El Presidente Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Gents and Lasses I need your assistance The submissions for the proposed Australian Plain Packaging Legislation need to be in 5pm Monday. Plain packaging is in effect all cigar boxes will be wrapped in an olive green wrapper and the bands covered over in a brown green band......actually a little like Vegueros Don't be too concerned as yet. Plenty of water to go under the bridge and with a bit of luck this Govt will fall before long. While this is predominantly an Australian Issue, I would like all members to participate in this poll...and get their mates to join and do so. The poll is not public, no one can see your vote. At this point in time the Canadian Govt is looking at introducing similar legislation next year as well + a host of European and Asian countries. Shortly I will post the website where members can give their opinions, make their submissions (an e-mail is fine). Every Aussie should do so. Approach the poll as if it were occuring in your country. Cheers! Rob
riazp Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 One thing i would like cleard up on this subject if you may. Say I buy a box of partagas shorts, will my cigars come in the normal partagas packaging and you just put brown paper over it, or will the cigars be shipped in a generic brown box with no bands on the cigar?
El Presidente Posted October 13, 2011 Author Posted October 13, 2011 One thing i would like cleard up on this subject if you may. Say I buy a box of partagas shorts, will my cigars come in the normal partagas packaging and you just put brown paper over it, or will the cigars be shipped in a generic brown box with no bands on the cigar? Riaz It is unlikely to affect our international purchasers. However...I want you to approach the question as if it is happening to you, in your country.
riazp Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Gotcha Rob, my answers reflect the situation as if it were to happen in Canada. Theres already those health canada warnings printed on every cigarette package here, and does not stop anyone from smoking. I buy all my cigars internationally and will continue to do so...I think all canadians buy the majority of their cigars internationally, or bring back their duty free quota when in cuba or travel overseas. But if I were to walk into the LCDH in montreal for the occasianal smoke, the packaging does not really bother me. As long as I know what cigar i'm purchasing, green band will just be removed and cigar will be smoked. The government should invest money in other places, in the end, we are all adults and make decisions ourselfs fully aware of the risks and consequences. I dont need some big warning, plain packaging will not dissuade me to stop smoking cigars. Life is a risk, maybe they will put warning labels on cars, pictures of a clogged artery on fast food boxes, a spotted liver on bottles of scotch...I mean common.
Orion21 Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Rob, If this will only impact Australian buyers on a local level it is hard for me to answer honestly. If it is a generalized question and sources are excluded, then no I would not buy internationally. I would buy locally to avoid questions in my own mind. But realistically, if you are forced to sell plain packaged cigars to everyone you have my business no matter what. It is more important for me to support good people like you all at Czar vs. having a fancy Cuban cigar box with bands to show off. I will pray your backwards government falls before you are forced to abide by these ridiculous restrictions to personal freedom and choice. Down with the Nanny State!
SCgarman Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Rob, will the wrapping on the boxes and the band over the band be easily removable by the consumer to expose the original litho? Who will be employed to wrap the boxes in plain paper and remove the cigars from the box to place a secondary band on them then rebox? Will this be done by the powers that be in Australia? Sounds VERY time consuming and labor intensive!
El Presidente Posted October 13, 2011 Author Posted October 13, 2011 Gents....it is proposed legislation (which I will unlikely comply with anyway). Assume I not the vendor...
Orion21 Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Then the answer to your question is "No" I would not order from a vendor who ships in plain packaging, all else being equal.
laficion Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 There's a European proposal at the moment to do somthing similar but mostly concerning cigarette packaging , The packs would be white with no logos,just the brand name printed in black on top and with those horrible health warnings, always in living color as today. I would think that if passed, cigars could get their fair share of the leftover slaps. For sure I'll be very angry etc, etc, but I don't know what I would do or be able to do, so, for the moment, I have no Idea .
Rushman Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 If pics of dead animals on ciggarrette packages in Mexico doesn't slow down smoking, plain packaging won't either. If your shop still says "cigars" or "tobacco" on the outside, do they think people will shake their heads at the plain packaging and walk away? It's over regulation for regulations sake. Down with nanny states everywhere.
TankerT Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Well. I will say, from a data collection standpoint, living in the USA... I purchase 90% of my boxes from outside my country... because... the boxes I buy internationally are not available here. I'm more interested in the sticks than the packaging. That being said... if I can get the same sticks for the same price from a trusted vendor... where another trusted vendor has plain packaging... I'd likely buy them with the cool packaging when I'm buying gifts. (Which is about 20% of my purchases.)
nubchin Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 very good stance Rob , we should do this when ever a country is trying to pass any thing anti-cigars .
Loki Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 I smoke cigars for the simple pleasure of smoking. I never have and never will care if my cigar has a band . Nobody's business what I'm smoking. I usually take the band off within the first 5 minutes. As far covering the box , I won't lose sleep.
tdlfoto Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Who's picking up the cost of materials and labour?! What a farce. I'll gladly complete a submission once link is fwd'd
Guest rob Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 assume I not the vendor... My vote reflected this instruction.
IcedCanuck Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 Are boxes of cigars not shipped from Cuba with seals on the boxes? If this is the case a strong argument can be made that vendors should not be opening them. If you walk into any store how likely are you to buy a product that has been opened and placed back on the shelf? I know that personally I never buy products that have already been opened. Now the Czar is a bit of an exception I actually like that my cigars are inspected prior to being shipped ... it sort of guarantees I don't get a bunch of cracked duds but the government does not have to know about that. If labels and bands are removed so all cigars appear in the same packaging with the same bands then as a consumer how exactly am I supposed to know I am actually getting what I have paid for? What is stopping anyone from giving me a box of lesser valued cigars then those I actually paid for? What exactly is the purpose of doing this? Where I live in Ontario Canada retailers are already forbidden to have tobacco products in plain view. They are all hidden on shelves with doors you cannot see through. Walk into a place that sells cigars and if you want to know what they have they will hand you a binder and with a little luck they have actually kept it up to date and you have to peruse through that in order to make your selection. Because they are already hidden and out of sight no argument can be given about advertising because tobacco companies are also forbidden to advertise their products here. The Government should should butt out of our lives. We are all adults who are perfectly capable of making decisions for ourselves. Putting this non-sense into play is going to serve no purpose other than make people buy their cigars elsewhere and in a time of global recession is that really what you want to do? Doesn't that mean less money going into the economy? Essentially this is like shooting yourself in the foot.
KarlJ Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 I love how the Anti tabacco groups lump all tabacco into the same category. Someone pumped a bunch of money into research that targeted underage smokers and came up with the conclusion that the packaging and using words like "lite" directly influence the decision to buy and smoke cigarettes. Unfortunately, the view that most of society has adopted towards cigarettes has given Anti Tabacco groups too much leverage with goverment. These people are soo focused on saving the children and bringing down Big tabacco. Its like an out of control train, it doesnt discriminate what or who is in the way, its gonna reak havoc and destruction until it derails. That train is haulin ass towards us, it doesnt care if we use tabacoo for pleasure and not nicotine. It doesnt care about the centuries of tradition. It doesnt care that this tabacco isnt marketed to children, that it is seldom used by children and that it isnt used to feed addiction. Hopefully enough people can get together and derail this nightmare. -Karl
Huckleberry Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 It would be really difficult for me to trust anyone else with my business, regardless of these absurd packaging laws. If they can take such a freedom removing law to this extreme what is stopping them from making you all dress in coveralls and go to a work camp everyday? I hope they don't do this at fast food restaurants. Hard enough to tell already which burger in the bag is the one with just ketchup.
Colt45 Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 Not telling you what to do, but I wouldn't mind another choice in the poll: I will continue to vote against meddling politicians until they finally get the hint......
jedipastor Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 I personally think this is all so ridiculous. I don't see what the officials are trying to do ... do they think people will stop buying cigars if they have to remove a green band first? Do they think we're idiots and will get too confused to purchase anything? I honestly don't understand. We're not talking about the US cigarette companies in the 60s that were targeting children with cartoon characters on boxes. We're talking about heritage artwork from the past century of central American and Cuban culture. But if I had to have either a nasty sticker covering the artwork on my beautiful box or olive-green paper covering the box (and presumably with stickers on it), I'd choose the paper because it would protect the actual box. But the bands are a bigger issue for me. Removing a 2nd band is no problem, but if they had to come bandless ... that would be a problem for me.
IcedCanuck Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 If there are no bands how am I to differentiate a shelf or humi full of singles???
Fuzz AI Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 How many 13 year olds are sneaking H. Upmanns and smoking double coronas to look "cool"...? What about a 16 yr old kid, perpetuating an image from old HK gangster flicks?
bassman Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 LOL not many I'm sure. When I was 16, I would go into the corner store to buy the absolute cheapest cigar I could find. Cut it open, empty all the tobacco and fill it with something else...lol Had nothing to do with the band on the cigar or the pretty box, just had to with price. The infamous Phillies Blunt. Why waste good weed by wrapping it in almost tobacco?
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now