In three lawsuits, 105 New Jersey and New York retailers are accused of selling counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Philip Morris USA filed suit against 105 New Jersey and New York retailers Wednesday, alleging they sold counterfeit versions of Marlboro brand cigarettes.

In three suits the Richmond-based cigarette maker accuses several delis, grocers and convenience stores of selling cigarettes packaged to resemble Philip Morris USA products.

The company wants the retailers to stop selling the fakes, submit to inspections of their inventory and provide information about their supplier.

Company officials discovered the counterfeit cigarettes during a periodic marketplace purchase, one method the company uses to protect its brand, according to spokesman David Sutton.

“These are obviously counterfeit products that were made to look like Marlboro or Marlboro Lights, for example,” Sutton said.

Sales of such products have been a particular problem in New York and New Jersey, he said.

“You’ve got two states there with high cigarette excise taxes and in the case of New York City, you’ve got a high local cigarette excise tax,” Sutton said. “This is an attempt to reap illegal profit by selling untaxed cigarettes.”

Sutton said retailers should work with familiar wholesalers, and should be wary of anyone selling cigarettes for unusually low prices.

The action follows separate suits the nation’s largest tobacco manufacturer filed last week against two Internet-based cigarette vendors. The suit alleges the vendors of selling illegally imported Marlboros, Parliament and Virginia Slims cigarettes.

Most parents know about protecting their kids from X-rated language and images on the Internet and in movies, but should they also be worried about protecting them from movies where people smoke cigarettes?

Researchers say that when it comes to smoking, life imitates art. A new study published this month in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine tracked more than 6,500 kids between the ages of 10 and 14, over a two-year period. Dartmouth researchers say young people who had the greatest exposure to smoking scenes are twice as likely to become “established” smokers.

“Movies are the single largest influence getting kids to smoke today, more powerful even than parenting role models and even cigarette advertising,” Professor Stanton Glantz, of the Medical School at the University Of California, San Francisco, told CBS correspondent Jeff Glor

The study lit a fire under anti-smoking advocates many of whom believe there is a simple solution: all movies with smoking should be rated R.

“I think Hollywood is smart enough and creative enough to make good movies that they’re selling to kids without promoting tobacco,” Glanz said.

Although Glantz says that number could be cut in half if those movies are given an R rating, not everyone is blaming Hollywood.

“It’s the same thing as if you say, ‘Oh, you let kids play video games and they’ll become violent.’ I don’t believe that,” movie-goer Susanne Vogel said. “I believe every person has their own particular choice.”

The Motion Picture Association of America announced new rules this year. Smoking will now be considered a factor when they rate movies. However, smoking won’t guarantee an R rating.

A scientific study revealed today that people who smoke cigarettes are sexy. The study, carried out by researchers wearing white lab coats in the University of Wales in Cardiff, was commissioned by Imperial Tobacco.

“This is one of just many proven benefits to smoking tobacco,” said the senior researcher in the press release. “Our survey has shown that 82% of smokers have had sexual intercourse within 20 years of smoking a cigarette. And the remaining 18% have at least been able to crack one off over an episode of Baywatch.” (more…)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –
This year’s tripling of Tennessee’s cigarette tax has prompted state revenue officials to conduct surveillance of tobacco retailers just over state lines, suspecting Tennesseans are buying smokes in bulk in neighboring states with cheaper taxes. (more…)

Our country prides itself on pandering to every lowest common denominator. In essence, it is a form of compromise which our government worships. Most public places are handicap accessible. Every automated teller machine brings up the opening window where customers choose which language they wish to receive information in. A vegetarian can get a specialized meal in any cafeteria at his or her work, school, or even a steakhouse ironically. However, smokers are the single group in this country that has been bastardized to the point of persecution.

Currently, this change is not an issue. I have no problem with going outside in the sixty degree weather for a cigarette. My problems will start when the infamous Lakeland winter sets in. When it is ten below zero and 30 mile-an-hour winds are blowing around two feet of snow, I will have some serious issues then. Last year, the pub was the Alamo for campus smokers trying to avoid severe frostbite on important appendages. This year we are stranded outside in the cold. (more…)

All over Chinatown, cigarette butts dot the sidewalks: blue, white and brown ends labeled with names like Seven Wolves in Chinese, Shuanxshi and Yes in English. But the most common name is Marlboro.

The stubs are tangible evidence of the ready supply of illegal cigarettes in Chinatown, available at sidewalk stalls and variety stores, where they typically sell for $4 a pack — as much as $3.50 less than those sold legally. They include Chinese brands and knockoffs of popular American brands smuggled into the United States, all untaxed.

Under the Manhattan Bridge, a popular shopping place for many immigrants from Fujian Province, there are illegal cigarettes for sale amid the shopping stalls, the private bus operators, the makeshift employment agencies and the booths where international calling cards are sold. Cautious vendors sell cigarettes mostly to customers they already know: people who speak Fujianese, people who work in restaurants, people waiting for buses to take them to jobs in Washington or Richmond, Va.

Neither the merchants who sell them nor the people who buy them are willing to speak publicly about the black market. But several smokers who said they had smoked counterfeit Marlboros or Chinese brands said that they bought them because they were cheap; some said they thought they were buying legitimate brands at bargain prices. (more…)

ome 3,000 buyers who had bought contraband cigarettes from street peddlers were booked in the first half of this year.

This number is a four-fold increase over the same period last year.

Singapore Customs said the number of peddlers caught also went up by 20 percent from 381 in the first six months of last year to 456 in the first half of this year.

From January to June this year, 2.5 million duty-unpaid cigarettes were seized, up from 2.3 million over the same period last year.

Singapore Customs warned that buying, selling, conveying, delivering, storing and dealing with contraband cigarettes are serious offences under the Customs Act.

Anyone with information on smuggling activities or evasion of Customs duty or GST should contact the Singapore Customs Intelligence Hotline at 1800-233-0000 or email customs_intelligence@customs.gov.sg.

Underage smoking is a problem all across the nation, including right here in Michiana.

But Saturday, police, with the help of some kids, spent the day working to try and stop the sale of tobacco to minors.

Fox 28 takes you undercover as police bust businesses breaking the law.

Store owner says, “No ID, no cigars.”

It’s the answer that 14 year old, Adrian Austin should get everytime he tries to buy tobacco.

But as Trooper Kevin Kubsch says, many times, that’s not what happens. (more…)

CHICAGO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Philip Morris USA on Wednesday in effect raised the price of Marlboro and most other brands of cigarettes it sells by 5 cents a pack.

The largest U.S. cigarette company is cutting the promotional allowances it gives wholesale distributors on Marlboro, Basic, Parliament and L&M by 50 cents a carton, or 5 cents a pack, as of Sept. 10, a company spokesman said.

It is also cutting the promotional allowance on Virginia Slims by $2 a carton, or 20 cents a pack, the spokesman said.

Reductions in promotional allowances are typically passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. The average price for a pack of cigarettes can vary widely due to differences in The company is also raising the list price on its other cigarette brands by 50 cents per carton, or 5 cents a pack, the spokesman said.

The move marks the first broad price increase for Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group Inc this year.

OTF Talent Show featured area’s best

A popular event at the Ohio Tobacco Festival is the annual talent show. The show allows festival participants to stand up in front of a live audience and show off their singing voices. Performers were broken up into age categories including a kindergarten through 4th grade, 5th through 8th grade, high school, and adult.

For three hours, onlookers were treated to some of the best vocal talent the area has to offer. Julie Leonard took first place in the kindergarten through 4th grade class by singing Kellie Pickler’s “I Wonder.” Kobe Rigdon took second with “Songs About Me” by Trace Adkins. (more…)