State Senate Backs Legal Liquor in Smoking Lounges

The New Hampshire Senate gave cigar bars in the state permission to serve liquor to their guests, but imposed strict rules on their operations.

The bars, which allow customers to smoke cigars indoors, can offer drinks only if 60 percent of their business comes from the sale of cigars and cigar-related products like cases, humidors, lighters and ashtrays. Internet and mail sales are excluded from the formula.

The strict amendment to House Bill 392 passed on a 21-3 vote. It requires any cigar bar serving liquor to ban smoking of cigarettes, ban minors, and have a humidor on premises. It is not allowed to serve any food.

Each potential worker would have to be warned in advance that smoking takes place in the business, and that working there has "serious and permanent negative health effects" like cancer and heart disease.

None of the limitations were in the House version of the bill, so the House will have to agree with the changes before the bill can become law.

The Senate Commerce, Labor and Consumer Protection Committee split 3-3 on whether the bill should pass. Several senators said allowing liquor in cigar bars would give them unfair advantage over other bars.

"I don’t think any of my friends in the hospitality industry will think this is very fair," said Commerce chairman Sen. Deborah Reynolds, D-Plymouth, adding that the bill will chip away at the state’s recent ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.

Sen. Jacalyn Cilley, D-Barrington, disagreed. "Exceptions are carved out in many states that ban smoking. This is not a slippery slope at all," she said.

The compromise that won over most of the Senate came from Senate Majority Leader Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, who sponsored the amendment that helped it pass the full Senate.

Sen. Jack Barnes, R-Raymond, said estimates are that the state has 26 cigar bars. He said he thought the fuss was unnecessary and that people ought to make their own decisions about their health.

"Smoke yourself and drink yourself silly," he said.

Heather Webber, writer of The Nina Quinn Mystery Series likes the smell of a pipe. In the Cozy Chicks Blog, she writes, "I was coming out of a store yesterday, getting soaked from the pouring rain, when I caught a whiff of a tobacco pipe in the parking lot. I actually stopped, rain droplets coursing down my face, and just breathed in the smell. I love it."

She also says, "This isn’t to say I’m ready to take up smoking a pipe …"

I posted a comment to encourage her to give it a try. Feel free to do the same.

I commented:

You should try smoking a pipe Heather. You do not inhale like cigarettes and pipe tobacco doesn’t have all the nasty chemicals added to it like cigarette tobacco does.

If you want some pointers, let me know. I’d be glad to help. Writer Melissa Vivigatz smokes pipes and says, "Usually the urge comes about when I am writing, and especially editing, but kicking back awhile on my park bench under the willow tree or redwood in the backyard over morning/evening tea works too."

(By the way, the Melissa Vivigatz reference is from here: http://mvivigatz.homestead.com/pipes.html)

You can see her full post and all the comments here: http://www.cozychicksblog.com/2009/05/sniff.html

Dr. Chuck’s May 1 seminar for the CPCC 2009 show
by Chuck Gray

Hello, I am Chuck Gray of Dr. Chuck’s Tobacco Pipe Restoration and Repair Service. I have been involved in pipe repair since starting with Clarence Mickles in the middle 1970’s. I worked with Clarence for about seven years. Some of you may remember him. I have had my own shop since then, working part time for friends and acquaintances. In 2003 I expanded my services to include the restoration and repair of antique and collectable pipes to fellow hobbyists.

This seminar is intended to present some tips in basic pipe repairs and remedies, that can be done at home, with a few hand tools and common materials. This discussion is targeted to people who don’t have a shop full of machinery, but want to keep their collections clean and well maintained.

Well this is definitely not a tobacco that I would recommend for someone’s first ever pipe and it’s not going to win you too many friends if you light this up in a room full of non-smokers. The non-smoker in my life decided that she would find something to do in another part of the house the first time I lit up a pipe filled with this tobacco. However, if you like a nice full Scottish blend, then Hal O’ the Wynd is for you.

Some great philosopher … who was so famous his name now escapes me … once said that "life wasn’t meant to be easy" and if you’re a pipe smoker here in the United States then you’re about to find that no truer words were ever spoken. If you thought that we smokers here in the United States had it tough recently then you’re about to discover that what we thought was tough was really quite easy.

In other western countries smoking is quite heavily regulated - just like here in the United States - and there are places where you can and can’t smoke but none of those western countries have any regulations that are going to be anywhere near as tough as what is headed our way when the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is passed and ultimately becomes law.

On the surface it seems that all this Act is going to do is pass control of tobacco products from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to the US Food and Drug Administration. If all you’ve taken is a cursory glance at the legislation you may be wondering what all the fuss is about but the fact is that this draconian Act … and it really is draconian … is going to throw smokers’ freedoms out the window and perhaps even allow the Food and Drug Administration to declare tobacco to be an unsafe and addictive drug.

If tobacco is declared to be an unsafe and addictive drug then it becomes illegal and you don’t need me to tell you where that leaves us pipe smokers. It’s social reform by a minority through legislative process and it will leave us on the wrong side of the law!

Granted, part of the proposed law currently says; "Prohibits the Secretary from: (1) banning all cigarettes, all smokeless tobacco products, all little cigars, all cigars other than little cigars, all pipe tobacco, or all roll-your-own tobacco products …" but you can’t take that statement alone. It also says; "Allows the Secretary to notify the public if a tobacco product poses an unreasonable risk of substantial harm to the public health. Requires the Secretary to order a cease in distribution and a recall (after a hearing) of a tobacco product if there is a reasonable probability that it contains a defect not ordinarily contained in tobacco products that would cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.

Here’s more …"Requires manufacturers and importers to comply with record keeping and reporting requirements established by the Secretary, such as informing the Secretary of any information that reasonably suggests that a marketed tobacco product may have caused or contributed to a serious unexpected adverse experience." This unnecessarily increases the resources manufacturers and importers will need, which will directly effect that prices of tobacco, once again pushing them up.

And why is this draconian … and un-American law being pushed through Congress? Well it seems that on one level the President would like to give up smoking and on another level we need to be doing something to "protect the children." (Read the name of the law again - Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act).

Now isn’t that last point a catch-cry that we see every time someone wants to take away more of our freedoms? And how is this legislation going to protect the children?

Well it seems that there are some who firmly believe that children are attracted to tobacco because of the flavors that some manufacturers add to their product. So the new Act will specifically prohibit the inclusion of any additives that may enhance the taste of the tobacco. And just to make sure that we get the point about these additives the Act includes an extensive list of taste enhancements that are specifically prohibited.

Some of those taste enhancements or flavors include vanilla, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, coffee, cherry and even strawberry and of course that’s where the act really strikes at people who enjoy a good pipe tobacco.

More than half of the pipe tobacco that is currently on sale has added flavoring … just run your eyes over any pipe tobacco section in any tobacconist and you will see the mention of the flavor that various blends of pipe tobacco have. Smoke one of those fine blends that have had a flavor added to it and, if this law passes, you’ll be smoking something that is illegal. Of course the people pushing this legislation never stop to think that these products aren’t marketed to children, not only for moralistic reasons, but it also doesn’t make economic sense even if it was moral and legal. They don’t have the money to buy the products anyway.

Suddenly our favorite pastime … that peaceful and reflective time that we can spend with our pipe and a fine blend that includes one of those specified flavors … will be illegal and that puts us in almost the same situation as some pot or opium smoker who half expects the police to come knocking on his door.

The sale of tobacco products is coming under more control too and, although the Act will need to be clarified, it does seem as though we could lose our tobacco shops … those wonderful places that we pipe smokers can spend a pleasant hour or more every now and then looking at new blends.

Right now those shops are perfectly legal and perfectly respectable too but, under the new Act, the Secretary of the FDA can, with a stroke of pen, prohibit individual stores from selling tobacco products. That’s just as effective as putting a padlock on their front doors.

Can you see what this Act will end up doing to those of us who enjoy a good pipe tobacco? It will force us to do something illegal … it will take us back to those crazy days of the Prohibition when the Government wanted to stamp out the consumption of alcohol.

If it didn’t work for alcohol back then do they really think that they can get it to work for tobacco now?

Do they really think that by imposing legislation on us that is so un-American they will really have any hope of cutting back on the supply and consumption of tobacco? Why, they can’t even keep Cuban cigars out of the country so why do they think they can tobacco out of the country? Plus, what would happen with all the farm land that already grows it right here? I know this sounds absurd and there’s a reason for that … because it is absurd! However, don’t let that make you think it isn’t coming.

Of course they’re going to try and by doing it in the name of the children so they can try to make anyone who opposes this Act look bad. They’ll succeed too if we don’t do something about it right now … right now we need to make our voices heard!

We are adults … not children … and no one needs to protect us from anything that we choose to do. Smoking tobacco products … even those that include taste enhancements … is not something that we need to be protected from doing. We do it because we want to, we do it because it gives us enjoyment and we do it because it is therapeutic.

There are sound medical reasons why smoking can be good for your health … there are perfectly good reasons why smoking is good for your stress levels and to ignore those reasons and to trample on our hard-won freedoms and rights as American citizens because it’s something that should be done "for the children" is just plain wrong.

We need to push back against this incursion into our rights and freedoms and we need to start doing it now. If you enjoy smoking a pipe then you need to take the issues up with your representatives in Congress.

They need to hear your voice on this and they need to hear it now so write to them … email them … call them… now! Do whatever it takes to make sure that they are aware that the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act is an attack on the rights and freedoms that you are entitled to as a citizen of this great country. Do whatever is necessary to make them understand that you expect them to protect your rights as an American citizen.

And do it now before it’s too late and before the manufacture of your favorite pipe tobacco becomes illegal!

Here are some useful links:

FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products
Bill # H.R.1256

Full Broadside From Congress
Tobacco White Paper II

The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association
Legislative Action Center

Real Briar Matte Pipe #12. These Briar pipes were made by Lorenzo in the late 1970’s. This pipe measures approximately 5 1/4″ Long x 2 1/8″ High with a bowl diameter of 1 1/4″and a maximum bowl width of 1 1/4″.

Order this Pipe Now - Click Here!

Pipe Smoking is Good for You

These days, as any pipe smoker will tell you, the media is full of reasons why you shouldn’t smoke and invariably cigarettes, pipes and cigars are all lumped in together. The newspaper reports will tell you that smoking is bad for your lungs, bad for your heart, bad for your arteries and just generally bad for your health in general.

And, obviously, some forms of smoking are detrimental to your health and dwelling on all the bad aspects of smoking certainly does sell papers and attract viewers to television programs. Everybody loves to hear bad news so the papers and television stations are going to stress the bad side-effects of smoking and they’re not going to tell you anything about any positive side-effects that may have been documented.

In fact most people probably don’t even stop to consider that there could be some positive side-effects to some forms of smoking … but there certainly are positive side-effects and we’re going to look at some of those right now.

It is fairly well known that some very famous people smoked a pipe. People like FDR and General Macarthur were well-known pipe smokers and, when you come to think about their lifestyle, it’s no wonder that they smoked a pipe. Pipe smoking is very very relaxing and when you’re in a job with high stress levels such as the two guys I just mentioned, then you can understand why they sought some peace and time for reflection with their pipe.

These days there are lots of us who work in very stressful positions and what can we do to try and beat that stress? We can drink, we can pop pills, we can even go and see a shrink for some therapy sessions but none of those can relax us as much as a quiet time watching the events of the day come and go in the wisps of smoke that come from a bowl of fine premium tobacco.

Sitting back with your pipe is an escape from the world and all the stress that had built up throughout the day. It’s a time for reflection when you can come to terms with the challenges that you’re facing and it prepares you for the stress and challenges of another day.

But there are more positive side-effects to tobacco than just stress relief.

There’s a suggestion that smoking may be a form of pain relief. A friend of mine suffers from some serious knee damage but can’t avoid spending long hours every day on his feet. Of course that puts some incredible strains on his knee and the pain at the end of the day can be almost unbearable.

He’s tried painkillers and he’s tried injections but there’s nothing that takes the edge off the pain that he suffers from more than tobacco. Just a few puffs and the pain is beginning to dull for him. Now I’m not trying to suggest that smoking a pipe will cure chronic pain and it certainly doesn’t take away all the pain that my friend suffers from but it does dull the searing pain that afflicts him at the end of a busy day to the point where it’s more bearable.

And pain relief isn’t the only physical and mental thing that smoking can help alleviate. Medical research is beginning to show that tobacco helps to prevent colon and prostate cancer … now there’s a shock! Tobacco actually helps prevent some forms of cancer … I bet it’s going to be a while before that fact becomes a lot more public than it is today.

There’s even some suggestion that smoking helps thin the blood and reduces the chance of blood clotting.

There’s also evidence that tobacco smoke helps alleviate illnesses such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Tourette’s Syndrome. And some research suggests that schizophrenia and some addictions can be helped by smoking.

However, there is one key point here that must be stressed. We’re not talking about smoking cigarettes here. Cigarette smoking certainly is harmful to your health and you only have to think about all those chemicals in the cigarettes you smoke … and the paper wrappers … and the way a cigarette is smoked … to understand why cigarette smoking is harmful.

Pipe smoking though is different. Most pipe smokers do not inhale to the same extent that a cigarette smoker inhales and it’s that difference that’s the key here. When you don’t inhale deeply as cigarette smokers do then you’re not damaging the delicate structure of your lungs but you are still getting the positive effects of smoking.

Now you may think that all these beneficial side-effects of smoking are something that are quite recent medical discoveries but that’s not the situation at all. The known positive side-effects of smoking have been known for many hundreds of years and tobacco was recognized as having medicinal properties well before the Europeans first discovered tobacco in the New World.

Pipes and tobacco have been uncovered at archeological digs throughout north, central and south America and the first Europeans to arrive after Columbus found that many of the tribes they encountered regularly used tobacco to treat a wide variety of medical problems.

Of course “modern” science doesn’t like to look back at what’s gone before and sometimes doesn’t even care to admit that there are opposing views to what they’re promoting. That’s probably what we’re seeing today as more and more research dollars are pumped into proving tobacco is bad for you while very little is put into promoting the positive aspects of tobacco.

I suppose that it’s understandable that even the cigarette companies aren’t going to be interested in funding tobacco research that shows that their products don’t have the same positive side-effects that pipe smoking can have.

So we’re left with the situation where just a small group of researchers, often starved of funds, are prepared to go on researching the positive aspects of tobacco and smoking. Even when they make new discoveries and breakthroughs it’s hard for them to get the message out.

But we can take heart from that research that is being done for it is showing that pipe smoking does have some very positive side-effects so don’t be afraid to sit down tonight and enjoy the relaxation that only we pipe smokers can appreciate. It’s not as bad for your health as others would have you believe.

The 2009 Chicagoland Int’l Pipe & Tobacciana Show had over 350 exhibitors and nearly 4,000 attendees from 65 countries. I spoke with several of the exhibitors such as; Cornell & Diehl, XYZ Direct, Tobacco Pipe Exports, Viprati Pipes, Pipa Castello, Harkam Pipe, Mac Baren and others about their new pipes and tobaccos.

If you like to smoke pipes on a regular basis, or collect them, you should go to one of the preeminent pipe shows in the world, The Chicagoland Int’l Pipe & Tobacciana Show. The "Chicago Pipe Show" is not some little local exhibit where some Chicago guys buy & sell pipes in a little motel room.

It is a grand international event with over 350 exhibitors and nearly 4,000 attendees from 65 countries and most of the U.S.A. represented. According to Frank Burla, the show manager, one of the attendees last year came all the way from The Vatican. While we didn’t see The Pope this year, there were are attendees from countries such as England, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Mexico, Japan and others.

We have a new Pipe Smoking Babe this week. Check out Kelly with her chic urban hairstyle and dress as she smokes her Butz Choquin Apple Bent Pipe is a stylish downtown setting.

Kelly - Girl Smoking a Pipe - CLICK HERE FOR FULL GALLERY