I smoke cigars. I find it to be a relaxing and enjoyable pastime. I enjoy smoking cigars with fellow enthusiasts in my local cigar shop, at home, and outdoors as long there is no one around I'm going to offend by doing so. Yes, I am aware of the potential risks associated with smoking, and so are my fellow smokers. Most, if not all of us have weighed to pros and cons, read the literature, and made an informed decision. What motivates that decision is not addiction. I have never felt a craving for a cigar. If I don't get my cigar it's not going to have an adverse effect on my day. I can go long periods without smoking. I have never "needed" cigar the way a cigarette smoker does.
Compared to cigarettes, cigars are a whole different animal. If you know what you are doing, you don't inhale a cigar into the lungs the way you do a cigarette. Cigars typically contain one ingredient, tobacco. Occasionally, cigar wrappers are dyed for uniform color, but beyond that there are no additives or other ingredients in a cigar. Cigarettes, on the other hand, are wrapped in chemical coated paper, filled with chemical soaked shredded tobacco, and tipped with filters made from cellulose acetate, a chemical used as a film base in photography. Most cigar shops that I've been to do not allow the smoking of cigarettes due to the differences in smell and quality of smoke. I myself will have an immediate allergic reaction around cigarettes, with little to no problems around cigars.
There is even a difference between the premium cigars sold at cigar shops and the mass produced cigars typically found at gas stations and grocery stores. One of the main differences is that the gas station variety are commonly made with additives, flavorings, and preservatives that put them in a closer relationship with cigarettes than premium cigars. Also, gas station cigars are machine made from much lower quality tobacco that has been shredded versus the high quality long-fill (whole leaf pieces) that hand made premium cigars are crafted with.
What I'm saying is, cigars are different. And while it might not matter to the average person, it should make a difference when it comes to regulation. The FDA is poised to impose crippling regulations on the cigar industry by expanding its reach beyond the tobacco products it currently regulates. The details of how they are going to do it are inconsequential for the purposes of this blog, just know that if put into place these rules will effectively kill the cigar industry and the culture that surrounds it.
While cigars would probably still be available, the culture would be destroyed. The culture is the part I would miss most. I've met most of my friends at my local shop. I've had the opportunity to travel the country and meet other smokers from all walks of life and backgrounds. I've met some really cool people who work in the industry, shop owners, company reps, the owners of the companies who produce the cigars, many of which are small business owners. The new potential regulations will raise the cost of cigars to the point where many smokers will be forced to quit. Many, if not most of the brick and mortar shops will go under, as will many of the smaller manufacturers. Something I love will be destroyed.
When someone is about to take something away from you that you love, one of the the things you might ask yourself is "Why?". Why are they going after us? What is boils down to is this, tobacco is bad, and they want to protect us from it. The cigarette companies lied about the dangers of, advertised to children, and purposely increased the addictiveness of their product among other things. It could be easily said that tobacco has earned its reputation, but as I mentioned earlier, I and many others believe cigars to be different. I am not saying that they are completely safe, but different, different enough that the FDA should leave us alone.
Even if you don't smoke, even if you hate it, this should concern you. we're not bothering anybody, we mostly keep to ourselves. If there is someone out there who is being rude about it, they don't represent the majority of smokers and I'm sorry we've made a bad impression on you. This should concern you because it just isn't about cigars. It's cigars today, tomorrow sugar, the day after that it's how much television you're allowed to watch. It's an ongoing process of encroachment and interference into our lives by people who don't trust us to be able to make decisions for ourselves.
It's about sin. Taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and the other so called "vices" are frequently called sin taxes. We don't like these things, so we can treat them differently by adding exorbitant taxes to punish the people who make and purchase them. Are these things dangerous if abused? Can their abuse cause harm to innocent bystanders? The answer to both those questions is yes. If someone harms another with the use of any product they should be punished. That is what the law is for, to prevent with the threat of punishment, and to punish those who harm others. To punish all of the non-abusers of a legal product with taxes, regulations, and laws before any harm has been done goes beyond the scope of the law. Many of these laws and regulations exist solely because people disapprove of these activities on a moral or religious basis. While I personally believe that there are some things you should not do I also believe that as long as you aren't harming someone or imposing on someone else's freedom you should be free to choose to do what you wish. Should it be illegal to smoke around children? I'm not sure about that one. Should we be punished because we choose to smoke, with other smokers, in a place that was created for us to do so? No. I have never seen a smoke shop that allowed children or forced non-smokers to come in. Every smoke shop I've ever seen was clearly marked as such and only contained people who wanted to be there. It is already illegal to sell to anyone under the age of 18, so the law is already doing it's job to protect children. What else does it need to do?
I realize as I read over what I've wrote, that it is all a bit of a jumble that might require some editing in the future, but the gist of it is all here. If you want to know in detail I'm talking about I would suggest googling "FDA tobacco deeming regulations" and visiting the Cigar Rights of America website to see what the cigar industry is doing to protect itself. They have way more facts and probably state the whole argument better than I do anyway.
What they are proposing to do isn't going to make cigars illegal. What they are planning to do is crush the industry with regulation and destroy the culture in to process. They don't have to make it illegal if they succeed in making it so difficult that barely anyone can do it. If you don't smoke cigars, this might not seem important to you, but it should, because it is about freedom of choice and control of our own lives, and those things matter to all of us.
Compared to cigarettes, cigars are a whole different animal. If you know what you are doing, you don't inhale a cigar into the lungs the way you do a cigarette. Cigars typically contain one ingredient, tobacco. Occasionally, cigar wrappers are dyed for uniform color, but beyond that there are no additives or other ingredients in a cigar. Cigarettes, on the other hand, are wrapped in chemical coated paper, filled with chemical soaked shredded tobacco, and tipped with filters made from cellulose acetate, a chemical used as a film base in photography. Most cigar shops that I've been to do not allow the smoking of cigarettes due to the differences in smell and quality of smoke. I myself will have an immediate allergic reaction around cigarettes, with little to no problems around cigars.
There is even a difference between the premium cigars sold at cigar shops and the mass produced cigars typically found at gas stations and grocery stores. One of the main differences is that the gas station variety are commonly made with additives, flavorings, and preservatives that put them in a closer relationship with cigarettes than premium cigars. Also, gas station cigars are machine made from much lower quality tobacco that has been shredded versus the high quality long-fill (whole leaf pieces) that hand made premium cigars are crafted with.
What I'm saying is, cigars are different. And while it might not matter to the average person, it should make a difference when it comes to regulation. The FDA is poised to impose crippling regulations on the cigar industry by expanding its reach beyond the tobacco products it currently regulates. The details of how they are going to do it are inconsequential for the purposes of this blog, just know that if put into place these rules will effectively kill the cigar industry and the culture that surrounds it.
While cigars would probably still be available, the culture would be destroyed. The culture is the part I would miss most. I've met most of my friends at my local shop. I've had the opportunity to travel the country and meet other smokers from all walks of life and backgrounds. I've met some really cool people who work in the industry, shop owners, company reps, the owners of the companies who produce the cigars, many of which are small business owners. The new potential regulations will raise the cost of cigars to the point where many smokers will be forced to quit. Many, if not most of the brick and mortar shops will go under, as will many of the smaller manufacturers. Something I love will be destroyed.
When someone is about to take something away from you that you love, one of the the things you might ask yourself is "Why?". Why are they going after us? What is boils down to is this, tobacco is bad, and they want to protect us from it. The cigarette companies lied about the dangers of, advertised to children, and purposely increased the addictiveness of their product among other things. It could be easily said that tobacco has earned its reputation, but as I mentioned earlier, I and many others believe cigars to be different. I am not saying that they are completely safe, but different, different enough that the FDA should leave us alone.
Even if you don't smoke, even if you hate it, this should concern you. we're not bothering anybody, we mostly keep to ourselves. If there is someone out there who is being rude about it, they don't represent the majority of smokers and I'm sorry we've made a bad impression on you. This should concern you because it just isn't about cigars. It's cigars today, tomorrow sugar, the day after that it's how much television you're allowed to watch. It's an ongoing process of encroachment and interference into our lives by people who don't trust us to be able to make decisions for ourselves.
It's about sin. Taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and the other so called "vices" are frequently called sin taxes. We don't like these things, so we can treat them differently by adding exorbitant taxes to punish the people who make and purchase them. Are these things dangerous if abused? Can their abuse cause harm to innocent bystanders? The answer to both those questions is yes. If someone harms another with the use of any product they should be punished. That is what the law is for, to prevent with the threat of punishment, and to punish those who harm others. To punish all of the non-abusers of a legal product with taxes, regulations, and laws before any harm has been done goes beyond the scope of the law. Many of these laws and regulations exist solely because people disapprove of these activities on a moral or religious basis. While I personally believe that there are some things you should not do I also believe that as long as you aren't harming someone or imposing on someone else's freedom you should be free to choose to do what you wish. Should it be illegal to smoke around children? I'm not sure about that one. Should we be punished because we choose to smoke, with other smokers, in a place that was created for us to do so? No. I have never seen a smoke shop that allowed children or forced non-smokers to come in. Every smoke shop I've ever seen was clearly marked as such and only contained people who wanted to be there. It is already illegal to sell to anyone under the age of 18, so the law is already doing it's job to protect children. What else does it need to do?
I realize as I read over what I've wrote, that it is all a bit of a jumble that might require some editing in the future, but the gist of it is all here. If you want to know in detail I'm talking about I would suggest googling "FDA tobacco deeming regulations" and visiting the Cigar Rights of America website to see what the cigar industry is doing to protect itself. They have way more facts and probably state the whole argument better than I do anyway.
What they are proposing to do isn't going to make cigars illegal. What they are planning to do is crush the industry with regulation and destroy the culture in to process. They don't have to make it illegal if they succeed in making it so difficult that barely anyone can do it. If you don't smoke cigars, this might not seem important to you, but it should, because it is about freedom of choice and control of our own lives, and those things matter to all of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment