FDA Regulations

Someone will explain it better but the regulation was supposed to take place this year but has been pushed back 3 years. What the FDA wants to do is make the blender "test" or pay for the testing of any blend created after I believe 2007. So every blend after that year would have a fee that would need to be paid. Of course the argument was made that the ingredients themselves have already been tested and that mixtures are just combining different already approved leaves. Again, someone will explain this better. McClelland, although admitting that continuing their blends after the regulations take place would be expensive, point to the quality of the leaf being picked in the fields as their main issue. They have high quality expectations and the way crops are picked now has changed the quality. In the old days they were hand picked and not picked until ready. Now it is all done by machine and much like corn crops they look at the average ripeness and pick the whole crop so you are getting the ripe and not quite ripe picked at the same time. I take no offense being corrected here by the forum this is just going by memory.

Yup, Mike and Mary chose to retire. No FDA silliness involved with the loss of McClelland.

midwesternpipesmoker, thanks for the info

Mike and Mary couldn't get the quality of leaf that they wanted and decided to retire. The majority of their blends would have been grandfathered.

When you think of how many pipesmokers there are, and how small the industry is... for example, when I visited LA Poche a factory the size of a small barn, and consider that I could fit one year's worth of perique into my garage, it's all very ma and pa type businesses, with very few employees if any at all. I bet Mike and Mary did the brunt of answering the phone themselves and the blending. These are very small businesses. And, they probably are not getting rich at this, like any small business. For them to be asked to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars before releasing a blend that may only make them a few thousand dollars is daunting.

The same thing with the cigar industry... sure, sure, it may cost $10 for a decent cigar, but after taxes, retailer keystones, distributor fees, subtract the cost of a premium crop, which may only be 500lbs, and then costs of people to roll and box them... someone may be making less than a dollar per cigar. They have better lobbyist, especially in Florida, with a few rockstar level representatives. The cigar part of the FDA deeming and regulations is getting better spokesmen, and they are getting better rollbacks.
We had Creasy of Sutliff who was level headed and doing very good at first explaining the pipe tobacco side, but then he was replaced with a cigarette company man... and besides being the smallest market of tobacco, we are mostly grumpy old coots. Not skilled negotiators with great communication skills. We don't have suave spokesmen... we have angry "get out of my yard" guys. And, I'm not so sure that the area where most of the pipe tobacco companies are located have any rockstar politicos, like Rubio taking the media on a tour of a Floridian cigar rolling factory, or to see the small stacks of leaf fermenting. He did a great job of explaining the effects of the FDA on the cigar industry, and he was very persuasive. I was impressed, and he swayed things for cigars.

We need that! We need a Panama Jack to sing to the world the glories and magicness of pipe tobacco. Just my $0.02.

Well said Michael. I run a small company. When I speak to customers, they think I have a factory with smokestacks and semi trucks. I laugh because the reality is much different. Most business are "family".

We don't have suave spokesmen... we have angry "get out of my yard" guys.

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That could be quote of the year! Super funny stuff.

I think there were 2 primary FDA targets: 1) Vaping, which is unregulated juice concoctions of unknown origin, and 2) Cigarette tobacco manufacturers that changed their cut to become pipe tobacco in order to fly under the Tobacco Tax Act of 2009. By choosing 2007 as the cutoff, most of these niche manufacturers will have to submit almost all of their products for testing or close down. So, the FDA wins by effectively closing the cigarette tax loophole and shutting down unregulated vaping.

I think cigars and legit pipe tobacco just got caught in the crossfire and they may still change their minds and expand the exceptions. We'll see. It's a small miracle we got the 3 year reprieve...

And do they apply to cigarette makers as well?

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The big cigarette companies and their lobbyists supported the legislation as they've been pumping out the same products for decades and this effectively squashes the competition.

Just a small bit of clarification, as I understand the situation through listening to the radioshow and blogs.

Cigarette tobacco manufacturers that changed their cut to become pipe tobacco in order to fly under the Tobacco Tax Act of 2009

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Keep in mind that this was not legit cigarette tobacco companies that did this, but just growers who took advantage of a loophole, and IMO an organized ring of small companies that formed an alliance using old cigarette production equipment to continue to circumnavigate the rules. In my experience with local "rolling clubs" they were Guido types.

This was not a move by legitimate cigarette companies.

So, the FDA wins by effewctively closing the cigarette tax loophole and shutting down unregulated vaping.

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Actually, the FDA panel that is heading up this FDA invasion are mostly cigarette executives, trying to prevent losing more profits to these ventures. So, it is not the FDA as a whole that wins, but "Big Corporate Tobacco" that wins this, using the FDA as their tool.
Sorry, it just makes more of a difference when you look at it this way. We still get screwed, but there is a real enemy to blame.

The big cigarette companies and their lobbyists supported the legislation as they've been pumping out the same products for decades and this effectively squashes the competition.

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They not just "supported" it, they wrote it. They did the same to chewing tobacco years earlier, and now all chewing tobacco and dipping tobaccos in the USA are owned by Big Corporate Tobacco. Look at the labels now saying who owns them, and also look at all of the new Camel dipping products on the market.

IMO an organized ring of small companies that formed an alliance using old cigarette production equipment to continue to circumnavigate the rules. In my experience with local "rolling clubs" they were Guido types.

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I'm talking more about the RYO suppliers of bags of tobacco. The Ohms, the Golden Harvests, the D&R's. By simply changing ribbon width and packaging from "Cigarette" to Pipe Tobacco", they effectively kept themselves in business by saving their customers millions of dollars in taxes. I remember a number of like 3400% tax increase on Cig tobacco where pounds went from like $10-15 to over $60 overnight, but pipe tobacco and cigars only received a slight increase in tax.
And, I can't argue your other point. It is clear the FDA is mandated to protect the interests of the big players and they are firmly in cahoots and working for Big Corporate Tobacco, just like Congress. It's no different with pharmaceuticals. The Pfizers of the world run the show. And it will stay this way until we limit length in office terms and kick lobbyists out of Washington to send a message to our elected officials who they are really supposed to be representing.

These clowns should have never been allowed to hold an office as an entire career. That's my two cents...

And don't take it the wrong way. I am a RYO enthusiast as well and am a big fan of the RYO tobacco suppliers. Trust me LOL

And BTW, D&R tobaccos truly are outstanding in a pipe. There's only a few I don't care for, but that is totally subjective as is any tobacco.

Comsic kind of Lke Acorn writing that other disgusting law?

Back to the OP, It seems (speculation) to me that a retirement was in the works anyway. All these circumstances probably pushed the decision over the cliff.

Curious, as someone that has actively engaged in lobbying and public policy, do pipe/cigar manufacturers not have lobbyists?

Legit question, no snark intended.