I weep to see your island continent returning to its “modern era” origins of being land of prisoners ruled by out of touch elites.
What Prices Could Justify Contraband?
- Thread starter Yambo
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It's good that for today we seem to be satisfied with everything, but the government changes and times change too, so we hope that there will always be pipe lovers in power like LeafErikson
).
Like states legalizing cannabis, some states legalized making spirits for home use. On a federal level, both of these things are still on the books as illegal, but they are not actively looking for people whom break these laws. That show, Moonshiners, doesn't tell people, but they have federal liquor licenses that makes what they do legal. But, the actors on that show pretend that they are breaking the law.
That said, I bet any local law enforcement wouldn't know tobacco growing behind someone's house if it hit them in the head. And, the expense of going out looking for tobacco growing is ridiculous. Unless it becomes such a problem on a large scale, the cost of enforcing that law outweighs any damage done by a few pounds of tobacco in someone's backyard. I bet if anyone in this forum walked by a few plants in the wild, they wouldn't think a thing about it. It's not like it actually smells like tobacco. The aroma doesn't come until it has cured.
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Indeed, there is a strange imbalance in legislation, where some banned substances or activities remain widespread without serious consequences, while others are subject to strict controls. Or maybe it's all growing on its own? Nature doesn't ask for permission!
In the US, there are many laws on the books that just aren't enforced. My state of Alabama still has many embracing laws that just fell out of fashion to enforce. It is up to the justice department, state departments, and local police chiefs as to what the enforce and what they don't... as well as any policeman in the moment, can make a choice. This is why I take everything all of the crazy bills we hear about being passed with a grain of salt.
Also, surely the ornamental tobaccos that are sold world wide at nurseries aren't enforced as tobacco is. They look just like many Orientals, and if interspersed with some burley and Virginia, who would be able to tell?
I agree with everything you said. That show, by the way, is ridiculous. I know a few moonshiners who can't stand that show.
The illegal tobacco grower would have advantages that illegal cannabis growers for generations have not had. For one thing, as mr cosmic points out, tobacco doesn’t have much smell , while weed stinks to high heaven both in growing and curing stages. (Disguising/filtering smells is a major issue for them, or it was). For another, we have a wider range of look alike plants for “camouflage”. Even if ornamental tobaccos were made illegal, many other plants look like it. (A visitor to my garden once mistook my tobacco for collards). Finally, they learned a lot of ways to break the law without getting caught. We could learn from them.
All that said, I have hopes that it will never come to that. I suspect one day Michael Pollan or some other superstar writer with similar inclinations will start taking tobacco seriously. He actually said in an interview, I believe, that for the first time he considered tobacco seriously—the way he takes other useful plants seriously. A book or long article by him could start a trickle down effect and change attitudes—even eventually in the mainstream
All that said, I have hopes that it will never come to that. I suspect one day Michael Pollan or some other superstar writer with similar inclinations will start taking tobacco seriously. He actually said in an interview, I believe, that for the first time he considered tobacco seriously—the way he takes other useful plants seriously. A book or long article by him could start a trickle down effect and change attitudes—even eventually in the mainstream
From my perspective I wished I had advanced knowledge of what was going to happen with tobacco tax here in Australia. To all my pipe smoking brethren on here there is a very old saying, "to be forewarned is to be forearmed, you guys have been forewarned.
Sorta. It's regional and it's prohibitively complex. Found out about how it works when one of my friends started a liquor brand. Even if you're somewhere you are allowed to you have to give it to the state or the feds and literally buy it back from them.
The ironic thing with tobacco is that it's a great illustration on how to handle vice restrictions. Instead of saying you can't remind people how stupid it is and make it sorta inconvenient. Works better then a hard no!!!