frenchkiwi Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 "As you may or may not be aware, the FDA has announced it's intention to take over regulation of the premium cigar industry. If the FDA is allowed to regulate the premium tobacco industry some or all of the following actions may be taken. All INTERNET, mail-order and phone sales would be BANNED. All new cigars will be submitted for testing which would likely eliminate boutique brands, store exclusives, limited editions all while raising cigar prices. No premium cigars with flavors of coffee, liquor or other adult flavorings will be allowed. No more self-service or walk-in humidors. Smokers would pick their cigars from a binder of black and white photos. Cigar prices would soar to help fund the FDA's control over the industry. Cigar boxes would no longer be collectible pieces of art and instead be covered in warnings. Nicotine levels in cigars would be reduced to near zero, severely impacting the flavor of your favorite cigars. Free cigar samples and cigar branded merchandise would also likely be banned. However, there is still time to fight for your right to smoke the cigars we all love so much. There are 4 easy, simple steps we can all do to help: The FIRST is by signing the petition asking President Obama to prevent the FDA from regulating the cigar industry. Please help us to push the current White House petition over the top. We'd LOVE to have OUR customers push the petition well over 30,000 signatures. The petition was hand delivered to Vice President Biden when he was in Orlando last week. Let's show the White House that we mean business! Step 1: SIGN THE WHITE HOUSE PETITION HERE The Second and Third steps are to contact your members of Congress and ask them to consider supporting Senate Bill 1461 and it's companion House Resolution 1639. These letters are automatically adjusted based upon your local politicians support and stance on these bills. Step 2: To contact your local Senator please use this link. Step 3: To contact your local Representative please use this link. The Fourth way you can help is to join the Cigar Rights of America. Joining Cigar Rights of America costs only $35 for one year and includes 2 Limited Edition Cigars and a 6 month membership to Cigar Insider published by Cigar Aficionado as well as a subscription to Cigar Patriot and much more. Most importantly membership in the CRA will make you among one of the most informed cigar smokers in your group. We NEED to FIGHT BACK. Join the Fight with the CRA. Step 4: Join CRA today! Use this link for more information."
nikesupremedunk Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Please tell me this is a joke...might as well change our name to the Communist States of America then... It's already ridiculous in NYC with all the stupid bans by damn bloomberg...can't smoke in bars, can't smoke in parks, and now this? Cmon...
asudevil08 Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Not sure about the rest of the country, but I know that in Arizona virtually all of our reps are on the side of the cigar smoker. I've received multiple letters in the mail from multiple state reps sharing their stance with regard to smokers rights. Arizona does tend to be on the forefront of pissing people off though. We'll see.
bbeberle Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Just another way for the Govt. to grab more control over the population. I personally visit and smoke at my local cigar shop atleast 3 times a week. Even if it does pass...there will always be a way.
BradNC Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Don't know if I can post the link here but it is on the cigar rights of america home page.
ptrthgr8 Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 I joined the CRA last year. Had to do it since it was really the first really organized group for this purpose. Cheers, Greg Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using Tapatalk 2.
cckandb24 Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Trust me, President Obummer is all for ending the rights of US citizens, I do support these bills and the CRA, but giving the signed petition to our Communist in Chief will not accomplish anything. They would probabally wipe their butts with it.
ThatAlfonso Posted June 26, 2012 Posted June 26, 2012 Not sure about the rest of the country, but I know that in Arizona virtually all of our reps are on the side of the cigar smoker. I've received multiple letters in the mail from multiple state reps sharing their stance with regard to smokers rights. Arizona does tend to be on the forefront of pissing people off though. We'll see. Well put.
smpf67 Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 So sad for us. All our personal liberties are being destroyed or taken from us by fiat!
Orion21 Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 I heard this one today, which I loved: "When the Government is going out of business there is no telling what they will do to stay in business"
Puros Y Vino Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 You Americans. Do what you can to stop this. Don't sit idly by. Frenchkiwi outlined some ways to combat this. However, he left out the links. Put them in there!! I'm Canadian, otherwise I'd put my name to this as well. Good luck.
Ginseng Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Trust me, President Obummer is all for ending the rights of US citizens, I do support these bills and the CRA, but giving the signed petition to our Communist in Chief will not accomplish anything. They would probabally wipe their butts with it. Really? What on earth does that even mean? I wouldn't know where to even try to start a discussion based on this. FWIW, do give the CRA a look, guys. They're one of the few specialist cigar advocacy groups working for us here in the States. Maybe the only one...that counts, at least. Wilkey
IcedCanuck Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Trust me, President Obummer is all for ending the rights of US citizens, I do support these bills and the CRA, but giving the signed petition to our Communist in Chief will not accomplish anything. They would probabally wipe their butts with it.
canadianbeaver Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Is this regulating the cigars produced IN America, like Tatuaje etc, or once they are imported into the USA? How can they legislate what goes on in Cuba for example? And in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Honduras, the Dominican, Nicaragua etc, is this not irrelevant? I totally understand the CRA petition and I will sign, fight for the rights etc, but who do they think they are kidding? Kind of like gun control?
Ginseng Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Lisa, Unless I'm mistaken, there's very little that is actually produced on American soil. I'm going to do a bit more reading to find out the details of what this is specifically targeting. Wilkey
canadianbeaver Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 I think so too... Is a Connecticut wrapper really grown in Connecticut any more? Are they targeting Colts and other cigarillos more?
habanos1972 Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Please tell me this is a joke...might as well change our name to the Communist States of America then... It's already ridiculous in NYC with all the stupid bans by damn bloomberg...can't smoke in bars, can't smoke in parks, and now this? Cmon... Can't even call us the communist states of America, last time I checked every other free country and communist countries in the world can smoke Cuban cigars.
Phillycyclocross Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 This is nothing new. They have this proposal for awhile now. It's good to keep on top of the legislation in this country. I've signed the petition, written letters to my senator and congressmen, and spoken to both on the phone. Still I have 0 faith either will take the side of their constituents. More likely they will choose to vote based on their financial backers or based on some other political wrangling to stay in office. Politicians have been corrupt since the Romans era and they aren't about to change now. I'll stop now before I go on a tyrade about our legislators.
ptrthgr8 Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 Is this regulating the cigars produced IN America, like Tatuaje etc, or once they are imported into the USA? How can they legislate what goes on in Cuba for example? And in Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Honduras, the Dominican, Nicaragua etc, is this not irrelevant? It's actually rather simple. The FDA would simply decree that any cigars sold in the US would be required to meet the criteria they have set. If Arturo Fuente or Alec Bradley or whoever else wants their cigars sold in the US market, they would have to comply. If they don't want to comply, they won't be sold in the US. Boxes and branding - I suppose the onus for removal of the "offensive" bits could be placed upon the retailer/wholesaler in the US, but knowing Mordor on the Potomac as well I as do, I suspect the FDA would actually decree that any cigars imported into the US would be forced to meet those requirements before they'd be allowed to come in. So, again, it would be up to the factories to decide if the effort was worth it. Banned types/flavors of cigars would simply be banned. Gone. I totally understand the CRA petition and I will sign, fight for the rights etc, but who do they think they are kidding? Kind of like gun control? It’s not too dissimilar from some of the federales’ anti-gun tactics, really. I.e. I can no longer purchase an AK, FAL, CETME, HK, Galil, Uzi, or any other number of semi-automatic rifles built by factories overseas. (Been that way since 1990.) In order to be sold/purchased in the US, those rifles are now required to contain 10 US-made parts. Many manufacturers have gotten around the 922r compliance requirements by importing the rifles from overseas (they have special licenses that allow them to do that), tearing the rifles apart, making their own US-made receiver (often far lesser quality than the original receiver) and then putting the parts back together again and calling it a new US-made rifle. (The BATFE considers the receiver to be the “firearm” itself.) That's an intentional over-simplification of the process to demonstrate the dumbness of everything. It would be like Arturo Fuente shipping their cigars into the US to whoever, then whoever tearing the wrapper of the cigars, rolling the internals with a wrapper grown here in the US, and then calling it a US-made cigar. Less gov’t is good gov’t. Cheers, ~ Greg ~
canadianbeaver Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 Thank you for this insightful clarification. I guess what I was getting at is I can buy plenty of wonderful Non Cuban or real Cuban cigars from the USA right now and have them sent to me in Canada, and we all know that it is not the NRA that has problems with gun control.
ptrthgr8 Posted June 29, 2012 Posted June 29, 2012 Thank you for this insightful clarification. I guess what I was getting at is I can buy plenty of wonderful Non Cuban or real Cuban cigars from the USA right now and have them sent to me in Canada, and we all know that it is not the NRA that has problems with gun control. Well, I suppose that's certainly true - there's always a way to get something the gov't doesn't want you to have. Well, as long as it's produced somewhere (anywhere) and you're willing to pay whatever it costs to get it to you. ~ Greg ~
frenchkiwi Posted June 30, 2012 Author Posted June 30, 2012 Sorry copy-paste didn't work for the links, damned forum, had to re-do each one manually... all done now!
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