Oz Packaging

[garbandz]

http://www.botl.org/threads/australian-cubans.88400/

 

This is scary.............

[LordAnubis]

Sadly it is the reality for us in Australia. London has also begun plain packaging cigarettes.

[JohnS]

Yes, I understand Pacific Cigar Company complies for the Australian market with the Olive Green plain packaging and band. As Mus has stated above, it will come soon to the English Market and it probably is only a matter of time until other worldwide markets comply. Sad indeed!  

[Shaunster]

Cigars and pipe tobacco actually got an exemption from plain packaging in the UK.

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[gweilgi]

Clearly, this is an urgent matter to protect the poor helpless huddled masses of Australian citizens from taking up the pernicious habit of smoking superior cigars.  After all, it is generally known and accepted that the only reason anyone starts to smoke cigars is because the bands look so pretty!  The government, being fair-minded, rational and reasonable, must of course have impeccable scientific evidence that absent these deterrent measures, literally millions of Aussies will drop their tongs, desert their barbies, jump into their utes and race down to their nearest Cignall to purchase a pretty shiny smoky thing at a cost of $40 each!  In a country where we are encouraged by the media and industry at every turn and with all the glossy production values at their disposal to drink ourselves onto the liver transplant list at Vinnie's and gorge ourselves into a gloriously obese early death, we simply MUST be protected from vile cigars at any cost!  And of course these policy decisions have nothing at all to do with the survival instinct of our statesmanlike beloved leaders who know full well what would happen if they were to wrap wine and beet bottles in green and sell them at $50 a bottle...  

 

Alex, also does persiflage, facetiousness and cynicism on request.

[LordAnubis]

To be honest, i don't mind "plain packaging". I don't like the diseased lung on the packet though.

[Pixa]

Yes, I understand Pacific Cigar Company complies for the Australian market with the Olive Green plain packaging and band. As Mus has stated above, it will come soon to the English Market and it probably is only a matter of time until other worldwide markets comply. Sad indeed!  

The UK plain packaging only applies to cigarettes and rolling tobacco

[JohnS]

3 hours ago, Shaunster said:

Cigars and pipe tobacco actually got an exemption from plain packaging in the UK.

 

2 hours ago, Pixa said:

The UK plain packaging only applies to cigarettes and rolling tobacco

Yes, the UK got an exemption, but the recent history of anti-tobacco legislation worldwide suggests, at least to me, that it's only a matter of time until all tobacco products are plain packaged in the UK and other countries. In Australia, cigar consumption is something like 0.002% of all tobacco sales yet was not exempted. Enjoy the exemption-free period while you can.

[Pixa]

Yes, the UK got an exemption, but the recent history of anti-tobacco legislation worldwide suggests, at least to me, that it's only a matter of time until all tobacco products are plain packaged in the UK and other countries. In Australia, cigar consumption is something like 0.002% of all tobacco sales yet was not exempted. Enjoy the exemption-free period while you can.

They never got a exemption. The government chose to include this exemption. As the legislation was brought down from EU. Also UK already makes it illegal to display tobacco for sale. All small shop humidors are frosted can't really see them removing the exemption anytime soon. No reason too and all the cigar smokers in House of Lords would not let it pass anyway

[Fugu]

I fear John is right here. Matter of time....

[oliverdst]

15 minutes ago, Fugu said:

I fear John is right here. Matter of time....

And soon FOH will have to be hosted in a small freaking 3 world country server because it will be forbidden even talk about cigars.

[JohnS]

24 minutes ago, Pixa said:

They never got a exemption. The government chose to include this exemption. As the legislation was brought down from EU. Also UK already makes it illegal to display tobacco for sale. All small shop humidors are frosted can't really see them removing the exemption anytime soon. No reason too and all the cigar smokers in House of Lords would not let it pass anyway

 

I'm not clear on what you mean by "not getting an exemption, the Government chose to include this exemption". Do you mean the Tobacco industry did not lobby for an exemption, rather the Government did? I can understand the argument that cigars and pipe-smoking do not appeal to minors (i.e. those under 18) and account for less than 1% of sales in the UK. For me, this makes sense, however, I have every bit of faith that these same politicians will go one step further in the future, when the Anti-Smoking lobby presses a little harder, and issue a ban on all branding on all tobacco products. Ireland has done so and Canada is in the process of making changes, with the preliminary step being public consultation. 

"The UK makes it illegal to display tobacco for sale". Yes, Australia introduced this in 2010 and plain packaging came in December 2012.

I do hope that the UK continues to allow branding on cigars, yet I fear for the future that things will change.

[Shaunster]

Provision was included in the UK law to enable plain packing in the future of cigars and pipe tobacco actually. hopefully these health zealots will stay away but its doubtfull, their endgame is a tobacco free world.... personally I would never buy a plain packaged cigar, the bands and boxes are all part of the appeal of a good cigar.

[BuzzArd]

19 minutes ago, Shaunster said:

...personally I would never buy a plain packaged cigar, the bands and boxes are all part of the appeal of a good cigar.

Which is the whole point of plain packaging. 

[Shaunster]

4 minutes ago, BuzzArd said:

Which is the whole point of plain packaging. 

Indeed it is, and it would work on me.... but then I cant afford the UK prices anyway and prefer the boxes without warning labels for my display 

[PigFish]

How did any of you survive without the help of the central planners? Musta' been blind luck! Just think about how fortunate you are to have people telling you how to live so you don't hurt yourself... 

Lets see... you are too damned stupid to responsibly smoke a cigar, yet smart enough to vote or you get fined... Now that is freedom!

Remember boys and girls, potty break is at 10 and nappy time is right after that...

I don't know if the process of 'tar and feather' was ever popular in Oz, but I think that it should be.

-Piggy

[canadianbeaver]

3 hours ago, JohnS said:

 Ireland has done so and Canada is in the process of making changes, with the preliminary step being public consultation. 

"The UK makes it illegal to display tobacco for sale". 

Me in Dublin this summer. Don't know who has better branding... me or Dublin

[PigFish]

The brick and mortar stores days are numbered. Soon you will simply buy tobacco (around the tariffs) via conduits to other counties. I cannot even fathom how stupid a concept this is... And people blame the business owner for 'going offshore.' If this is not a classic example of the twisted mind of the leftist I cannot find one...

God save us from the left!

-the Pig

[canadianbeaver]

Fly to Dublin and go see that guy. E-mail him first. Yiorgos has this pile of stuff to show that is historic and will blow your mind. Then go out for dinner with Yiorgos and Andrew, who is a moderator here.

You will be blessed and have such a great time. Only bummer is tax on that stuff is like Canada

[Fugu]

5 hours ago, PigFish said:

The brick and mortar stores days are numbered.

I don't think so, ...well, ...hope not, ok perhaps just wishful thinking. But it would be a real shame, let's all help and contribute that that won't ever happen. That's actually the heart and soul of the business - provided a good shop with knowledgeable staff. And the only way to still be able to self-assess the quality of cigars. An advantage important as never before, as you just stated in a parallel thread, Piggy. I still buy a lot in my home B&M(s), am well known with the owners since years, love the atmosphere of that well-appointed shop and can check boxes as I like (not just for wrapper qual but for construction as well...). And I can even return plugged sticks after cutting, in fact even after lighting and partially smoking! (which I never made use of....).

[canadianbeaver]

Here's a ?. How could the B&M be numbered when the Habanos industry owns the LCDH's all over the world?

[Fugu]

True indeed.... but even HSA has no say in the public health sector....

[PigFish]

1 minute ago, canadianbeaver said:

Here's a ?. How could the B&M be numbered when the Habanos industry owns the LCDH's all over the world?

Politicians worldwide don't mind chasing any business off that does not maintain a political ideal. Please don't ask me to get into specifics here or the whole thread will go up in smoke...

The point being, no cigar store is going to survive an all out onslaught of legal and monetary impositions on it. You board up the doors and windows (plain packaging) eliminate local smoking (at the city level) impose further restrictions, tariffs and boundaries on smoking.... and the business folds up...

Business stay in business as long as they make money. LCdH are franchises, am I right? Cuba wants its money hook or by crook! The landlord, he/she wants his money too. The tax man, well he gets his first...

When the customer says, "I am not paying $40 (put your own limit here in your currency) for a PC," the doors close.

No one is going to 'bailout' the cigar store owner! As long as people vote left for whatever their reasons, tobacco will be in the crosshairs. Taxes and laws will increase (just look at history) and doors will shudder.

Tobacco is becoming a 'black market' commodity. Just ask anyone in the US who smokes Cuban cigars... or any Canadian or Australian who mail orders!

I salute my friends who support their local retailer. Perhaps the reality of the economics involved have not hit you hard enough yet; good for you! Yet I have suggested more than once that cigar smoking is not just for the rich and famous. Without the everyday "Joe" buying cigars the retail model as we see it now will fail. Will rich people always be able to get what they want? Sure! But when the boundary lines of opportunities for new people to try and afford cigars become opaque, the industry is done for. Done for, for the vast amount of smokers anyway...

JMHO! -Piggy

[LGC]

As smoking is made illegal, more and more businesses will continue to close their doors. As cigar purchases become less and less attractive due to packaging, a drop in sales will lead to more businesses closing shop. Could you imagine paying for your Cohiba if they came packaged in a bundle without a fancy box or bands?

[Colt45]

1 hour ago, Brandon said:

Could you imagine paying for your Cohiba if they came packaged in a bundle without a fancy box or bands?

I guess that's the beauty of it for the Cuban cigar industry - the end packaging, at least for now, is not their concern.