youth, because it's cool looking, it's high tech, and it smells good," Heath added.
"When I was in school, you didn't want to bring in grape-flavored cigarettes either, you wanted Marlboro reds," Wallace said. "If you're doing it for that cool factor, this is not marketed towards them, not intended for them, and they probably wouldn't like it if they could get their hands on it."
Smoking of any kind is illegal under the age of 18.
Wallace supports enforcement, just not regulation that he says could take e-cigarettes out of his hands.
Adds Wallace: "The old quit or die attitude the government is pushing isn't going to work, and people are going to finally say, look this is safer, and I can do this, and I think we're going to win out on that."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.