**SERIOUSLY?**

[akujunkan]

Are cloves and bidis really illegal Stateside now? Seriously?

Way to add one more tiny addition to the list of Reasons Why I Should Stay in Asia, idiots.

That will be all.

Comments

[shoebucket.livejournal.com]

Ooh - breaking news: it only impacts "cigarettes", so this company is thinking they can get around it by offering "filtered cigars" (same company that imports Djarum), which aren't covered by the ban: see here

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Which is a silver lining, but the point is, people who want to smoke clove cigarettes want to smoke clove cigarettes, not cigars.

This legislation pisses me off so much because it is fucktarded on every level. It won't decrease the number of smokers, because I don't know anyone who smokes cloves as a primary cigarette. Will it stop kids from smoking (which is their half-assed excuse for the ban)? No, because when it comes down to a cheapass pack of Lucky Strikes or an $8.50 pack of Djarums, what do you think kids are going to pick? Also, if you want to cut down on underage smokers, start by banning the cigarettes you don't have to go to a specialty tobacco shop to purchase.

The fact that the legislation explicitly exempts menthols from the flavored cigarettes category just goes to show that this is a sop being handed to Big Tobacco instead of any serious effort to cut down on smokers. So effing own up to it, Obama. You aren't fooling anyone.

Sorry for the bile. It's just that a) I think there's better things this administration could be doing with its time than giving handouts to Philip Morris, and b) if I'm going to be around smokers, I at least want the smoke to smell nice.

[bran420-7.livejournal.com]

Remember though, as bad as it sounds, that cloves aren't smoked by a majority of one race or ethnicity *ahem...menthols and African American culture* and you know the company just couldn't afford to give up on the marketing of one whole demographic. Even Obama smoked menthols.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Ooh, very true. I hadn't considered that angle. But it doesn't change the fact that this legislation has accomplished nothing. If Obama et.al. want to "get tough" on smoking, then they should fucking grow some balls and get tough on it, not hand a favor to Big Tobacco while patting themselves on the back for a useless law that, if it does anything, will send casual smokers into the arms of the cigarette companies.

[bran420-7.livejournal.com]

FOR THE WIN HONEY!