R.J. Reynolds’ cigarette shipment volume

For the second quarter and the first half, higher pricing, lower promotional expense and additional productivity gains, including those from last year’s restructuring at R.J. Reynolds, more than offset the impact of lower cigarette volume, higher pension and legal expense, and MSA costs.
“R.J. Reynolds’ cigarette shipment volume fell 6.0 percent in the second quarter compared with an industry decline of 4.1 percent. That performance was significantly better than the first quarter, largely due to strong Pall Mall volume, as well as trade inventories returning to more normal levels after the federal tax increase,” said Daniel M. Delen, the company’s chairman, president and chief executive.
The company’s first-half cigarette volume decline of 8.1 percent was slightly higher than the industry decline of 7.1 percent.
R.J. Reynolds’ growth brands, Camel and Pall Mall, delivered a strong second-quarter cigarette market share gain of 2.6 percentage points, bringing their combined share to 12.7 percent. That drove the company’s total cigarette market share to 28.7 percent, up 0.4 percentage points.
Camel, the company’s flagship brand, continued to perform well, with a second-quarter total-tobacco market share of 7.8 percent, up 0.3 percentage points over the prior-year quarter.
Camel Crush, which uses R.J. Reynolds’ innovative capsule technology to offer smokers the choice of regular or menthol with each cigarette, posted market share of 0.6 percent in the second quarter even though it has received relatively low promotional support since its national introduction in the third quarter of 2008.
Camel Snus was expanded nationally in the first quarter and continues to gain awareness and trial. The company is also moving forward with its innovative line of dissolvable tobacco products. Camel Orbs went into three lead markets in the first quarter and will be joined by Camel Sticks and Camel Strips this summer.
Pall Mall, R.J. Reynolds’ other growth brand, performed extremely well in the second quarter, with continued high levels of trial and conversion. Its second-quarter market share rose 2.6 percentage points from the prior-year period, to 5.2 percent.
“Pall Mall is a high-quality, longer-lasting cigarette at an attractive price, so it’s particularly appealing in today’s economic environment,” Delen said. “The brand’s most recent promotional period, which coincided with the federal excise tax increase, was widely welcomed by adult smokers as they reevaluated brand choices in light of higher prices. The promotion ended in late May and many of the adult smokers who tried the brand are sticking with Pall Mall.”

Policies to prevent public subsidy of tobacco imagery in youthrated films

Film producers are by no means automatically entitled to public subsidies.
They must apply for them and meet a state’s particular requirements, which are
often quite stringently designed to minimize abuse of these programs. Eligibility
procedures in different states require applicants to submit shooting scripts,
production budgets, and day‐by‐day production schedules for state review before
shooting begins; prove the residency of crew members; contribute to local
educational and training programs; and supply the state with certified accounts
after production. States may require producers and directors to be interviewed, in
person, by program staff before an eligibility ruling. Many states require an
acknowledgment in the film’s final credits; some specify precise wording or size.

Most states disqualify certain kinds of media productions from subsidies,
such as: news, weather, and sports programs; reality shows and daytime TV;
political commercials and digital gambling projects. All except Louisiana and Puerto
Rico specifically disqualify obscene material, the definition referring either to a state
statute or to the federal age‐recording requirements for performers in sexually
explicit material.

States often allow for administrative discretion in the final decision about
which films to subsidize, based on general economic benefits to the state or, as in
Texas and Utah, how the film portrays the state’s citizens. In Georgia, “NC‐1717 or
unrated movies may not qualify at the sole discretion of the [Georgia Film Office].”
Also, projects “determined not to have positive marketing value for the State and
which are deemed not beneficial to the State of Georgia's branding initiatives and
goals" may be denied use of the “Georgia Entertainment Promotion” logo and the
additional 10 percent tax credit that goes along with it. Florida offers a bonus 2
percent tax credit to “family friendly” films, as determined by “review of the script
and an interview with the director.”

Florida states:
Family‐friendly productions are those that have cross‐generational appeal;
would be considered suitable for viewing by children age 5 and older; are
appropriate in theme, content, and language for a broad family audience;
embody a responsible resolution of issues; and do not exhibit any act of
smoking, sex, nudity, or vulgar or profane language.

Recovery memory suppression

It’s normal to slowly grow complacent during the
months and years after ending nicotine use. Complacency is fueled by quickly failing
memories of the daily captivity stress factors that compelled us to seek freedom. It’s also
fueled by an inability to recall the intensity of early withdrawal anxieties, the power of
cue triggered crave episodes or the duration of conscious fixation.

Most of us failed to keep a detailed record of why we commenced recovery or what those
first two weeks were like. Without a record to remind us, we are forced to rely upon our
memory to accurately and vividly preserve the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth. But now, the memory in which we placed our trust has failed us.
It isn’t that our memory is bad, faulty or doing anything wrong. In fact, it’s working as
designed to preserve in as much detail as possible the joyful events of life, while
suppressing and helping us forget life’s stressful events, anxieties, trauma and pain. To
do otherwise would make life inside these minds unbearable. In fact, post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) is believed to reflect a breakdown in the mind’s ability to forget.396
If women were forced to remember the agony and pain of childbirth, most would likely
have just one. We are each blessed with the ability to forget.
So how does the recovered nicotine addict who failed to record their journey home revive
their passion for freedom and recall liberty's price? If we forget the past are we destined
to repeat it? Not necessarily. But just as any loving relationship needs nourishment to
flourish, we should not take our recovery for granted or the flame could eventually die
and the fire go out. It’s my dream to protect my freedom until that final breath. If you
feel the same then we need to nourish our desires. If we do, we win. If not, we risk
complacency allowing nicotine back into our bloodstream. We risk dying as slaves.
Whether daily, monthly or just once a year, our recovery benefits from care. But where
do we turn if our recovery memories have been suppressed and we have kept no record?
Our best resource is probably our brothers and sisters still in bondage. Why not enlist
their help in revitalizing our own memories of active dependency? Talk to them. Let
them know what you seek. Encourage them to be as candid and truthful as possible.
Although it may look like they’re enjoying their addiction, their primary objective is to
stay one step ahead of insula driven urges and craves. Tell them the truth about where
you now find yourself. Although not always the case, with most you’ll find their
responses inspiring. Be kind and sincere. It wasn't long ago that those were our shoes.
Try hard to recall those first two weeks without nicotine. Think about earlier uneducated
attempts. What were they like? Can you recall your mind begging to be fed? Feel the
anxieties. Were you able to concentrate? How was your sleep? Did you feel depressed,
angry, irritable, frustrated, restless or anxious? Were there rapidly cycling emotions,
irrational thinking or emotional outbursts? Do you remember these things? Do you
remember the price you paid? Do you recall the reasons you willingly paid it?
We can go on-line if we have access to a computer, visit scores of smoking cessation
support groups and find thousands of battles being fought, hear a multitude of cries and
watch hundreds struggling for survival as they dream of the calmness and quiet you now
call home. They cannot begin to imagine traveling so far that remembering their turmoil
becomes the greatest challenge of all.
If permitted, send a message to those in need. The most important thing you can tell
them is the truth about why you came. If still in the first few days they may be facing
hurricane anxieties. Their mind may have them convinced that their emotional storm will
never end. Don’t pretend that you can feel their anxiety. Instead give them what they
need, the truth! Let them know that you’ve traveled so far that it’s now hard to relate.
Tell them how comfortable and complacent you’ve grown. Describe last week and how
many seconds, if any, that you devoted to thinking about using. Fear of the unknown is
frightening. Teach them what life on Easy Street is like. By aiding them we aid
ourselves.
It may be that complacency has you at a point where thoughts of wanting are again taking
root. But think back. How long had you gone without wanting? If it is happening,
rekindling pride in the amazing journey you once made may silence such chatter. If not
I’d encourage you to re-read Chapters 3 and 12, as I suspect that you’ve either developed
a romantic fixation with using or failed to let go of one during recovery.

The Bigger the Better

Although the above crave episode chart reflects averages of quitter data from a specific
study of a unique population, it shows two factors common to every recovery. It
evidences the fact that the number of daily crave episodes quickly peaks. It also shows
that the number then begins to gradually decline. I’d like to spend a moment focusing
upon natural consequences associated with the decline.
Unless following the bum advice portion of “Clearing the Air” and hiding in a closet in
order to avoid temptation, locked up in prison, or laid up in a hospital room, we have
no choice but to meet and extinguish the bulk of our subconscious feeding cues within
the first week. The number and frequency of early challenges kept us on our toes and
prepared to swing into action and confront challenge on a moment’s notice.
As the crave episode chart a few pages back shows, by the 10th day the average exuser
was experiencing just 1.4 crave episodes per day. That translates to less than five
minutes of significant challenge. But what about the days that follow? What would be
the natural and expected consequences of beginning to go entire days without once
encountering an un-reconditioned crave trigger? What will happen to anticipation, your
preparedness, your defenses and battle plans once you experience a day or two without
serious challenge?
For purposes of discussion only, let’s pretend that during recovery days 14, 15 and 16
that although you remained occupied in dealing with what at times seemed like a
steady stream of conscious thoughts about “wanting” to use nicotine, that you did not
encounter any un-extinguished feeding cues. Although unlikely you’d have noticed,
wouldn't it be normal to begin to relax a bit and slowly lower your defenses and guard?
And then it happens. Assume that on day 17 you encounter a subconscious crave
triggering cue that wasn’t part of normal daily life. It catches you totally unprepared,
off-guard and surprised. You scramble to muster your defenses but it’s as if you can’t
find them, that they too are being swallowed by a fast moving tsunami of rising
anxieties. You feel as if you’ve been sucker-punched hard by the most intense crave
ever. It feels endless. Your conscious thinking mind tells you that things are getting
worse, not better. The thought of throwing in the towel and giving-up suddenly begins
sloshing through a horrified mind.

Tobacco Tax Proposed to Fund Medicaid

More people are turning towards Utah's Medicaid program at a time when there's fewer dollars to go around. Since the recession began, the program has seen a 20 percent enrollment increase. The program went from 160,000 participants to 200,000 participants. "What Medicaid does in times like this is it catches those people who can't get health care coverage on their own anymore," said Lincoln Nehring, Utah's Medicaid Policy Director.

A new report by the Utah Health Policy Project made several recommendations as to how the state can not only save money but raise revenue for Medicaid. The report suggests the state work harder at preventing Medicaid fraud, revise the program's preferred drug list, and increase tobacco taxes from 70 cents per cigarette pack to two dollars per pack.

"If you look long term for the state of Medicaid, a tobacco tax increase will probably serve the program and the health of Utahns well." says Nehring.

Last year, a similar tax increase failed, but Medicaid advocates believe the state's current budget deficit will force lawmakers to act.

Top senate leadership responded to the tobacco tax idea. Senator Wayne Neiderhouser says he doesn't think it will solve Medicaid's problem in the long term. He would only support a tobacco tax increase if the money went towards Utah's tobacco trust fund.

Senator Michael Waddoups says the plan would likely have enough votes to pass the senate, but only if the governor approves.

Malawi Deports Universal

Malawi, the world’s largest burley tobacco producer, said it will deport officials of Alliance One Inc. and the local unit of Universal Corp. for paying below government-mandated prices for the leaf.

“This is the action I have taken,” President Bingu wa Mutharika said in a speech broadcast live on the state-owned Malawi Broadcasting Corp. radio station today. “They have been defying my orders to pay better prices and I have decided to chase them.”

The government yesterday revoked temporary work permits for officials of Alliance One, Universal-unit Limbe Leaf Tobacco, and Premium Tama Tobacco Co., and issued them with 24-hour deportation orders.

Karen Whelan, spokeswoman for Richmond, Virginia-based Universal, didn’t immediately return a message left on her office phone. Henry Babb, a spokesman for Morrisville, North Carolina-based Alliance One, didn’t return a message left at his office. A receptionist at Premium Tama’s Lilongwe office said Managing Director Tom Malata isn’t available to comment.

Malawi started setting minimum prices for the various grades of tobacco two years ago after it accused merchants of putting farmers out of business. While dealers denied that they underpaid farmers, Wa Mutharika on April 6 threatened to deport buyers if prices didn’t improve.

‘Can’t Allow It’

“They have been telling our farmers to grow better quality leaf and yet what they are buying at the auction floors is the low quality tobacco,” he said today. “They have been doing this deliberately to accuse the farmers of producing low quality leaf and paying them less. I can’t allow that.”

This season Malawi set a price of $2.15 a kilogram (2.2 pounds) for burley tobacco and $3.09 a kilogram for flue-cured tobacco. Tobacco Control Commission Chief Executive Officer Bruce Munthali on Sept. 4 reported to the government that buyers were ignoring these prices, the president said today.

The southern African nation relies on sales of the leaf for 60 percent of its export earnings. Burley tobacco is a lower- grade variety of the leaf used to fill cigarettes flavored with higher-grade flue-cured tobacco.

Malawi is forecast to produce 245 million kilograms (539 million pounds) of burley this year, according to the Web site of Universal. That’s more than double its closest rivals, Brazil and the U.S., and more than a quarter of global output. Flue- cured production of 25 million kilograms is about 0.6 percent of the projected world crop.

Universal, the world’s largest tobacco merchant, owns 58 percent of Limbe Leaf through its Continental unit, with the remainder owned by Press Corp. Ltd. of Malawi, according to Limbe’s Web site.

Calls to the local office of Alliance One in Lilongwe were not answered. A person who answered the phone at Limbe Leaf in the city said Chairman Mathews Chikaonda is the only official authorized to speak to the press and he is unavailable because he’s in China.

Hot air from Big Tobacco

Any company selling products that addict and eventually kill 400,000 customers annually might well be reluctant to point out the health dangers.

So the federal courts should be mighty skeptical when Big Tobacco screams about its First Amendment rights to keep peddling cigarettes without the oversize health warning labels ordered by Congress this year.

With a free-speech lawsuit filed last week, the nation's largest tobacco companies challenged marketing restrictions and a mandate from the Food and Drug Administration to cover the top half of cigarette packages with graphic warnings by next year.

The glaring warnings on cigarette packs are among the directives provided under the FDA's new oversight of tobacco products approved in landmark public-health legislation signed by President Obama in June.

Along with the warning labels and limits on tobacco advertising, the FDA won the right to ban toxic substances in cigarettes and restrict levels of addictive nicotine.

But the trade-off was a major victory for tobacco companies such as giant Philip Morris U.S.A. that assured nicotine would never be banned. And now the industry can market its products as having the FDA's stamp of approval, even though smoking-related illnesses will continue to kill thousands.

Even with those gains in hand, there was little doubt that cigarette makers would try to wriggle out from under the FDA advertising and labeling mandates. In fact, it took just a few months.

For decades, tobacco firms hid the devastating health risks of smoking, made bogus safety claims, and pitched smoking to teens.

Despite that history as a rogue industry, the tobacco companies contend in their lawsuit that tobacco products are legal and, therefore, they have a right to market widely and refuse labels that "stigmatize their own products."

The case likely will reach the Supreme Court, which decisively struck down restrictions on billboard tobacco ads on free speech grounds in 2001. Were the industry's broad legal challenge to succeed, FDA regulation of tobacco would be virtually meaningless.

Maybe Big Tobacco will be able to hide behind the Bill of Rights, but Americans should have a greater right to public-health efforts designed to safeguard them from the deadly ills of smoking.

Tobacco Plant Used to Create First-Ever 'Cruise Ship' Virus Vaccine

As one of the main ingredients in cigarettes, tobacco certainly gets a bad rap.

But the tobacco plant has been used to develop a new vaccine to thwart the dreaded norovirus – an illness that has been know to wreak havoc on cruise ships sickening passengers (sometimes hundreds of passengers) with diarrhea and vomiting.

The vaccine is unique in its origin as it was made in a tobacco plant using an engineered plant virus. Researchers are using plants in the battle against norovirus, swine flu, bird flu, and other infectious diseases, said Dr. Charles Arntzen, speaking Tuesday at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The norovirus, like the flu virus, is constantly changing, which has made creating a vaccine for it challenging for pharmaceutical companies, Arntzen said.

“The recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza virus has once again reminded us of the ability of disease-causing agents to mutate into new and dangerous forms,” he said in a news release.

The norovirus will continue to evolve into new strains, so Arntzen’s team designed a vaccine manufacturing process quick enough to keep up with it and other shape-shifting viruses, he said.

“We think we have a major advantage in using engineered plant viruses to scale-up vaccine manufacture within weeks instead of months,” he said.

While not as dangerous as the flu, norovirus spreads rapidly and can sicken people with diarrhea and vomiting for up to three days.

“It essentially closes down wings of hospitals, schools, day care centers and homes for the elderly. In the case of the military, it can shut down an entire ship and delay military operations while there is a cleanup in process. Because the disease spreads so rapidly, the major economic consequences are caused by the disruption of normal daily life and commerce,” Arntzen said.

To battle each new strain of the norovirus and to keep full resistance to older strains, Arntzen says the vaccine could be administered as a booster every 12 to 18 months. After successful experiments in mice, his team is developing a nasal delivery system for the virus-like particles. Arntzen expects to start clinical trials in late 2009 or early 2010.

Tobacco Maker Names Chairman

British American Tobacco PLC on Wednesday tapped former Bank of Ireland PLC Governor Richard Burrows as its new chairman.

Mr. Burrows will take over from Jan du Plessis, who will become chairman of Rio Tinto PLC, on Nov. 1.

Mr. Burrows resigned from the Bank of Ireland in May, following a troubled fiscal year in which the bank's net profit dropped to €69 million ($97.5 million) from €1.7 billion a year earlier and had to seek €3.5 billion in financial assistance from the Irish government. Mr. Burrows apologized to investors at the time for the loss of shareholder value and the cancellation of the company's dividend.

BAT, meanwhile, demonstrated the resilience of the tobacco industry last month when it posted a 16% rise in first-half net profit to £1.45 billion ($2.4 billion).

Sales of cigarettes are continuing to hold up pretty well in the recession because smokers are reluctant to give up tobacco. Also, any dropoff in volume can be offset with price increases. The company's shares have risen 3.4% in the past year.

Analysts weren't concerned by Mr. Burrows's Bank of Ireland record, concentrating instead on his highly successful career in the fast-moving consumer-goods industry.

He was chief executive of Irish Distillers from 1978 until its takeover by Pernod Ricard SA in 1988. He continued to work within the French drinks company and eventually served as co-chief executive of Pernod Ricard from 2000 to 2005.

The BAT chair is a nonexecutive position, but a higher-profile role than at other similarly sized companies. During his five years in the job, Mr. du Plessis took responsibility for commenting on any political issues -- such as antismoking legislation -- leaving Chief Executive Paul Adams to concentrate on operational matters.

Mr. Burrows will be paid an annual salary of £525,000 and will work a two-day week for BAT. The salary is below the £686,000 Mr. du Plessis received to reflect the short working week, the company said.

Tobacco farming killing food production in West Nile

During the recent Jinja Agricultural Trade Show, I went to the World Food Programme (WFP) stall to find out if our small farmer groups in West Nile can benefit from P4P initiative supported by Bill Gates and Melinda, unaware of the fact that the region is not a beneficiary because of her inability to produce, even feed her own people.

While Food and Agriculture Organisation’s latest estimates put the number of chronically hungry people at 1.02b, up from 915m in 2008, Uganda’s West Nile region isn’t exempt from these global figures save for reasons that force people to go hungry. In an earlier article, I stressed the need for tobacco firms to be socially responsible, well aware of colossal cost we could one day pay for sticking to this cash crop.

Tobacco growing has partly contributed to the famine in West Nile. First and fore most, tobacco growing has led to destruction of forests and fruit trees to the point that the region now faces drought, reduced honey production and general environmental degradation-- a typical example of collapse Jared Diamond talked about in his book ‘Collapse: how Societies choose to Succeed and Fail’ in which he referred to Haitain society that ended up in cannibalism after destroying the vegetation on which their survival depended.

Because tobacco production also requires dedicating labour, land and other resources at the expense of growing subsistence crops, the potential for hunger and starvation is imminent. My estimation is that over one million people are engaged in tobacco value chain in Uganda. According to BAT, there are 17,500 registered tobacco farmers in West Nile. With such a high number of people engaged in tobacco and neglecting food production, what do we expect?

The health effects of tobacco production such as nicotine poisoning, pesticide exposure, respiratory effects, musculoskeletal and other injuries have consumed parts of the household incomes that would have gone to food production and purchase. Planting of eucalyptus with very high transpiration rate has drained a lot of water from the soils. Just imagine how much water has been drained from West Nile soils since the introduction of tobacco in the 1930s if over 100,000 combined farmers plant 100 eucalyptus seedlings each year with each tree sucking about 5 litre a day?

According a study by Prof. Zake of Makerere University, Ugandan soils have lost Nitrogen, Potassium and Calcium minerals. In tobacco growing areas, because of high population pressure, land is never allowed to rest to regain fertility. Remedial-yearly-application of fertilizers to increase tobacco yields seemed to have changed the soil PH, water retention and other properties of the soils thus contributing to the infertility.

In this catastrophe where governments and aid agencies strive to help the starving population, promoters of tobacco have done nothing to rescue their farmers? I thought the dramatic camping of two women with children at Arua Police Station could have sharpened their zeal to help but did it?

Above all, in West Nile, tobacco is grown by the poor, sold at throwaway prices determined by tobacco companies, processed by low-paid workers, sold to the poor and used by the poor, the majority of whom starve, stay poor, get sick while generating wealth for multinationals. With most profits going to middle men (tobacco buyers) and multinationals, farmers are left with no option but starvation after failure to raise enough money to buy food whose production is often ignored.

Sudan now offered unprecedented market and production stimulus for West Nile but this largely remained untapped because farmers opted for tobacco, insisting there is ready market.

The government should inform of seed inputs and subsidies support shift from tobacco to cultivation of other alternative crops with less requirements than tobacco. I also request WFP, as part of P4P initiative, to support tobacco farmers so as to increase food production in Maracha and Terego.

Raising cigarette tax may backfire

Raising Michigan's $2-a-pack cigarette tax another 25 cents -- an idea floated by Gov. Jennifer Granholm -- would generate minimal revenue and encourage more smuggling from other states with lower cigarette taxes, according to a new study.

The report by three economists was commissioned by a lobby group for gas station convenience stores, which plans a news conference today. The study concludes that a 25-cent tax cigarette tax hike -- a 12.5% increase -- would produce 8.5% more in tobacco tax revenue.

The report says the 25-cent tax increase would cost convenience stores a combined $6.5 million because smokers, who buy other things at the stores, would buy fewer cigarettes or shop elsewhere, such as Ohio and Indiana, where tobacco taxes are lower.
State senators' spat won't require discipline

A state Senate investigation into a heated exchange between two members in a Capitol elevator June 17 found insufficient evidence of behavior that would require disciplinary action, Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, announced Monday.

Bishop, in a letter sent to Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman, D-Detroit, said he would not take any formal action against Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, whom Clark-Coleman had accused of acting in a threatening manner during an argument over state spending.

The investigation by Senate staff concluded that there was little evidence beyond Clark-Coleman's assertion.

Shands Healthcare plan to go tobacco-free

Patients, visitors and employees at the University of Florida Health Science Center campus and Shands HealthCare facilities throughout north central Florida are going Tobacco-Free Together, officials announced today (Aug. 4).

As of Nov. 1, the use of cigarettes or other tobacco products in any of the Health Science Center, Shands or UF Physicians buildings and parking lots, or in vehicles in these areas, will not be permitted. UF plans to implement the policy on its main campus in July 2010.

“Going tobacco-free on our health-care campuses is the right thing to do for our patients and visitors — and for each other,” said Dr. David S. Guzick, UF’s senior vice president for health affairs and president of the UF&Shands Health System. “Coinciding with Tobacco-Free Together will be the opening of the Shands Cancer Hospital at UF, which reflects our commitment to the prevention and treatment of cancer.”

The new rule mainly affects a few designated outdoor smoking and tobacco-use areas and the properties surrounding Health Science Center and Shands HealthCare facilities. Smoking and tobacco use are already prohibited indoors.

“The decision to have tobacco-free campuses systemwide supports our commitment to providing a healthy environment for our patients and to improving health in our communities,” said Tim Goldfarb, chief executive officer of Shands HealthCare. “We not only provide outstanding medical treatment and patient care, but also work hard to promote wellness and disease prevention.”

Tobacco dependence is the nation’s most preventable cause of death and disease, including cancer, heart disease and stroke. Nationally, tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths or an estimated 440,000 deaths per year, according to the Florida Hospital Association. That’s approximately 1,200 people each day — more than deaths caused by alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, homicide, suicide, car crashes, fires and AIDS combined. Currently, one out of every seven adults hospitalized at Shands at UF is treated for cancer or cancer-related illnesses.

Throughout Florida, more than 70 hospitals support the Florida Department of Health’s “Tobacco Free Florida” campaign and have tobacco-free campuses. Shands Jacksonville and the UF Health Science Center-Jacksonville went completely tobacco-free last November.

The Health Science Center and Shands HealthCare are providing information and resources to assist employees, patients and visitors who would like to break the habit. A wide selection of counseling services, self-help materials and medicines are available to help smokers and tobacco-users quit successfully. More information is available at www.tobaccofree.health.ufl.edu.

The University of Florida Health Science Center — the most comprehensive academic health center in the Southeast — is dedicated to high-quality programs of education, research, patient care and public service. The Health Science Center encompasses the colleges of Dentistry, Public Health and Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine, as well as the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and an academic campus in Jacksonville offering graduate education programs in dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy. Patient care activities, under the banner UF&Shands, are provided through teaching hospitals and a network of clinics in Gainesville and Jacksonville. The Health Science Center also has a statewide presence through satellite medical, dental and nursing clinics staffed by UF health professionals; and affiliations with community-based health-care facilities stretching from Hialeah and Miami to the Florida Panhandle.

Philip Morris, Reynolds Top Analyst Profit Estimates

Philip Morris International Inc., the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company, and Reynolds American Inc., the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, reported second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and raised their 2009 earnings forecasts.

Higher prices helped Philip Morris, the maker of top- selling Marlboro cigarettes, earn 83 cents a share excluding some items, beating the average analyst estimate of 77 cents. Reynolds’ profit of $1.29 a share topped analysts’ expectations by 13 cents.

Philip Morris and Reynolds joined Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. tobacco company, in saying price increases contributed to earnings and helped counter declining or little- changed shipments. Altria reported second-quarter earnings yesterday that also exceeded analysts’ projections.

“Everybody’s pricing has been impressive and shows the resilience of the tobacco space,’‘ Brian Barish, who manages Philip Morris and Altria shares at Cambiar Investors, said today in an e-mail. The Denver-based firm oversees $4.7 billion.

Philip Morris advanced $2.14, or 4.9 percent, to $46.02 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have risen 5.8 percent this year. Reynolds gained $1.04, or 2.5 percent, to $42.22.

Net income at New York-based Philip Morris, which generates all of its revenue outside of the U.S., fell 8.6 percent to $1.55 billion, or 79 cents a share, in the second quarter from $1.69 billion, or 80 cents, a year earlier. Revenue declined 8.9 percent to $15.2 billion.

Philip Morris Forecast

Higher prices in Argentina, Germany, Russia and other major markets added to Philip Morris’ earnings while shipments of 223.2 billion cigarettes were little changed.

The company said currency fluctuations will hurt earnings less than it anticipated this year. It expects to earn $3.10 to $3.20 this year, higher than its February forecast of $2.85 to $3 a share.

Some analysts such as Christopher Growe of Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in St. Louis already raised their full-year expectations because of currency changes, pushing the average estimate to $3.11 a share.

The higher forecast “should bolster investor confidence that Philip Morris can sustain its solid underlying business momentum,’‘ Judy Hong, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst in New York, wrote today in a note to clients. She recommends buying the stock.

Through yesterday, the U.S. currency had fallen over the past month against all 16 most-traded currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The dollar’s decline helps revenue by increasing the value of overseas sales when converted to the U.S. currency.

Reynolds Earnings

Reynolds, based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said higher prices countered a 6 percent drop in shipments in the second quarter to 22.4 billion cigarettes.

Camel’s share of U.S. cigarette sales remained unchanged at 7.5 percent, while Pall Mall‘s share rose 2.6 percentage points to 5.2 percent. Reynolds’ total market share increased to 28.7 percent.

Reynolds “gained market share at the retail level, the first time in many years that the company was able to accomplish this,’‘ Thilo Wrede, a Credit Suisse analyst in New York, wrote today in a note to clients. He rates the stock as “neutral’‘ and said promotions contributed to the market share gain.

The company’s smokeless tobacco unit increased its market share to 29.4 percent from 27.5 percent, led by Grizzly snuff.

Reynolds projected 2009 profit of $4.40 to $4.60, an increase from a forecast of $4.15 to $4.45 in April.

Altria, based in Richmond, Virginia, reported yesterday adjusted earnings of 50 cents, helped by price increases and manufacturing cost cuts. The profit beat the average analysts’ estimate by 3 cents. Altria also raised its full-year profit forecast.

Tobacco tax will save lives, cut medical costs

As a practicing physician for over 20 years in Kern County, I have seen many patients who have been affected by smoking -- including those who have never smoked -- and I want to do everything in my power to make sure that early detection of lung disease, cancer research and smoking prevention programs are growing in California.

SB 600, a bill authored by state Sen. Alex Padilla and co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association and other health organizations, does just that.

SB 600 would increase the cigarette and tobacco tax in California by $1.50 per pack, a portion of which would go the tobacco control and lung cancer research, and would most importantly reduce the number of teen smokers. Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death in California, and by reducing consumption through an increased tax, we can save hundreds of thousands of lives and millions of dollars in health care costs. It's about time that California increase the cigarette and tobacco tax.

SB 600 will not only save lives, but will keep nearly 361,000 kids from becoming addicted. In my years as a doctor in the San Joaquin Valley, where air pollution is higher and asthma more prevalent than other parts of the state, I understand the need to detect and treat emphysema, asthma, bronchitis and other lung diseases immediately, especially in children.

One in five children in the San Joaquin Valley have asthma, in Kern County alone there are over 20,000 cases of pediatric asthma and nearly double the amount of adult asthma cases. SB 600 will help to reduce the growth of those numbers by expanding the tobacco control program, deterring teens from starting to smoke and reducing the number of smokers.

California hasn't increased the tax on cigarettes and tobacco in 10 years, but the incidence of heart and lung disease and smoking related cancers continues to rise, claiming nearly 40,000 lives annually. SB 600 is projected to reduce youth smoking by 21 percent, cause nearly 190,000 current smokers to quit, prevent more than 165,000 premature deaths and save California $8.1 billion in health care costs.

SB 600 will also help California get back on track by contributing $1.2 billion to the state's general fund in the first year alone. The budget deficit in California has forced already existing health and education programs to be cut and in some cases, eliminated, but SB 600 would help close that gap by contributing to the general fund.

The funds not used for tobacco prevention can help save some of the vital health and education programs threatened by California's budget deliberations.

Big tobacco companies have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid a tax increase in California- and they've gotten away with it for over a decade. Nine states (with both Democratic and Republican governors), Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, have enacted tobacco increases in 2009. There is no better time than right now to increase the tax; it will save lives, prevent tobacco addiction by our teens, reduce future health care costs and help balance the state budget. It's about time.

Ravi Patel, MD, is a board certified oncologist and founder of the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center. He lives in Bakersfield.

Stearns could get up to $917,000 to counteract obesity, tobacco

Area public health agencies are anticipating several million in state grant dollars over the next two years to combat obesity and tobacco use, underlying factors in the leading causes of death in Central Minnesota.

The money is part of the Statewide Health Improvement Program passed by the Legislature in 2008 as part of state health care reform. Lawmakers allocated $47 million for the program.

All three St. Cloud-area counties have applied for the program. Sherburne County has been told it will receive $601,000 over the next two years, said Vonna Henry, public health director.

Stearns County could get as much as $917,000, public health director Renee Frauendienst said.

Benton County's amount is still uncertain.

SHIP is modeled on an initiative called Steps to a HealthierUS, which was tested in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Willmar and Rochester.

The goal was to reduce the state's health care costs by getting "upstream" of health problems, said Cara McNulty, program director with the Minnesota Department of Health.

SHIP aims to encourage policy and environmental changes that make it easier for people to make more healthful choices, she said.

The program focuses on obesity and tobacco use because they are both common in Minnesota and the leading causes of chronic diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes and cancer. Many of the deadly diseases driving up health care costs are preventable, McNulty said.

An estimated 38 percent of Minnesota adults are classified as overweight and one quarter are obese as measured by body mass index. Only 51 percent get 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity five days a week. Eighteen percent of adults smoke.

SHIP is different from past prevention programs because it doesn't just tackle one risk factor in a single setting such as schools, McNulty said. Rather, it involves communities, schools, workplaces and health care systems using strategies proven to work, she said.

Some examples: working with schools to make sure they are providing healthful, affordable breakfasts so students aren't hungry during the day; helping to make communities safer and easier to walk or bike; and promoting farmers markets to make sure the community has access to locally grown fruits and vegetables.

Pentagon OKs tobacco in combat

Everyone knows that we all would be better off if no one smoked. It would prevent a lot of premature deaths and save a lot of money on medical and insurance bills. And it's nice to enjoy a nice piece of salmon in a good restaurant without having to inhale someone's second-hand smoke.

But telling someone to quit who is at risk of getting his or her tail shot off or walking by an exploding car might be too much. So, the Pentagon told its troops Wednesday that it won't ban tobacco products in war zones.

Eventually, the military might become nonsmoking but that is a long way down the road, maybe 20 years or more. The Pentagon has had plans before to reduce or ban smoking in the military with little success. A 1999 plan to reduce smoking rates by 5 percent a year and reduce chewing tobacco use to 15 percent by 2001 fell flat.

The press secretary for the Defense Department said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates "knows that the situation they (soldiers) are confronting is stressful enough as it is. I don't think he is interested in adding to the stress levels by taking away one of the few outlets they may have to relieve stress."

Of course, smoking in combat zones will make it more difficult to quit smoking when the soldiers return. That has been a problem in every war.

Maybe getting the recruits to quit during basic training and at the service academies would be a good place to start the nonsmoking policy.

CC tobacco stats reveal younger smokers

While less Oregonians are lighting up than years past, Coos County continues to exceed the state average. Now, some specialists fear that this trend could breed younger smokers.

According to the Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education Program, Coos County ranks the fourth highest in tobacco consumption in the state, with roughly 27% of the adult population using tobacco products.

But the addiction starts young, with as much as 14% of 8th graders and 34% of 11th grade students using tobacco in the county.

According to Tobacco Program Coordinator, Stephen Brown, over 90%of all nicotine products are sold to people who started before age 21.

"Most long term smokers begin smoking when they're 12,13 or 14 years old and if you start at that age, you're much more likely to become addicted and become a long term smoker," says Brown.

Brown adds that one of the big misconceptions among the youth is that they think smoking and chewing is far more common then it really is. In fact, nearly three-quarters of Coos County's population doesn't use tobacco.

But despite all the education surrounding the dangers of this product, Brown says the only way to change the status quo is by limiting its public consumption.

"A community as a whole indicates to kids that smoking is not a good behavior and the best way for a community to do that is to not smoke," says Brown. "Especially to not some around children and to not smoke in public places."

Philip Morris to Acquire Protabaco for $425 Million

Philip Morris International Inc. agreed to buy Productora Tabacalera de Colombia, Protabaco Ltda. for $452 million, its second acquisition this month as tobacco demand rises in emerging markets.

The purchase of Colombia’s second-largest tobacco company needs regulatory approval and is expected to be completed within six months, New York-based Philip Morris said today in a statement. The maker of Marlboro cigarettes bought Colombia’s biggest tobacco company, Compania Colombiana de Tabaco SA, in 2005.

Philip Morris, the world’s largest publicly traded tobacco company, agreed to buy Swedish Match AB’s South African unit for $224 million last week. Spun off last year from Altria Group Inc., Philip Morris generates all its sales outside the U.S. Revenue from Latin America and Canada rose 11 percent in the first quarter while falling 12 percent in Europe, the company said in April. Shipments in Colombia declined during the period, Philip Morris said.

Closely held Protabaco sells the Mustang, Premier and President brands. It had about 32 percent of Colombia’s cigarette sales last year, with revenue of $107.6 million and shipments of 6.1 billion cigarettes, Philip Morris said.

Philip Morris rose 1 cent to $42.35 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have dropped 2.7 percent this year.

Occasional Smoker, 47, Signs Tobacco Bill

President Obama does not discuss the fact that he still occasionally smokes, a habit he very publicly tried to kick during his race for the White House.

But there he was on Monday, talking about cigarettes. As he signed legislation bringing tobacco products under federal control for the first time, the president conceded that the new law, aimed at keeping children from starting to smoke, could have helped him three decades ago.

Mr. Obama noted that 90 percent of smokers began on or before their 18th birthday.

“I know — I was one of those teenagers,” he said, standing beneath a punishing afternoon sun at a Rose Garden ceremony. “I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it’s been with you for a long time.”

With that, Mr. Obama moved on. He did not mention whether he still smokes, a topic that has been a subject of considerable curiosity, and family drama, for years. Instead, he talked about the dangers of the addiction and its causes.

“Kids today don’t just start smoking for no reason,” he said. “They’re aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They’re exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play.”

The new law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, allows the Food and Drug Administration not only to forbid advertising geared toward children but also to lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, ban sweetened cigarettes that appeal to young taste buds and prohibit labels like “light” and “low tar.”

When Mr. Obama entered the presidential race, he said his candidacy had been contingent on a deal with his wife, Michelle, that he quit smoking. The couple discussed his habit on “60 Minutes,” where Mrs. Obama declared, “I hate it.”

“That’s why he doesn’t do it anymore, I’m proud to say,” she continued. “I’m the one who outed him on the smoking. That was one of my prerequisites for, you know, entering this race, is that he couldn’t be a smoking president.”

Now there are few touchier questions inside the White House than whether Mr. Obama is still smoking. One senior administration official declined to answer, but pointed out that the president spoke Monday in the present tense, saying, “I know how difficult it can be to break this habit,” as opposed to “I know how difficult it was to break this habit.”

As Mr. Obama shook hands with some of the guests at the bill-signing ceremony, he wandered near a group of reporters. Dan Lothian, a correspondent for CNN, asked, “Mr. President, how difficult has your struggle been with smoking?”

The president, a mere few feet away, did not reply.

Several minutes later, the question came up at the daily White House press briefing. When asked directly if Mr. Obama was still smoking, Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary, replied: “He struggles with it every day. I don’t honestly see the need to get a whole lot more specific than the fact that it’s a continuing struggle.”

Governments losing $40 billion yearly due to cigarette smuggling

Governments worldwide are losing some $40.5 billion in revenues annually due to tobacco smuggling, a report by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease showed.

Based in Paris, the union’s effort has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of internationally-recommended Stop TB Strategy that has been used to treat 32 million people in 202 countries.

In its report, the union said some “11.6 percent of the global cigarette market is illicit and this is equivalent to $40.5 billion in lost revenues.”

“Higher income countries, where cigarettes are more expensive, have lower levels of cigarette smuggling than lower income countries, contrary to the tobacco industry claim that the overall level of smuggling is dependent on cigarette price,” the report stated.

Majority of the world’s smokers live in low and middle-income nations.

“If this illicit trade was eliminated, governments would gain, in principle immediately, at least $33 billion, and from 2030 onwards save over 160,000 lives a year, resulting from an overall increase in cigarette price of 3.9 percent and a consequent fall in consumption of two percent,” it showed.

This means that in just six years, more than a million lives from low and middle-income nations would be saved.

The report was released during the opening of the third inter-governmental negotiating body on the Protocol on the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products in Geneva, Switzerland recently.

The protocol is the first agreement to be negotiated under the World Health Organization-led Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world’s first global health treaty.

Origin of imports and destination of exports

In the early 1990s, the United States of America took the largest share of Turkish exports (over 55 percent), followed by EU countries (about 25 percent). Over time, the share of the United States has declined to about 30 percent and the share of EU countries increased to nearly 40 percent.
The major importers of Turkey’s tobacco are now the United States, Canada, France, Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa and Germany. In 1990, Turkey imported almost all its tobacco from the United States.
Turkey is a net importer of tobacco from the United States, Switzerland, France, Canada, Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa, and net exporter to the remainder.

Manufacturing, marketing, promotion and health consequences

The two injunctions at issue sufficiently specify the activities enjoined as to provide Defendants with fair notice of the prohibited conduct. The district court did not abstractly enjoin Defendants from violating RICO or making false statements, but instead specified the matters about which Defendants are to avoid making false statements or committing racketeering acts: the manufacturing, marketing, promotion, health consequences, and sale of cigarettes, along with related issues that Defendants have reason to know are of concern to cigarette consumers.
This is not a generalized injunction to obey the law, especially when read in the context of the district court’s legal conclusions and 4,088 findings of fact about fraud in the manufacture, promotion, and sale of cigarettes. These injunctions may be broad, but breadth is warranted “to prevent further violations where a proclivity for unlawful 68 conduct has been shown.”
Defendants complain that the volume of findings in this case actually make understanding the injunctions more difficult and chill speech because some of the district court’s findings present “express prohibitions” whereas others, like the use of white filter paper for cigarettes, “simply reflect the district court’s disapproval” of aspects of Defendants’ business practices without finding the conduct fraudulent.
This objection answers itself, as the plain terms of the injunctions prohibit only conduct that would constitute a racketeering act or a “material false, misleading, or deceptive statement or representation,” not all activities the court mentioned in its findings.

Defendants liability

Defendants complain that the district court failed to identify the racketeering acts that support the finding of liability. While 27 it is true the district court’s opinion provided no single, discrete list of specific racketeering acts, the comprehensive findings— detailing over one-hundred racketeering acts—are sufficient to warrant affirmance.
Defendants raise numerous challenges to the correctness of the district court’s findings that they committed racketeering acts, which we take up in Parts III and IV. In this section, however, we are concerned only with the existence of these findings, not their validity. By statutory definition, any violation of the mail or wire fraud statutes can qualify as “racketeering activity.”
To prove a violation of the mail and wire fraud statutes, the government must show a scheme or artifice to defraud and a mailing or wire transmission in furtherance thereof. “Where one scheme involves several mailings, the law is settled that each mailing constitutes a violation of the statute.”
Where, as here, the mail and wire fraud statutes serve as the predicate offenses for a RICO violation, each racketeering act must be a mailing or wire transmission made in furtherance of a “scheme or artifice to defraud.” Thus, in order to identify the racketeering acts, the district court must first have found a scheme to defraud, then concluded the alleged mailings or wire transmissions were in furtherance of such scheme.

Kiss flavour

Few tobacco users get the help they need to quit

Many tobacco users want to quit to save their own lives and to protect the health of their families, but are unable to because of their addiction to nicotine. The vast majority of countries do not help tobacco users who want to quit. Currently, only nine of 173 Member State respondents offer the highest assessed level of support, which includes a full range of treatment and at least partial financial subsidies. These countries account for a mere 5% of the world’s population – meaning that the remaining 95% do not have access to treatment for tobacco dependence.

There is a wide range of effective cessation services, including brief routine advice from health-care workers, quit lines, and medications made available through retail stores if not provided directly by either health-care or public health programmes. Currently, 22 countries offer tobacco users no help at all in the form of basic services such as counselling or pharmacotherapy. It is impossible for people to obtain nicotine replacement therapy at all in 39 countries, even if they have the means to pay for it themselves. Quit lines are fairly inexpensive and within the means of many countries, yet only 44 countries, covering less than two fifths of the world’s population, provide them.

Regal Cigarettes

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to appreciate that the cigarette ads on the posters illustrated below were not penned with mature individuals in mind. But, admittedly, there is nothing definitive that would lead one to conclude they were intended for children. On occasions the words or phrases are somewhat trendy - the word squillions did make it into the terminology of trendy late teens and young adults in the late 1990's. However, even although it could be argued that most of these lines were written with adults in mind, it is much more likely that they originated in brainstorming sessions among 'creative' advertising personnel only too aware that their client tobacco companies need to catch their customers young.
Most cheap brands make use of similar devices, focussing on adolescent humour or unusually unsophisticated use of language and visuals. These are sufficient to circumvent the ASA guidelines on advertising to minors. This technique developed because the tobacco company message to ad agencies is simple. " Pitch the campaign as if it were directed towards adults. It will therefore get past the Advertising Standards Authority when they evaluate the ad campaign at the concept stage. But, as our target audience falls into a younger age group, ensure that the message will also appeal to under age kids. "
Cartoon type characters such as Regal's Reg were banned in the UK some years ago because of their obvious appeal to underage and unsophisticated smokers. There would be extreme concern if UK companies made any overt attempts to 'import' characters such as the cute Camels featured in Camel ads (see Viva España and Camel pages). For the same reasons beware imported magazines. The Yanks page considers the extent to which British audiences are now exposed to American ads for cigarettes. British ads for cigarettes have clear cut guidelines as to what is and is not permissible. Ads thus have to be carefully tailored to appeal to underage smokers whilst appeaing to be directed towards adults with a preference for the cheaper branded cigarettes.

French Cigarettes

CIGARETTES DE LA REGIE FRANCAISE (1939-1981)
France established a State Tobacco Monopoly in the seventeenth century, and like most tobacco monopolies, it inhibited development of new brands. When one thinks of French cigarettes, two brands come to mind--Gauloises and Gitanes. Gauloises were introduced in 1910, then redesigned in 1936 to feature the famous winged Gallic helmet logo. While Gitanes (Gypsies) was also launched in 1910, the classic blue design of a dancer with her tambourine, dates from 1943.

Harris Lewine, in his entertaining but slightly pre-mature 1970 book, Good-Bye to All That, describes the Gauloises family of cigarettes as the strongest of families--they're "loosely packed, forever going out!".

MARLBORO MAN Cowboy smokes cigarette Ad '61

1961 Marlboro Cigarette Man Tattoo Hand 2-Page Ad - Why don’t you settle back with a Marlboro the filter cigarette with the unfiltered taste. It takes mighty good makin’s to give you unfiltered taste in a filter cigarette. That’s the flavor you get in the famous Marlboro recipe from Richmond, Virginia. Plenty rich, plenty mild through the pure white Selectrate filter. Settle back and enjoy a Marlboro. YOU GET A LOT TO LIKE

1961 Marlboro Cigarette Man Painting Ad
You get a lot to like with a Marlboro -the filter cigarette with the unfiltered taste Why don’t you settle back and have a full-flavored smoke?

1961 Marlboro Man Cigarette 2-Page Ad - YOU GET A LOT TO LIKE With a Marlboro -the filter cigarette with the unfiltered taste Why don’t you settle back and have a full-flavored smoke? 1961 Marlboro Man Cigarette 2-Page Ad
YOU GET A LOT TO LIKE With a Marlboro -the filter cigarette with the unfiltered taste Why don’t you settle back and have a full-flavored smoke?

1961 Marlboro Cigarette Man Tattoo Hand 2-Page Ad
Why don’t you settle back with a Marlboro the filter cigarette with the unfiltered taste. It takes mighty good makin’s to give you unfiltered taste in a filter cigarette. That’s the flavor you get in the famous Marlboro recipe from Richmond, Virginia. Plenty rich, plenty mild through the pure white Selectrate filter. Settle back and enjoy a Marlboro. YOU GET A LOT TO LIKE

MARLBORO MAN Cowboy smokes cigarette Ad '61
You get a lot to like with a Marlboro the filter cigarette with the unfiltered taste. It takes mighty good makin’s to give you unfiltered taste in a filter cigarette. That’s the flavor you get in the famous Marlboro recipe from Richmond, Virginia. Plenty rich, plenty mild through the pure white Selectrate filter. Settle back and enjoy a Marlboro. Why don’t you settle back and have a full-flavored smoke?

MARLBORO MAN Cowboy smokes cigarette Ad '61 - You get a lot to like with a Marlboro the filter cigarette with the unfiltered taste. It takes mighty good makin’s to give you unfiltered taste in a filter cigarette. That’s the flavor you get in the famous Marlboro recipe from Richmond, Virginia. Plenty rich, plenty mild through the pure white Selectrate filter. Settle back and enjoy a Marlboro. Why don’t you settle back and have a full-flavored smoke?

IN ADVERTISING IT'S SPLENDID!

Throughout the Great Depression the major cigarette manufacturers continued to advertise their most popular brands with handsome ads created by talented illustrators. A few of the popular commercial artists received commissions for this work, but advertising agency staff artists were responsible for the bulk of the paintings. Continuity in advertising is a method where an ad is related to the one that preceded it. Usually, a new argument or reason to buy the product is presented. A campaign is finished when all arguments have been exhausted. The series that the wonderful two page magazine ad pictured below was part of, reminds the reader that with Chesterfields "it's Taste!" Other ads in this campaign pointed out that "in polo it's Dash," "at the horse show it's Form," "on the green it's Accuracy!" and "in the dance it's Grace!"

Altria Group 1Q profit drops but beats forecast

Cigarette sales dropped 8 percent and profit slipped at the nation's largest tobacco maker, Altria Group Inc., as retailers and wholesalers cut their orders ahead of a one-time federal tax on their inventory, but the company's overall revenue rose in the first quarter.

Tobacco sellers had to pay a "floor" tax of 62 cents per pack on whatever they had on hand before a 62-cent-per-pack retail sales tax went into effect April 1.

The company reported Wednesday that, including interest expenses, charges related to acquiring smokeless tobacco maker UST Inc. and the effects of spinning off Altria's international tobacco business as Philip Morris International, its first-quarter profit slid 76 percent, to $589 million, or 28 cents per share, for the quarter that ended March 31. A year earlier, it earned $2.45 billion, or $1.16 per share.

Excluding those one-time expenses, Altria's earnings rose 5.4 percent to 39 cents per share, meeting the average estimate of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 2.6 percent from a year earlier to $4.52 billion. Analysts forecast revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter.

Sales of cigars — which weren't covered by the floor tax, and rose in the quarter — helped offset the cigarette sales decline, as did higher prices across the product lineup of the Richmond-based maker of Marlboro, Parliament and Virginia Slims.

Executives hope cigar and smokeless tobacco sales also will help offset the decline in cigarette sales to consumers, who are continuing to cut back due to smoking bans, health concerns and higher prices.

Altria's shares rose 12 cents, less than 1 percent, to $16.85 in afternoon trading.

"It's fair to categorize our first-quarter performance as 'so far, so good,'" Chief Executive Michael E. Szymanczyk said in a conference call with investors.

Much of the revenue increase came from strong sales of Altria's Black & Mild cigars and from UST, the maker of Copenhagen and Skoal. Sales of cigars jumped 26 percent due to higher prices and higher volume.

Revenue in the company's financial services division also rose substantially.

And the 8 percent slip in cigarette sales to $3.9 billion was partially offset by higher prices and lower promotional allowance rates.

In a note to investors, Deutsche Bank North America analyst Marc Greenberg said Altria "has overcome what is likely to be its biggest hurdle" for the year in regard to the inventory rundown.

By volume, Philip Morris USA reported declines among all cigarette brands, including Marlboro, Parliament, Virginia Slims and Basic. Its Marlboro brand, the best-selling cigarette in the U.S., gained 0.5 points of market share to end up with 42.4 percent of the U.S. market, according to data from Information Resources Inc.

"We continue to believe (Philip Morris) USA will produce profit growth for the year; however, the reaction to the pricing will be key in determining the reality of this goal," Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Christopher Growe said in a note to investors.

He called Marlboro's performance "impressive."

Altria said the net price for a pack of Marlboros in the quarter was $4.50 compared with the lowest-priced pack of cigarettes, which was $3.14. But the company said the gap narrowed toward the end of the quarter as retail prices continued to adjust in advance of the federal tax increase.

Like other U.S. tobacco companies, Altria is focusing on cigarette alternatives — such as cigars, snuff and chewing tobacco — for future sales growth because domestic cigarette consumption is falling 3 percent to 4 percent a year.

The company said it believes volume in the smokeless tobacco industry as a whole grew 6 percent to 7 percent in the quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, and machine-made large-cigar volume grew 4 percent compared with a year earlier.

Altria also offered full-year profit guidance of between $1.70 and $1.75 per share for continuing operations excluding one-time charges. That's up from $1.65 per share on that basis in 2008. Analysts, whose estimates typically exclude special items and discontinued operations, predict profit of $1.73 per share.

History of Lucky Strike Cigarettes

The brand was introduced by R.A. Patterson of Richmond, Virginia, in 1871 as a cut-plug chewing tobacco and later a cigarette. In 1905, the company was acquired by the American Tobacco Company (ATC), and Lucky Strike Cigarettes would later prove to be its answer to R.J. Reynolds' Camel.

In 1917, the brand started using the slogan "It's Toasted" to inform consumers about the manufacturing method in which the tobacco is toasted rather than sun-dried. Because of this different manufacturing process, Lucky Strike Cigarettes are said to have a unique and distinctive flavor. The message "L.S.M.F.T." ("Lucky Strike means fine tobacco") was introduced on the package in the same year.

In 1935, ATC began to sponsor Your Hit Parade, featuring North Carolina tobacco auctioneer Speed Riggs. The weekly radio show's countdown catapulted the brand's success and would remain popular for 25 years. The shows capitalized on the tobacco auction theme and each ended with the signature phrase "Sold, American".

The most important cigar model of montecristo

The most important cigar model of montecristo:
The Montecristo No.4 Reserva 2007 pays tribute to the Montecristo No. 4; the worlds most popular Havana cigar. Since its launch in 1935 the Cubans have produced the unfathomable amount of over one billion Montecristo No.4 cigars - more than 7500 tons of first class tobacco. Manufactured with tobacco leaves specially selected and carefully aged for three years gives the Montecristo No.4 Reserva 2007 a unique quality which sets them apart from other Montecristo releases. These cigars come packaged in luxury black lacquered cases and are a special release of only 5000 numbered boxes. The 20 double banded cigars look regal in both the Montecristo and Reserva specific ring bands.

New George Karelias and Sons brand

As the traditional “Kasetina” was the stimulation for the new George Karelias and Sons brand, Karelia designers used the same box configuration to create a premium cigarette brand that evoked the companys long history and knowledge and communicated the very high quality of the tobacco blend.
George Karelias cigarettes are mostly sold within Greece and Europe, but our online tobacco store breaks the bounds and discovers new possibilities for you. Nowadays, opportunely you may find any cigarette brand in our cigarette online shop and Karelia cigarettes are not the exception.
Growing numbers of consumers seeking lifes finer pleasures are discovering Karelias tradition of exclusive quality and unmatched flavor.

Sobranie become in style among smokers

Sobranie has become in style among smokers because of its fine components and exceptional way of preparing the tobacco. The cigarettes manufactured by this company are of the best quality is recognized by the smokers all over the world. Its exclusive taste and special aroma make it highly recognized in the tobacco markets today. Gallaher Group distributes their cigarettes to United Kingdom and Europe, some parts of Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It was first established in London in 1879.
Sobranie cigarettes were first of all produced in Ukraine and since 2005 in Russia. These cigarettes are the most expensive Russian cigarettes that have a leading place on the tobacco market.
Today, it still produced at Old Bond Street in London. Sobraine can be balanced to Dunhill cigarettes because it is considered to be one of the most expensive cigarette brands particularly in Russia.

Camel Menthol Lights - designed by Scott Campbell

Parliament Cigarettes on the national market

According to Business Analytica, on the basis of sales for the first eight months of 2008 the proportion of Parliament Cigarettes on the national market by volume was 2.1% . General Director of Business Analytica believes that the sale Philip Morris is not aimed at increasing sales. "Usually, these flags are purely branding and aimed at enhancing the loyalty of certain stratum. when limited series, the desire to buy the product gets bigger. Most of the people who smoke cigarettes premium, for reasonable money feel that they are involved in the highest category, based on this big impression part of these campaigns.

"It is possible that if the number of subscribers will increase Parliament Reserve start to the public.

If the project does not justify itself, the company may terminate its sales of publicity without risking its failure. When promoting new series is doomed to success. "Many producers have brands, which are sold through private subscription. example, Treasurer tutu in aluminium (cigarette company vypuskayuschiesya Chancellor Tobacco), faces even more expensive - about $ 30 - and have a steady demand.

Camel on life

Explore more and open up new horizons!

New version of Marlboro cigarettes

The new version, called the Marlboro cigarettes Special Blend will be sold only packages in supermarkets from 19 November to the end of the year. Company for the first time, is aimed at "creating disturbances in the market among the loyal Marlboro Cigarettes smokers, as well as" konkurentososobnyh "smokers" - said Billy Ebshou, media manager of Philip Morris.
Advertising support new varieties of cigarettes is not available, although the company is going to distribute them and direct postal delivery, through the trade press and promotion in the field of sales. Mr. Ebshou said that the Philip Morris company has no plans to sell the new cigarettes in periods other than the November-December. Marlboro Cigarettes - the best in the country for sales. Last year, they held 37.7% market share, alleged the tobacco industry in the research journal The Maxwell Report.
"They worked on a consistent line of brand extension" - said Marc Cohen, Goldman Sachs analyst company. Last year the company produced cigarettes Philip Morris Marlboro Milds, something in between Marlboro Menthols and Marlboro Light Menthols. Although Mr. Cohen is not familiar with the taste of Marlboro Special Blend, he said that "not a bad idea. This is one way of adding something special."
New cigarette Marlboro Special Blends made of different from the normally used for Marlboro Cigarettes blends will be sold as usual, and in lightweight versions in a totally black package. Packing conventional cigarettes taste will profigachena krasnenkimi same red letters and "M" and the triangle in the center, and a leaner version of the "M" and the triangle in the center will be gold, "- said Mr. Ebshou.

American Tobacco cigarettes Vogue

The efforts of British American Tobacco cigarette Vogue Cigarettes firmly linked in the minds of smoking with subtle way lady, secular lions. Until two years ago, this brand image helped retain the position of leader. And then it turned out that the classic style Vogue Cigarettes - the reason for the refusal of young buyers of this brand of cigarettes. From the effectiveness of the BAT on restarts Vogue Cigarettes will determine whether the brand will repeat the fate of Kent, who became the market leader after brand, or "Java Gold," not even uvelichivshey sales.

Rebrendingom Vogue company BAT agreed not to engage in idle traction to the glamour. Segment cigarettes super slims (thin cigarettes with a diameter of about 4.5 mm) was evolving rapidly. According to estimates of industry analysts Internet portal Russian tobacco "if last year in Russia were sold 6.27 billion cigarettes class super slims, this year may be weaker sex Trump has 9.5 billion pieces. On the heels BAT, the leader segment occurred uncompromising competitors. For example, Esse cigarettes produced by the Korean company Korea Tobacco & Ginsen, for a year and a half almost caught up with the Brits in the physical volume of sales in Russia.

Gold cigarettes

Is Cigarette Tax a problem?

I've been reading and hearing a lot of opinions about the extra dollar per pack on cigarettes and it reminds me of what we were taught in school about how America first became a country of its own. The English were charging too much tax on tea and there was a term called taxation without representation.
Shouldn't we tax hamburgers, French fries, doughnuts and candy bars, and anything else fattening? Then we can tax things with too much salt or caffeine.
Do you see where this is going? You can't fairly tax one thing more than another, and the real problem is the budget and the lack of revenue and it's not fair to pick one group of the population to bail out the rest.
The government can't manage the budget with the taxes they have now and can't cut anymore then raise taxes on everything evenly.

Big boost in tobacco tax

The fast-growing group of big names endorsing a big increase in the state tax on online cigarettes sale tobacco products can add the founder of the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Jon Huntsman Sr., the philanthropist and businessman who has donated more than $350 million of his wealth to underwrite research, treatment and prevention of cancers, said Friday the tax is another tool in the fight against what he called "this horrifying disease."
Speaking in the top-floor auditorium of the newest addition to the cancer research center that bears his name and employs 1,600 researchers and staff, Huntsman said institute research has helped make some remarkable advances in the nature and course of cancers.
With each revelation comes more evidence that tobacco use, particularly smoking, is a leading environmental cause of several cancers.
"It's not just lung cancer," Huntsman said, noting that his own father's death was no doubt hastened by smoking. "There are multiple hazards serious enough that you have at best a 50-50 chance of not only getting sick but dying from smoking-related complications."
Huntsman, who has had pancreatic cancer, said life in general is pretty risky and no one gets through it without some kind serious health problem.

Obama And Cigarettes

In tonight's Web-only Inauguration wrap-up, Katie Couric mentioned a question she asked President Barack Obama in an interview shown in tonight's prime-time special, "Change and Challenge: The Inauguration of Barack Obama." It was about a subject that’s still a little touchy to him: cigarettes smoking.
COURIC: You don't really think of this job as working at home, do you, necessarily (laughter). But speaking of stress, what's going on with the discount cigarettes smoking thing?
PRES. OBAMA: You know, we're doing fine with it. I know everybody likes to poke, you know. I haven't had an interview yet where this one doesn't get raised.
COURIC: Well, I think people just wanna know how it's going. And I think – they feel for you.
PRES. OBAMA: Yeah, we're doing fine. I'll do better if people don't keep on bringing it up
So Couric asked Politico.com's Mike Allen if he could read anything between the lines of Mr. Obama's answer, such as, that he still is wrestling with the habit.
Allen concurred that it's possible, but suggested that perhaps we might all go a bit easier on the new president. After all, he spent an altogether frantic day looking completely cool, poised and collected.
"If you look at the way President Obama has handled himself and the way he's been portrayed, I'm happy he has a few faults, weaknesses," Allen laughed. "That shirtless photo op sure gives guys a lot to worry about. I'm happy he has a few hidden habits like that."
Plus, Couric said: "You also do have to appreciate that the guy's under a lot of pressure."
Allen added a zinger: "If he wants to get in his Audi* and have a cigarette, he ought to be able to."