Posted on 11/18/2009 8:50:19 PM PST by This_far
A Brookline business that lets customers roll their own cigarettes has banned "pipe tobacco" from its rolling machines in response to a judge's order, the shop's lawyers said yesterday.
The court order takes away only a portion of the business Tobacco Haven has been doing, but it is a portion that is of particular concern to the state. The state Attorney General's Office, which sued the retailer in August, alleges it is illegal for Tobacco Haven to stuff "pipe tobacco" into cigarettes unless the company pays taxes on it.
The state has also argued that "pipe tobacco" is singularly
(Excerpt) Read more at unionleader.com ...
I don’t smoke, but please remind me what country we live in? You can’t buy pipe tobacco and roll it in paper to smoke it? How is that the business of our overlords?
IMHO, some pipe tobacco is one of the best scents in the world. I don’t know that they do differently between that and other tobaccos (I love cigars, hate cigarettes) but it is a great smell.
I really have fond memories of when this was a free country.
The difference is that pipe tobacco is soaked in various scents and flavors. I used to smoke a roll your own cigarette called A100 that was soaked in vanilla. People didn’t care that I smoked around them because it smelled like a pipe.
That makes two of us.
(TYfys)
Check this story and location...LOL
The state has also argued that “pipe tobacco” is singularly dangerous because it was being sold at prices “so low that young people would have found them affordable.”
>OH NOES! Think of the children!!!
“Not only did Tobacco Haven’s plan violate the law, but it placed a dangerous and addictive product within the financial reach of vulnerable children,” Attorney General Michael Delaney said in a statement yesterday.
>Yeah, and kids who want to smoke won’t be able to come up with the money for regular smokes? Please.
Andrew Schulman, an attorney for Tobacco Haven, called the attorney general’s statement “misleading and disingenuous.”
>At last, I have found an honest lawyer!
“Children can’t purchase tobacco products at any price,” Schulman said. “It is against the law to do so.” He added that Tobacco Haven “has been investigated and observed by the state and its agents, and there is no allegation that any tobacco has or will be purchased by children.”
But...but...you’re not thinking of the CHILDREN!!1!
The state’s lawsuit argues that Tobacco Haven should be considered a cigarette “manufacturer,” and so should be obligated to make payments into the escrow fund.
>>AHA! Now we get to ze trooth! What we have is merely another case of a state government making sure it wrings every last drop of tax money out of its citizens. The same state government, btw, that apparently didn’t think to tax “pipe tobacco” in the settlement it reached in 1998.
I have the same of NH
>OH NOES! Think of the children!!!
LARF... we often sit around and talk about being sent to the nearest vending machine with three dimes. The pack of butts had a penny included.
You might be interested in this...
They re-branded the moist tobacco used for pipes and put coarse tobacco in bags for rolled cigarettes. I read about this today.
Capitalists are way ahead of the central planners.
I never smoked and can’t stand the smell of cigarette smoke but will admit that some pipe smoke is pleasant. I used to live in Richmond, VA. and in some sections one could smell tobacco being dried in barns and it too had a pleasant aroma.
I had an Uncle Buck who looked just like a hard bitten old West cowboy tho he was a Florida farmer. He rolled his own from a Prince Albert can and it always fascinated me watching how expertly and fast he rolled those cigarettes, his final act a quick swipe of the paper on his lip to make it stick.
‘This is all of our faults, we allow them to place the chains on our ankles and only howl, but we don’t bite.
Pipe tobacco= Black and Milds= blunts
Appears they are prohibiting the weed smokers from having some kick ass blunts. Just an observation.
Congress made the FEDERAL law separating the two, so IMO it will take the Congress to
look into it unless the state legislates it for themselves bypassing
Fed tax law.
I actually sold many tobacco plants last year at a good profit to
people who not only want to avoid the new taxes but I even sold
a few to a University "GRIN" at $5 each.
I think the elected officials are scared to death of using that word (TAX)
with the current fear of our new administration so they're using the
usual drive by cover story (Cheeeeeldren). It's pathetic.
I bought some leaves a couple of weeks ago.
They weren’t bad. The taste and aroma had hints of a Cuban cigar.
I started rolling my own. I am down from 1-2 packs a day to just a few cigarettes now. A person can sit right next to me while I smoke and barely notice the smell because what I’m using has no additives. My house doesn’t smell like chemicals or car exhaust anymore.
I don’t crave them every 15 minutes anymore. Those additives must be what really hooks people on them.
No, that's a different topic. (medical mj is now becoming the entry way drug for taxes on illegal drugs)
Ain't life wonderful?
I guess what I meant was that there is huge money in rolled pipe tobacco. I don’t have any facts on hand but I would venture to guess Black and Mild brand pipe tobacco cigars have seen a huge increase in sales over the last 10 years. Taxable of course. The government doesn’t want people rolling their own. And who else wants these for making blunts? Young folks that put reefers in them.
Yeah, you’re right about the money involved.
The government raised the tax on bulk ‘rolling’ tobacco. Some stores now call it pipe tobacco.
Now, I’m wondering if the cost of menthol has gone up? (is that wrong?)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.