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ANCIENT CUBAN SEEDS IN NEW CIGARS

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While these cigars will debut at the IPCPR, Vogel and his U.S. distributor, Arango Cigar Co. of Northbrook, Illinois, have postponed the introduction of the Cumbres de Puriscal and Colinas cigar lines, also from Tabacos de la Cordillera, until 2009, when the brand’s packaging and band art will be revamped. These lines are available at the Tabacos de la Cordillera website and prices have been reduced by about 18 percent on both lines.

Gas station cashier beaten because he refused a cigar sale!

A cashier at a gas station in Greenburgh, New York was beaten and had his ankle broken by three individuals last Sunday because he wouldn’t sell them a pack of cigars.

The cashier asked them for age identification – New York law allows sales of tobacco products only to those aged 18 or older – and when they couldn’t produce it, they attacked the cashier and then fled the scene. Police are looking for the suspects.

The incident is unfortunate, but taking place essentially out of public view on a Sunday evening makes one wonder if tobacco shops in Canada might be in for more of the same. Because provincial laws in much of Canada now require tobacco products to be hidden from view from underage consumers, some smokeshops are preparing to, or have, blackened their windows. Doesn’t this make such shops more liable to crime, since passersby cannot see inside and act as a deterrent to thieves or robbers?

A crime of just this style took place last year in the United Kingdom. How long before it happens again, this time in Canada?

Newspaper editorial calls Canadian province’s display ban “rotten”

Rather than quote from an excellent column by Kerry Diotte of the Edmonton Sun that ran on June 19, here is the entire text, which is well worth reading:

July 1 is the 141st birthday of this democracy we call the true north strong and free. Ironically, a new draconian government law will kick in on the very day we celebrate the founding of this democratic nation.

The new Alberta legislation makes it illegal to display cigarettes wherever they're sold.

Instead, they have to be totally hidden from view. Most retailers are installing covered metal devices that look like modified filing cabinets.

One bewildered immigrant owner of a tobacco shop, who works seven days a week to make ends meet, was shaking his head over the law that sees some retailers have to shell out thousands of dollars from their own pockets for the metal cabinets.

When asked if he'd like to complain about it on the record, he declined, fearing that speaking out against a government law might get him into trouble. So much for free expression.

"Tobacco products must be stored and sold in a way that prevents consumers from seeing or handling them before they are purchased," is the way the law is described on the Alberta Health website.

It reminds us of the archaic way booze was once sold in some provinces. A customer would look at a list of products, fill out a form and hand it to the government clerk who'd then scurry off to a back room to find the product.

Why, in a free society, are adults not allowed to view a legal product before purchasing it?

Oh, the professional lobbyists will try to claim the mere sight of a package of cigarettes would be enough to force some teen to become instantly addicted. What a load of garbage.

Governments earn huge bucks off the sale of tobacco - more than the tobacco companies in some cases. Yet, the hypocritical politicians go out and pass stupid, meddlesome legislation like this.

It's a clear and unwarranted attack on freedom and an unnecessary extra tax on many mom-and-pop retailers who already struggle to turn a profit.

It's a rotten birthday gift to Canadians whose freedoms, little by little, are eroding every year.

The tobacco-products ban has cigar shops in a quandary, at least in Alberta. A June 23 story in the Sun noted that some tobacconists aren’t clear what they have to do to comply, if anything.
~ Rich Perelman

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Did you know?

“Although still available on the market in some shapes, production of the Royal Jamaica brand ceased in 2000.