Basically it’s all over.  President Obama signed the PACT Bill March 31st. which will effectively shut down all online tobacco sales by July 31st.

Let us hear what you have to say.

President Barack Obama signed legislation on March 31 banning the United States Postal Service from shipping cigarettes. The legislation was vigorously opposed by the Seneca Nation of Indians, a group heavily involved in the mail-order tobacco business.

While the measure was assailed by the Seneca Nation, it was praised by many other groups. Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids stated that, “Enactment of this legislation is a milestone in the fight to keep kids from smoking and prevent tax evasion that costs taxpayers billions each year.” (more…)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid initiated the hotline process for the PACT Act this evening just before 6:00 PM. The Senate has now adjourned for the evening and will resume the PACT Act hotline process first thing tomorrow morning.

We need Anybody and Everybody to burn up the phone lines to the US Senate tomorrow morning and object to the passage of this bill. Anything you can do to make this happen will be greatly appreciated. There may be no more tobacco mail order if this bill is passed tomorrow. PLEASE FORWARD THIS REQUEST TO ANYONE YOU THINK CAN HELP US.

REMEMBER… There may be no more tobacco mail order if this bill is passed tomorrow.

Your online tobacco buying days may be numbered…

PACT Act
THE SITUATION: Right now there is legislation pending in the United States Senate - the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (“PACT Act”) (S.1147) which contains, among other bad ideas, a provision to make ALL cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products nonmailable. This legislation has already been passed by the House of Representatives and is currently in a Senate Committee that could send it to the Senate floor at any time for a vote!

Click here for a detailed description of how YOU can help defeat the 2009 PACT act in PDF format.

Conflict with neighbors was the last thing Donna and Richard Ganguet expected to encounter when they moved into a gated community for people age 55 and older.

“In a senior community, you think we’ll all be compatible and have the same values,” said Richard Ganguet, a retired El Dorado County sheriff’s deputy.

But three years after settling into their single-family home in El Dorado Hills’ Four Seasons development, the Ganguets are suing their next-door neighbor over cigar and cigarette smoke they say wafts into their backyard and house.

Because of the smoke, the couple say, they no longer sit on their patio. They also try to sandwich in swims in the side-yard lap pool between their neighbors’ smoking sessions.
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With so many places around the world instituting smoking regulations, increasing taxes and, quite literally, kicking smokers to the curb, it’s getting harder to find cigarette-friendly vacation spots.

But not every country is trying to kill that buzz. On the flip side, some of them, such as Greece, are attempting to crack down but are failing miserably.

You may feel alone smoking in some major U.S. cities, so we’ve compiled a list of countries with the most prevalent tobacco use among people aged 15 or older, based on 2005 data from the World Health Organization.

Nonsmokers, too, will want to take note of the list. As you might guess, a smoker’s paradise can be, in turn, a nonsmoker’s hell.
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The nation’s two top cigarette-makers are boosting per-pack prices by 6 to 8 cents a pack.
Though the companies won’t say why, analysts believe it is to cover new user fees charged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pay for the costs of its new assignment to regulate tobacco.
The increase on what Altria’s Philip Morris USA and Reynolds American’s RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. charge wholesalers seems unlikely to have a big effect on smoking, as this spring’s 61.66 cent-a-pack hike in federal excise taxes did.
Last week, Altria Group Inc. chairman and chief executive Michael E. Szymanczyk told analysts the effect of that tax hike accounted for about two-thirds of the 16 percent drop in the number of cigarettes it sold in the third quarter. The rest came from wholesalers’ inventory reductions.
That price effect was in line with the historical trend, he said.
Though tobacco companies don’t disclose their models for forecasting the effect of price changes on smoking, economists and security analysts have estimated that every 10 percent increase in prices cuts consumption by 4 percent.

The 111th Congress of the United States’ acceptance of the “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” represents a blow to the liberties of Americans and further erosion to the integrity of the Constitution of the United States. The act gives massive new powers to the FDA in all things tobacco related. Under the new law all businesses involved in the production, processing, packaging and distribution of tobacco must register with the FDA and comply with unwarranted FDA inspections. (more…)

The June 11 passage of the FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill, which provides the U.S. government with extensive power to regulate tobacco products, is a major step for federal regulation of cigarette manufacturers. The bill provides the Food and Drug Administration with its most expansive authority over the tobacco industry to date: not only does it grant the FDA the power to dictate product ingredients and overrule new products, it compels tobacco companies to eliminate potentially misleading labels like “light” and “mild,” regulate a product’s ingredients and increase the size of the warning labels on cigarette packs. The tobacco industry is no stranger to regulation, however. Over the past half-century, cigarette manufacturers have found ways to successfully sell their product despite increasing advertising restrictions and will no doubt try to continue to do so in the face of this new legislation. (more…)

Landmark legislation approved by the Senate yesterday will give the federal government sweeping new powers to oversee tobacco products, allowing regulators to control factors including the amount of addictive nicotine in a cigarette and how that cigarette is packaged and marketed.

For the 20 percent of Americans who smoke, the law will mean confronting more graphic warnings of the risks of their habit every time they pick up a pack. The law also bans most cigarette flavorings. (more…)