A new law bans flavored cigarettes.
I’m not usually one to go around bashing big government. I’m a bit too left-leaning for that.
I have to protest some recent government intervention, though: Once again, the U.S. government is attempting to mandate healthy habits, this time by banning flavored and clove cigarettes.
As of September 22, it won’t be illegal to possess flavored cigarettes, but it will be illegal to sell them. As a result, clove cigarettes, which have been imported from Indonesia and sold in the U.S. since 1968, and cigarettes flavors like cherry and chocolate mocha are about to become a controlled substance.
Ostensibly, this portion of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law on June 22, will prevent yummy-sounding cigarette flavors like cherry and chocolate mocha from tempting young people into smoking.
In fact, this law—which passed handily in both houses of congress—will have little impact on teen smoking and a great deal of impact on adults’ freedom of choice (or perhaps I should say freedom of vice.)
Pay no attention to the cigarette company behind the curtain
The act, which was sponsored by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and championed by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA)), benefited from an unusual ally.
Philip-Morris—the tobacco giant who controls fully half of the U.S. cigarette market share—had its tarry hands all over the passage of this legislation.
At first blush, it seems strange that the company would join forces with the likes of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids )—which champions itself as an organization “working to expose Big Tobacco’s lies”—to achieve what Obama calls “a victory for health care reform.”
A closer look, however, reveals that Philip-Morris has nothing to lose with this legislation and everything to gain.
First, a little background is in order. Here’s the law, in a nutshell:
For the first time in history, the legislation puts the Food and Drug Administration in charge of regulating cigarettes. The legislation includes a number of restrictions on how cigarettes can be labeled, packaged and promoted. It also restricts what kinds of ingredients can be used in the manufacture of cigarettes sold in the United States.
Again, the sales ban is supposed to keep kids from being lured into the world of nicotine addiction by fruit, candy and chocolate flavors.
Statistically, however, the flavor kids consider tastiest is straight-up tobacco, in the form of Marlboro brand cigarettes (produced by Philip Morris). Some 81 percent of established teen smokers consider Marlboro to be their ticket to flavor country, according to a February 12 article.
The next most popular flavor is mint, in the form of menthol cigarettes (Philip Morris produces a wide variety of menthol cigarettes, as well). A recent survey by the American Legacy Foundation turned up the following stats: Menthol cigarettes are preferred by 81 percent of black teens, 32 percent of white teens and 45 percent of Hispanic teens.
In 2007, high school students were surveyed about their smoking habits. Twenty percent of teens surveyed said they had smoked in the last month, according to the American Lung Association website.
A relatively small number of these had smoked clove cigarettes (6.8 percent of the 20 percent who had smoked) and candy-flavored bidi cigarettes (1.7 percent).
So why is menthol expressly excluded in the legislation? Want the wording? Read the full act. It stipulates 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.”
Philip Morris’ reasons for this stipulation are as clear as the numbers. Menthol cigarettes, which add up to 28 percent of cigarettes purchased in the United States, are used by a significant number of teenagers and an even more significant number of minority youths.
Thus, clove cigarettes (which represent .09 percent of all cigarettes purchased in the United States), and flavor cigarettes (which have an even smaller market share) are a red herring.
By working to get clove and flavor cigarettes banned, Philip-Morris is trying to look like a philanthropic company that is dead-set against teen smoking. And yet, the company produces literally dozens of varieties of menthol cigarettes.
If they really cared, they’d want to see teen-friendly menthols pulled off the shelves along with products like Sweet Dreams’ Pink Vanilla cigarettes.
Instead, Philip Morris introduced yet another menthol cigarette, Marlboro Blend No. 54, in June.
The company hopes that the cigarette will compete with menthol competitors Newport and Camel Crush, produced by Lorillard Inc. and Reynolds American Inc., respectively, according to an article on Bloomberg.com.
The timing of the new addition (or should I say new addiction?), which hit shelves on June 17 and which the company is touting as “richer” and “bolder” is enough to make the company’s legislative motives suspect.
I believe that Philip Morris has no intention of stopping the profits reaped from teen smoking. Not only do teen smokers represent a significant market share; like Whitney Houston, cigarette companies know that “children are the future.” Teen smokers turn into grownup ones.
Supporting the law is really a subversive move on Philip Morris part, because it sweeps convenience store shelves clean of the small but significant competition offered by flavored cigarettes and cloves.
Culver City resident Jeff Bond smoked unfiltered clove cigarettes regularly for 10 years before quitting a few years ago. Bond, a legal secretary and musician, says he quit because he has two kids he wants to stay healthy for.
Though he has bid cloves adieu, he disagrees with the legislation, partially because he considers it fishy that a cigarette company was so heavily involved in its passage.
“Philip Morris gets to keep its product on market and others don’t. I just don’t like that. It sounds manipulative to me,” says Bond.
I called a couple of smoke shops to see if they were benefiting from a boom in the sales of the soon-to-be outlawed cigs, as aficionados attempt to stock up. The folks at both establishments were surprisingly unaware of the new law, which will affect their businesses soon. Apparently, September 1 will bring a rude awakening for some business owners and smokers.
Legislation is already being discussed that would restrict U.S. sales of these products via the Internet, by the way, so there may be no legal dodge available online.
Perhaps speakeasies will make a return?
An unwelcome nanny
I had the dubious honor of breaking the news to Bunny Lua, of The Green House Smoke Shop in Venice. A customer mentioned the law to her two days ago (August 22), but she figured that they must have their facts wrong.
Normally, when there are new laws that will have a sweeping impact on the sale of tobacco, she is notified by the companies in question. Sometimes she is asked to sign a petition or take some other action to show her opposition.
In this case, Lau heard nothing. She is still coming to grips with what the legislation means for her business and for personal freedom in general.
"I’d like to think I’m up-to-date [on legislation affecting the sale of tobacco,] but obviously I’m not,” she said. “It seems like it changes every minute.”
Lau emphasized that she never sells cigarettes of any kind to minors because she doesn’t want to “f—k with” the possibility of being fined or shut down.
“I have enough smokers in the neighborhood that I don’t need some 16-year-old’s five bucks,” she said. (Actually, cloves and flavor cigarettes run about $8 a pack, while regular cigarettes run about $7.)
In Lau’s mind, the heavy taxes on tobacco items are sign enough that the U.S. is becoming a nanny state, in which freedom is impinged upon in favor of supposed protection. The new law takes things even further.
“Think it is an infringement on people’s choice. More and more now we are being limited to what we can eat, where we buy our seeds from [etc.],” she said. “ . . . It upsets me that they make decisions for you, as if you can’t think for yourself.”
She also questions the inconsistencies implicit in tobacco legislation, such as the fact that cigarillos (small cigars that are often flavored) are neither set to be banned nor heavily taxed.
“It’s stupid,” Lau said. “They’re taxing you up the a-- on every cigarette, and yet cigars are somehow not part of the tobacco tax. There’s some heavy lobbying going on somewhere.”
*Los Angeles Health and Beauty Examiner Sarah Torribio smokes clove cigarettes once in a blue moon, though she knows they are bad for her. Apparently, her bad habit will be kicked for her in a few weeks.
Comments
Stranger than life.
poor sarah!! lol... the people of the u.s. are going to wake up one morning and wonder why the government is telling what they cannot eat for breakfast anymore!!
I bought six cartons of Djarum Black so I'll be stocked up for a while until I start rolling my own.
Is this a trade embargo on unpopular brands? Will outlaws now want to smuggle these brands so prices will be much higher? Is it possible no consumers care? Maybe some children will now want flavored brands for the first time? Often children want what they can't have.
I wonder how many people know what Marlboro Mix 9's are. I hated Philip Morris less for the ban before I stumbled upon them online.
Also, [www.thetobaccoshop.com] is advertising Djarum filtered cigarillos. Packs of Blacks, Specials, Cherry, & Vanilla cloves are pictured [I think the packs say '12 KRETEK CIGARILLOS'] on their main page.
The Specials appear to be an off color that reminds me of the filtered Swisher Sweets Little Cigars. I hope clove companies slip through the loophole left by excluding cigars & cigarillos from the flavor ban and FDA regulation.
If not, I'll be ordering Bali Hai hemp papers I'll be rolling my own pathetic version of my favorite smokes using whole cloves ground in a coffee grinder & random kinds of loose tobacco.
I just can't see a bunch of meddling busybodies going to ghetto neighborhoods and instead of buying drugs, asking those people about their cigarettes. Do they really expect teens to tell these people about their lives. Get real.
I kind of like the laws that work to prevent us all from having to pay for tobacco related illnesses that disable people...most of whom are uninsured or underinsured folks. A little prevention may be worth a pound of cure. In New Hampshire, every person, smoker or non smoker pays nearly 600 bucks of taxes to pay for tobacco users treatment (not for tobacco use, by the way...that's another issue)
So, the government isn't concerned with smokers' behavior...they're concerned about what the behavior costs the government. And I agree that we need to stop spending to protect vices. Enough already!
Great article, Sarah....I agree 100%.
This is about the tobacco lobby. Period.
I don't smoke and even I am outraged by this.
THIS RULES. CLOVE CIGARETTES SMELL LIKE CACA AND ONLY FREAKING HIPPIES OR DUMB COLLEGE GIRLS SMOKE THEM.
GOOD RIDDANCE.
they are taking our freedom. getting rid of all this.. whats next???
Burr did NOT sponsor this bill, he was against it and had introduced his own water downed bill to compete with this. The Scientific Advisory Board is to give recommendations about banning menthol within one year. The candy flavored tobacco products that introduce kids to tobacco are smokeless products, cloves cigarettes are just a side issue. If chew wasn't flavored, kids wouldn't start using smokeless, they'd get sick instead. Most people who argue against regulating tobacco products don't understand that there is not a RIGHT to smoke. and it's only because of the efforts of the tobacco companies that tobacco products weren't outlawed a long time ago. Substitute heroin for tobacco/cigarettes and would you still argue for the right to use heroin? What about addiction do you not understand? The tobacco companies have had a good PR firm making their deadly products socially acceptable, it's time to stop the death and distruction caused by coffin nails. VJ Sleight, LASmoking Examiner
There's an excellent video on the topic of this suspicious (and ridiculous) bill up on YouTube. Just search for "Tobacco Bill" on there and it's the first one that comes up by a guy who calls himself Silver Ladder. So many people don't realize the sneaky stuff that went on behind this bill. A lot of people are surprised also to find out that clove cigarettes are a few days away from becoming illegal.
Bidis are a very small portion of the flavored tobacco market in this country. A large proportion of high school cigarette smokers and most middle school smokers smoke flavored cigarettes at least some of the time. On the other hand about 10 percent of adults use flavored cigarettes. Tobacco companies use candy-flavored tobacco products to hook kids and then move them up to "adult" flavors like Marlboro.
I am 45 and have smoked Djarum specials off and on for years. I am fully aware that any smoking of tobaco is unhealthy - really unhealthy. So is overeating, not excercising, over drinking, too much stress, or coffee... The list of what is unhealthy goes on and on. I actually thought it was my choice to pick my vices. To make cloves illegal, yet keep regular cigarettes legal seems nutty to me. We are on the way to legalizing a monopoly. What's next? Will we force bars to limit people to one drink max per hour. Will we require that people document their exercise and eating habits in order to have health care? Seriously, if we are going to choose as a society to regulate cigarettes due to health concerns, or concerns about teens smoking, why are we starting with the smallest percentage of offending tobaco products. Why did I have no voice in voting for or against this? This is sneaky, manipulative, and ineffective in reaching the targeted market of teens. And yet, it is law. Hmm...
Actually, September 22nd is the date of the ban. As stated in public law 111-31 it is 3 months from the date of enactment. President Obama signed the bill on June 22nd.
So if it's not illegal to posses clove cigarettes, would it be possible to bring them in from Tijuana or some other border town ligally?
Obama is gone in less than 4 years.
Unless he criminalizes Freedom of Choice to vote against his stupid dictatorship by then.
Obama is gone in less than 4 years.
Unless he criminalizes Freedom of Choice to vote against his stupid dictatorship by then.
VJ Sleight - You can't substitute heroin for cigarettes, because they're inherently different substances. It's like comparing kittens to Nazis.
Look, Americans are WELL AWARE of the addictive effects of nicotine. Some of us just don't care. It's well within our right to, as informed persons, engage in personally destructive habits, and if that means heroin should be legal to, I say legalize it. An informed person should be able to do whatever the hell he or she wants.
Djarum black cigarettes actually help me smoke LESS than I would if I smoked normal cigarettes, particularly menthols. I love camel crushes too but I can go through an entire pack in one evening whereas a pack of cloves will last me the whole week.
I am extremely disappointed by this legislative move because it is statistically unsound and most of all I would almost consider the ban illegal. If certain types of alcohol (honestly nearly as harmful whether to the persons body or in the damage they cause as a result of being drunk), say for instance any that is over 35%, were banned, the uproar would be as equally widespread. This law is ludicrous and it, in my opinion, is removing a high volume of taxable commodity that the damn US government could be getting revenue from to get its ass out of the economic pig crap were in. Instead of banning them, make the import tax higher. Its really that simple.
The Obama administration has long-term vision w/ legislation like this. Prevention now aids significantly in care later, of which we all get to pay for. I'd rather my money was spent on things that mattered than products that thrive on consumer manipulation.
Ignore the disinformation being spread here from people like Joyce. If you actually go find real data, over 80% of kids start smoking on regular and menthol flavored cigarettes, a very very small minority ever smoke flavored cigarettes.. Go to a high school party and try to find a cigarette that's not Philip Morris or R.J. Reynolds, GOOD LUCK. This simply eliminated more competition for such companies while making the ignorant law makers feel morally righteous as if they are actually going to do anything except further limit the freedoms we as tax paying, quasi-free adults possess. This is like banning steak because babies can't chew it. Asinine. And what about PARENTING YOUR CHILDREN? I've never even tried flavored tobacco, but I'm sick of everything being banned. We're supposed to be free, regardless of whether or not YOU agree with what I do with my freedom, so long as I'm not hurting anyone else.
Mr OC, you're an idiot. If you did any research at all you'd know that the ban had Phillip morris all over it. NOT Obama. Obama had nothing to do with this one. His passing of the ability for the FDA to regulate tobacco was supposed to be beneficial to rid additive and such. Instead, some corrupt ***holes got paid off by phillip morris to ban cloves as a way to get rid of competition. So instead of using this power for good, humanity stepped up to the plate once more and delivered the same old selfish behavior it always had.
I some clove because I live with an illness that can be VERY painful at times. Smoking the clove helps numb the pain for me and is legal up until this is in effect. I wish I knew how to petition to have this law changed. Stores are to card when selling and I do not feel the flavor attracts younger smokers verse the mass majority of smokers. Lets ban flavored alcohal ( LOL!!!!) kids like sweets!!!!! Kids can't afford on average the flavored smokes!!
They need to ban ALL smoking tobacco. NOBODY has ever benefited from smoking tobacco! Any person that smokes within 100 feet of a child should be executed on the spot! Any woman that subjects her fetus to tobacco or any other defilement should be given a hysterectomy and have her vagina cauterized! It's deplorable that a so-called "parent" would intentionally cause damage to their children's health in order to get a fix. NOBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO HARM CHILDREN!!!!!!
Not cool man.
If all addictions are equally harmful, why is it that people who use nictoine concentrate better and have improved visual memory, while people who use heroin are a danger to themselves and others when they have heroin in their system? Which person do you want driving the car next to yours? a) A guy whose brain is full of heroin b) A guy who just smoked a cigarette
I am going to become a libertarian because I am sick of both parties allowing this too happen
I am going to become a libertarian because of this.. both parties suck.
guess all cigs weren't banned cause Obama smokes.
As a habitual smoker of many different brands of clove cigarettes, I feel like I've been cheated out my only vice by this new law that has been passed. I don't know where certain people, whose names I will not use, come up with their statistics, but I'm in my last year of high school, at my third school, and out of all of these schools, I've found one other person who has EVER smoked a clove or any other type of flavored cigarette. Now, I'm pretty sure that 2 out of 4,800 people is not exactly a majority.
The major tobacco companies and Kretek are NOT the same thing, by the way. You're just listening to their anti-everything "Let's brainwash America and make them our slaves" propaganda.
You know what?
Screw anonymity! Joyce, I'm calling you out on your BS. If you honestly think that Philip Morris is using flavored cigarettes to get people hooked, you are one of the most ignorant people I've ever heard of. (Continued on next post.)
PM doesn't have anything to do with any type of flavored cigarette! Additonally, the bit about 'Moving up to adult flavored like Marlboro' is a huge load. Marlboro was what I started on when I was 11, and the taste of those is more appealing to a child than any flavored cigarette I've ever had or heard of.
Just because these people with their head up the government's a** tell you something, it doesn't make it true. Get your own opinion already, because theirs doesn't suit you. Especially when you quote them WORD FOR WORD.
Eat it
~Corey~
Could you please tell me which section of the legislation includes this ban - because I cannot find it. It's a pretty big bill.
I agree with the MAIN point of the bill, which is to treats tobacco with at least as much seriousness as candy or an aspirin - forcing companies to actually disclose the ingredients and give sufficient health warnings.
I was unaware of this particular part of it however, and would like to actually find it myself.
Ah - FOUND IT! For everyone's info, it is in section 907.
I skimmed quite a bit of it. It does mention Menthols, but establishes a study to create a recommendation. It would have been more reasonable, I think, to do something similar with flavored cigarettes, which seems to be the only out-right BAN in the entire thing. I suppose legislators were simply thinking with their guts - as they simply assume that "strawberry chocolate" cigarettes would be marketed to children and cloves to teens.
Ironically, at least anecdotally, I know at least one person who swore off cigarettes after trying a clove because they are so strong. :)
I suppose y'all are going to have to learn to roll your own and convert your smoke shops to herb shops.
I like the consumer protection aspects of this law - but I agree, the ban goes too far.
Are you enjoying the governments control of your lives? That's what this is all about. Yet another freedom gone. You don't want to smoke? Don't. You do, knowing what it can do, go ahead. But this is nothing more than another freedom chipped away. Soon there will be none left. Enjoy knowing that.
We are losing our freedoms, bit by bit. Chocolate Mocha Sweet Dreams were all that I smoked--just a few a day. I'm an adult with no children in the home. Yet another ridiculous law from Big Brother to protect the "children" and big corporate america--Philip Morris.
:)
So what do we do to overturn this? Also, who is the one who put this Jackass in charge? Who thought THAT was a good idea? I smoke clove ciggarettes and have for years. No its NOT healthy, but my ADULT decision nonetheless. Out here in Cali, I spend close to 8$ (or did) on 1 pack. Ridiculous? Absolutely. Again, my choice. I really don't see kids digging at the bottom of mom's purse for 8$ in change for a pack of these, not to mention the fact that if they want to smoke, they will regardless. So again, what can we do?
As a clove smoker--and this is the only thing I smoke--I won't be purchasing "regular" cigarettes at all. I am, of course, in agreement that this is a political ploy, and am also suspicious of Philip Morris' involvement. I also agree that it won't stop kids from smoking. . .
As an Obama supporter, I don't support this. No doubt there are people who are thrilled this is happening. . .May they have something they enjoy taken away from them.
1) The #1 killer in America is heart failure due to eating certain foods and not exercising. So if the gov. cares about keeping people healthy they should ban Twinkies not flavored smokes
2) It is your choice whether you smoke or not. If they don't want kids to smoke, they should get parents and schools more involved, not the govs job.
3) Obama is an "ex" smoker. Maybe he is trying to reconcile with his past smoking habit.
Be content in your humanity, comfortable enough to enjoy its perfect imperfections, even its decadence. While the illusion of Utopia offers now the erasure of flavored smoke in exchange for our freedom and right to choose it. Be aware. It is the continual robbery of such small choices that will prove to be more invasive to our children's liberty than any scented vapor could be to their health. For it is better to be? liberated with human flaw than to become a perfect slave.
Fight back...when you see your rights being curtailed...say something! Find your Senators and Congressmen/women...and scream on this! Don't whine...shine for your freedom!
As a strong opponent of Obama, all I can say is, "I told you so."
Hey everyone...chew on this!
Ninety percent of smokers choose Cigarettes blended with cloves called kretek. Their distinctive sweet aroma is ever-present in cafes, offices and public ...
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Philip Morris International launched a Marlboro cigarette flavored with cloves in Indonesia on Tuesday, seeking to boost sales in one of the world's largest tobacco markets as smokers in Europe and the United States give up the habit.
The company, a unit of New York-based Altria Group Inc., last year bought a controlling stake in local cigarette manufacturer Sampoerna for $5.2 billion, the largest takeover deal ever by a foreign investor in Indonesia.
cigarettes-market.com/cigarettes+News/
I urge you to sign this petion!!!
thepetitionsitecom/1/banning-cloves-is-monopolism-and-dogmatism
this has been awful...I smoked 2 to 5 cigarettes a day, and I have never seen anyone younger than 20 or so smoking cloves, they were expensive, and for that reason as well as the strength of the smoke, any body I knew that smoked them would smoke way less than a pack a day whitch is what most of my non-flavored smoking friends do....the entire city was out of them by a couple days before the ban and now i'm smoking buts from my ashtray and i feel like a junkie...but it's because they have stopped selling my drug of choice...while I know people can still buy marajuana and heroin and crack down the street, I can't get cigarettes... it so sucks but i never have liked regular cigs, I've only ever smoked cloves I don't want to start smoking another brand...
When has a prohibition worked in the history of the United Stated of break it off in you? Oh yeah they haven’t and probably never will. Alcohol prohibition didn’t work, the war on drugs, or preferably weed, doesn’t work to this day, and now a flavored cigarette. But big phillip morris is what most American’s started on. I started smoking reds just like a lot of Americans. But after years of constant smoking started to affect my health I decided to quit. And I did, quit cold turkey and almost a year later around the holidays I decided to have a pack of cloves. I like the taste of the clove every now and then. Now it’s really weird that a imported clove cigarette after you smoke a pack over the course of a day or two. That when you put them down you get side effects like the cold sweats and headaches. But after a day or two not smoking them it’s gone the side effects are gone. Hmmm, but a regular cigarette, well hang on to your sanity because the side effects are much worse. Could it be
You do realize that as government gets even larger; they will only ban more and more.
It is the left that started this train-wreck moving.
For once they get a taste of thier own kool-aid.
I ask that all you liberals really take this into consideration.
If it was about public health; they'd have banned the use of inceticides on the same date. Instead they're waiting awhile longer to put that into effect.
Now we all must go without our Djarums.
Thanks!
SO IT'S ILLEGAL TO SELL CLOVES and other flavored cigarettes. but notice the key word here, "sell". It's not illegal to GIVE THEM AWAY for free. SO HERE'S THE LOOPHOLE: Smoke shops, you give away a free clove/cherry/ect cigarette or pack with every $xx purchase of token merchandise. And coffee shops that sell tobacco, you give away a pack of cloves with every $9 cup of "Spicy chi late delux".
I don't smoke or drink, but it's none of the government's business if I did. I should be able to smoke pot if I want to. Any intervention the government does, has terrible unintended consequences. Vote Libertarian, or Libertarian leaning politicians...free minds and free markets.
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