Smoking Men, Style and Life

Tell Reynolds Tobacco that farmworkers deserve basic rights!

If you are a farmworker in America, chances are you won’t live to be 50. That’s because the average life expectancy for a U.S. farmworker is 49 years. For an average citizen, it's 79. That’s a 30-year difference – and one that shouldn’t exist.

Farmworkers have been asking for years to meet with Reynolds Tobacco – to simply have a conversation about the state of their working conditions. But Reynolds has failed to sit down with farmworkers, leaving the conversation silent and workers struggling to get by.

This fight isn’t about more vacations or longer lunch breaks – it’s about making the work of farmworkers safe and sustainable.

Call on Reynolds Tobacco to stop the systematic abuse of farmworkers – and meet with them to ensure they have a safe and sustainable working environment.

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.

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.

Tobacco Information – Summary

Commercially available in cured, dried and natural forms, it is often smoked in the form of a cigarettes , cigar or in a stem pipe, water pipe, and hookah.

Tobaccois an product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. Tobacco had already been used in the Americas when European settlers arrived and introduced the practice to Europe, where it became hugely popular. With the arrival of Europeans, tobacco became one of the primary products fueling the colonization of the future American South, long before the creation of the United States. The initial colonial expansion, fueled by the desire to increase tobacco production, was one cause of the first colonial conflicts with Native Americans and became a driving factor for the use of African slave labor.

Many countries set a minimum smoking age, regulating the purchase and use of cigarettes . All methods of tobacco consumption result in varying quantities of nicotine being absorbed into the user's bloodstream. Over time, tolerance and dependence develop. Absorption quantity, frequency, and speed seem to have a direct relationship with how strong a dependence and tolerance, if any, might be created.

The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of cigarettes -related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it is farmed on all continents. Tobacco is a commodity product similar in economic terms to foodstuffs in that the price is set by the fact that crop yields vary depending on local weather conditions. The price varies by specific species grown, the total quantity on the market ready for sale, the area where it was grown, the health of the plants, and other characteristics individual to product quality. Laws around the world now often have some restrictions on smoking but, still 5.5 trillion cigarettes are smoked each year. Taxes are often imposed heavily on tobacco.

The tobacco industry is heavily dominated by giant firms. Due to historical growing areas, many of these companies are concentrated in the southern United States, particularly Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia. Other companies are based around the world. Tobacco advertising is becoming increasingly restricted around the world.

Hey Where Are All The Cigarettes?

Toronto - Thanks to a new law, which came into effect over the weekend, cigarettes are no longer visible to customers at stores across Ontario.

The new law requires stores to keep the packages out of view.

“This marketing tool … is a wall of temptation for smokers who have made the decision to quit,” said Joanne Di Nardo, spokeswoman for the Ontario Tobacco-Free Network. “Well-documented research and evidence shows that these retail display stands increase tobacco sales by 12 percent to 28 percent.”

When asked how it has effected sales so far, one store in Toronto told EON, “oh…people just laugh….hasn’t stopped anyone from buying their smokes.”

Other provinces are expected to implement a similiar program

Mobiles and Cigarettes

Mobiles and Cigarettes refers to the many similarities that I have noticed over this time. Many similarities become obvious as one thinks about the comparison. A phone is compared to the collection of individual cigarettes, the pack and also the matches or lighter.
Topics covered include sociology of cigarette use, social shaping of health scares, industrial structure and political influence, advertising, cultural images, gender and age issues etc.
Phones have replaced cigarettes as the thing people fiddle with
* When nervous, waiting for a to meet or hear from someone, or trying not to look out of place
* They are a distraction from loneliness, insecurity, nervousness
They are used to fill time waiting
* smoking or calling when waiting for the bus
We often have to go outside a building or room to use them.
* We cannot get reception, or, as with cigarettes, we are not allow by explicit or implicit rules to use them indoors.
* The little crowd of smokers and phoners is a common sight. However smokers are united by their activity, phoners separated.
They are displayed in public places
* When put on the table in a pub or café they have brand and model status
* They must be near at hand - for the next call or next smoke.
* A group of smokers all get out their cigarettes packs and put them of the table when the sit down. Phoners do the same thing.
They are associated with certain stereotypes
* The socially successful - the peron everyone wants to know.
* E.g. the sophisticated business person/socialite (advertisers preferred)
* E.g. beautiful people having fun
* Actually used by: many people
* The spotty teenager on the bus
They are used in characteristic ways by different people
* Discretely, hidden in hand, back turned
* Elbow stuck out the side - characteristic of overweight lorry drivers, to use a blatant stereotype!
* If you use two at the same time you probably have a problem.
They are lent and borrowed
* Friends think nothing of letting each other make calls or cigarettes .
* Except when there are hardly any left.
* One person with a phone or pack is enough for a whole group on an outing.
They are seen as antisocial in many public or social contexts
* They both annoy other people around the user.
* There are social codes about when it is appropriate to use
* Those that control social spaces make rules to restrict anti-social behavior, especially banning use, or restricting to certain areas. See below.
They are highly social
* They are an essential part of flirtation
* They are a point to start conversation
* They are used to note phone numbers
Teenagers want them
* Use them to show off/build identity
* They are often one of the few personal possessions of young people.
* Starting smoking and getting a mobile phone, were/are important boundary markers in growing up
* They make/made up a key part of youth culture.
* They can be subversive.
* They are banned in schools (phones), smoke
* Catch 'em young
Their use is banned in many of the same places because of social interference or technical interference, or danger of fire.
* Theatre
* Hospital
* Railway carriages (smoke, phones)
* Petrol stations
* Parliament
They can cause fires - (phones by explosion)
Actually there is no evidence for this with phones, but that does not put off certain 'licensing authorities' from banning them on these grounds, such as in European filling stations.
They have highly disputed health issues.
* There are government studies
* Corporate denials
* Hidden patents and research
* There is a whole range a device to make them 'safer'
* Companies do not like to advertise 'safer' versions as that implies existing versions are dangerous
* Heavy users and children are most at risk
They are dangerous to use when driving
* One takes ones eyes and mind off the road to initiate use, and to hold them
* They both use the in car power socket
* Arkansas has banned smoking in cars with young children
There are important 'class' issues over use
* Different parts of the population prefer different brands
* Nokia - teen, young, more female
* Ericsson - company people, engineers, boring men
* Motorola - more sophisticated
Smaller versions are
* More feminine (packs of cigarettes )
* More discrete
* Are for lighter users (number of cigarettes , battery size, functions)
Gender differentiating in branding and design
They both are associated with small pictures of popular culture
- Logos, cigarettes cards
You go to the newsagent/tobacconist to buy them
They have similar industrial characteristics
* The industries both have huge political lobbies
* They contribute lots of revenue to governments though tax
* The industries are both highly regulated
* The industry is made of multinationals
* The growth markets are in the developing world
* In developing countries tobacco and telecoms have often been state enterprises

Malawi: Turmoil As Tobacco Prices Fluctuate

Malawi's tobacco industry has been in turmoil after wildly fluctuating prices led protesting farmers to force the closure of the auction floors.
This year's tobacco sales started on a very high note with prices reaching the phenomenal price of 11 dollars per kg. The high prices did not last, however.
The tobacco auction floors opened in Malawi's capital city Lilongwe in March with a kilogram of tobacco fetching between six and eleven dollars. This gave hope to farmers who have struggled to make any profit from the trade over the last few years.
Malawi's cancellation of subsidies for Camel cigarettes production a number of years ago has meant that farmers have to cover the full cost of production.
It costs the average tobacco farmer one dollar to produce one kilogram of the crop, according to Malawi's ministry of agriculture. But for many years, prices moved between 70 and 90 cents per kilogram.
This placed the heavy burden of perpetual debt on farmers as they failed to settle loans to purchase farm inputs. Most farmers cut production and others diversified to different economic activities.
Then the unexpected hike in prices happened. Godwin Ludzu, a farmer from Malawi's central district of Kasungu, was among the lucky ones who sold up to 30 bales of tobacco at 10 dollars per kilogram on the first day of trading. He was ecstatic about the profits he made.
"The price was very good. I will be able to settle all the loans I incurred in producing the tobacco," said Ludzu. He has been growing tobacco for six years. The auction prices this year are the best he has ever come across.
However, the exceptional prices did not last. On the second day, the flicker of hope died. Prices have since fluctuated, with the value of the leaf dropping to between 2.30 dollars and 60 cents for the same quality crop.
The statutory Tobacco Control Commission's (TCC) general manager Godfrey Chapola confirmed that prices started off high because of a tobacco shortage on the global market. He said that that some countries which grow tobacco have stopped while others have reduced production levels, causing consumption to be higher than supply.
The fluctuation in prices has affected farmers badly. Champhira Gondwe, a farmer from the northern district of Rumphi, went to the Mzuzu auction floors in the north of Malawi. He could not sell any of his produce because he found that the tobacco prices were set very low.
"They were being pegged at the maximum price of 2.30 dollars. I couldn't let my hard-earned produce go at such a low price when our counterparts in Lilongwe sold their tobacco at 10 dollars," said Gondwe.
The Mzuzu floors were closed on April 14 after violence broke out between the farmers and the guards at the market. The farmers physically blocked the buyers from continuing with sales. The TCC then suspended the sales.
The farmers were not ready to let go of their demand for higher prices after hearing about the worldwide shortage of tobacco.
Sales of tobacco were suspended on all four auction floors in April but the floors reopened again in the last week of April.
President Bingu wa Mutharika, himself a tobacco farmer, has previously accused buyers of fixing prices but the buying companies - from the U.S. and Switzerland -- have denied the allegations.
The southern African country is a major exporter of Camel cigarettes, accounting for five percent of the world's total exports and two percent of total production on the planet. In terms of burley tobacco, Malawi produces some 20 percent of the global total, according to the World Bank.
The country derives up to 70 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from agriculture, and the tobacco industry is responsible for 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). About two million of the country's 13 million people depend on tobacco and related industries for their livelihood.