New FDA Regulations: How Do They Impact the Pipe World?
-
Kevin Godbee - Aug 2, 2016
- 6 min read
Tom Wolfe
There has been a lot of hype and rumor the last few months about the new FDA "Deeming" rules that go into effect on August 8, 2016. What with the Nashville Pipe Show being cancelled, and several pipe makers deciding to quit the business, there is a lot of panic in the industry.
First, a little background is in order. Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control Act of 2009, which granted the FDA authority over cigarettes, roll-your-own and smokeless tobacco. The law also allowed the FDA to "deem" new products to be covered under the law. E-cigarettes became popular in the US after the law was passed, so the FDA "deemed" them to be covered. Unfortunately, the FDA also decided to "deem" cigars and pipes while they were at it. (Yes, you can blame the Obama administration for this.)
The FDA’s new definition of a "tobacco product" includes pipe tobacco, pipes and their parts. The rules cover manufacture, packaging, and sales. Importers of tobacco products must ensure that the tobacco products they import are in compliance with the law.
US pipe and tobacco makers (but not importers) are required to register with the FDA. They require business information, a product listing, and advertising samples for each product they manufacture.
Any new products that were not on the market on 2/15/2007 must submit a Premarket Tobacco Application that is wildly expensive. (Not even the FDA is willing to estimate the cost.) The only ways to avoid this is to prove that the new product is substantially equivalent to one on the market on 2/15/07, or to apply for an exemption for standard equivalence. Proving that your product is substantially equivalent to somebody else’s product is not acceptable.
Furthermore, only pipes and pipe tobaccos that were on the market on (not prior to) 2/15/2007 are grandfathered in. Reintroduction of an old pipe model or tobacco blend is considered by the FDA as a new product. A recent lawsuit was filed to stop the FDA from punishing the pipe & cigar industries. More on this later, first let’s see the impact of the current regulations.
Pipe Makers
The FDA deeming rules are being applied to pipes as a "tobacco product," and must be viewed in that light. Importers may just give up, not wanting to deal with the costs involved. Some of our favorite pipe brands may disappear from the US market.
The FDA is officially making no exceptions for artisan pipes. One-of-a-kind pipes may become extinct. Samples of new tobacco products must be submitted to the FDA. They recommend providing 20. How many artisan pipe makers do you think have the luxury of ‘donating’ 20 identical copies of each pipe they make?
Nonetheless, it is unclear how the FDA will enforce the rules regarding pipes, as the rules are obviously oriented towards tobacco. For example, none of their rules about product labeling apply to pipes. What is clear is that the FDA is clueless about pipes.
Pipe Tobacco
The FDA will also put many small tobacco blenders out of business. These rules will essentially close down the market for all new pipe tobacco blends. Standard Tobacco of PA has already announced that their blends (shown below) will no longer be made. They are just the first.
Older blends, which have been grandfathered in, will still need to have new warning labels taking up 30% of the tin. "WARNING: This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical." These warning labels must be on all pipe tobacco manufactured after May 18th 2018. [Editor’s note: Nicotine naturally occurs in tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and green peppers.]
Pipe tobacco (and pipes) will also be subject to FDA "user fees" that are in addition to the current federal tobacco taxes. Wholesale prices will go up. Nobody knows how much.
Retailers
As of 8/8/16, brick and mortar tobacco shops will no longer be able to custom blend tobacco for you. Blending tobacco is considered manufacturing by the FDA. So, custom blends are now a thing of the past. Also, no more free samples. Retailers will not be able to sell tobacco without a health warning after May 18, 2018. Fortunately, most imported and most domestic tobaccos already have California-mandated health warning labels. This will be sufficient.
The "manufacturing" handle also applies to simply packaging bulk tobacco. Many "house blends" will disappear from individual tobacco stores, as they can’t afford to meet the new FDA requirements. Jeff Packer, a Tinder Box franchise owner, stated that the Tinder Box blends will be prepackaged by their headquarters in several sizes.
Other shops’ bulk blends will have to be prepackaged and marketed using their distributor’s name. For example, one popular blend that is currently sold at retail stores under many names. In the future, it will be prepackaged as "1-Q."
The Lawsuit
The International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR), along with the Cigar Association of America and the Cigar Rights of America, filed suit in Federal District Court on July 15th against the FDA’s deeming rules. The lawsuit is well worth reading. It describes the issues far better than FDA’s website. It all boils down to these points.
- The FDA rules on pipe tobacco and cigars are more restrictive than Congress intended.
- The FDA’s "user fees" are essentially restrictive taxes.
- The FDA did not determine the costs vs. benefits of these rules.
- Congress could have added pipe tobacco and cigars in the original legislation and did not. Therefore, Congress clearly, did not intend for the FDA to regulate these products.
- Retailers that blend and package tobacco for customers should not be considered tobacco manufacturers.
- Pipes should not be considered "tobacco products."
The lawsuit asks the court to completely vacate these FDA rules. This is not the only lawsuit filed against the FDA Deeming rules. Just don’t count on lawsuits stopping this madness. The court may place a temporary injunction, but barring a miracle, most of the rules will remain.
The Bottom Line – Start stocking your cellars now!
A glut of new blends has shown up on the market in the last few months. Pipe tobacco makers are rushing to get on the market before the August 8th deadline. What you see now, is what you get. You won’t see many new tobaccos for quite a while, if ever.
Pipe tobaccos that came on the market between 2/15/07 and 8/8/16 have two years to submit their products for approval. This process is quite expensive, prohibitively so! I have heard estimates ranging up to $250,000 per item.
Many of these blends will disappear over the next 18-24 months, as supplies dwindle. Those that remain will be more expensive.
Artisan pipe makers may well be advised stay under their radar. The FDA is hunting for bigger fish to fry. Pipe shows may be the one saving grace for pipe makers. After all, gun shows have survived many years of scrutiny by the feds.
Don’t bother complaining to the FDA; the comment period is over. Let us all hope the lawsuit vacates the deeming rules.
|
|
Written by Kevin Godbee
26 Responses
Smokingpipes.com Updates
72 Fresh Peterson Pipes |
24 Fresh Brigham Pipes |
48 Fresh Rattray's Pipes |
30 Fresh Chacom Pipes |
18 Fresh Dunhill Pipes |
Recent Posts
October is that deep-breath month we take when the sizzle of summer begins to fizzle and fades into the joys of autumn. The month always puts me in the mood for a walk in the mountains. With pipe, of course. Fall colors depend upon weather, shorter days, and cooler nights. These events limit sunlight, starving deciduous trees of chlorophyll, its sugary food. So, following the natural chemistry of deciduous trees leads us down a trail of transformative annual colors. Greens change clothes from green to reds, yellows, purples, and a painter’s palette of art-worthy other hues, showcasing special autumnal moments in the natural world. And no, the Pundit is not a arborist. He just thinks he is. Each fall deciduous trees in the mountains do their best to festoon hills and ridges with so much beauty. When the mists rise over the ridges, and lift away, beneath lie the changing hills and valleys. During this short, in-between season of nature in its rainbow of natural blush, it seems as if the slopes rust from tiptop to their root tips, in nature’s full kaleidoscopic fashion. Back in the Pundit’s flyfishing days on burbling mountain streams in fall, it was de rigueur to make sure pipe and tobacco pouch were firmly housed safely in flyfishing vest. On one of these precious long ago days, Pundit waded an Arkansas mountain stream, a beautiful four-mile stretch of water known as the Norfork. The river was a tailwater of the famed White River, a trout fisherman’s paradise. Here rainbow, brown, brook, and cutthroat trout frolic for a variety of watery bugs, such as hatching mayflies. I had just purchased a special German-made trout knife that hung around the Pundit’s neck for quick access. The shiny blade was housed in its nice leather pouch, sans button-down leather flap to hold it secure. Pitching a fly line into this water one fall day with knife—and a pipe clenched tightly—Pundit found a willing customer nibbling one of my special hand-made ties. Excited, I fought the big trout and watched it leap in attempting to dislodge the fly hooked in the trout’s hard upper lip. There was wild acrobatics swooshing up and out of the stream with more leaps and frantic tail flapping. And—as the Stoics warned, do not become attached to things, for they are not forever—I hastily leaned over to haul in the big boy with my net when suddenly, away into the wine-dark water flew my lovely knife vanishing ‘neath the billows like Odysseus’ Ino (Goddess of the Sea) veil. With sincere apologies to the ancient Greek poet Homer. Like our mortal hero lost at sea, I yelled expletives. So aghast I was, I believe I heard dark Poseidon himself reply, “Go! Go, rove your high seas if you must, and take your blows!,” for right then I lost my most precious pipe as “a wave suddenly took it and Nymphe Ino’s hands received it” away into the fast-running water. Dear reader, pause a moment if you will, and imagine my shock at the burbling, green-blue stream so immediately thieving away my treasures, along with the now dislodged trout as if for good measure. Just a moment earlier I was a placid hunter in the god-loved lands of the Phaeacians. Now I was a forlorn man. A complete loss! Total discombobulation. In addition to losing the big one that got away, Pundit lost a fine German-made trout knife and a very pricey pipe. Lesson one: Never purchase a German-made blade and hang it around your neck in an open leather pouch while flyfishing fast-moving trout waters. Lesson two: When flyfishing fast-moving trout tailwaters below power-producing rivers, smoke only inexpensive cobs—they’re the best smokers for the money. And if they drop into the “sucking ebb sheeting with foam” of our finest fast-moving trout waters, at least you haven’t lost expensive blade and pipe, which continue to float in the mists of dreams to this day! These days, Pundit is content to stroll about in the color sensation of the moment in mountains, pipe firmly in hand. Flyrod left at home. My enjoyment today sitting next to mountain cascades is watching others wade the streams, whilst I confidently puff and marvel at the splashy canopy of colors. Which reminds old Pundit of one of his favorite poems by one of his favorite poets, Robert Frost. A couple of lines if you please, maestro, will do here: From the poet’s autumnal poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay: “Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold.” If you are a poetry, buff, ahem, you can read the short poem at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148652/nothing-gold-can-stay-5c095cc5ab679 Now for a few more short takes. This time of year, I enjoy pure Virginias. Okay, call me flaky, that’s perfectly fine. I love Virginia flakes as well when ridge-chilled winds rush into the valleys. I am among those who bemoan the demise of the cherished McClelland blends, most especially the famed nonpareil 5100 Red Cake Virginia. And, of course, the much-lamented loss of McClelland’s annual Christmas Cheer of outstanding broken flake Virginias. I first found this fabulous blend in 1992. One more to whet the tobacco appetite is Iwan Ries IRC slices, another favorite this time of year. This is a fine Old Belt flue-cured Virginia flake with a dollop of perique. You can find its review at https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/2725/iwan-ries-irc-slices Now, a couple of old pipe smokers of the past: Günter Grass, Nobel Prize winner in Literature and a prolific German author of novels, poems, plays, and graphic art. He was born, Oct. 16, 1927, and died April 13, 2015. And Evelyn Waugh, British journalist, novelist, and travel writer, was born Oct. 28, 1903, and died April 10, 1966. A parting quote from Waugh sums up the autumnal comings and goings: “Change is the only evidence of life”–Brideshead Revisited Photos by Fred Brown
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 524! Our featured interview tonight is with Russ Hicks. Russ is a sketch artist and long-time pipe collector / smoker. Russ is a returning guest helping us kick off a new series of discussions regarding which current production pipe tobaccos he is aging. In Pipe Parts, Brian will discuss seasonal weather changes, and how they affect him, and his pipe smoking. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show. Not only is it the 523rd episode, it is also the 10th anniversary of the show! We never thought we’d go this long. Our featured interview tonight is with Professor Kelly Jolley. Kelly is a Professor at Auburn University in the areas of religion and philosophy. These are certainly contemplative areas, so it is quite fitting that he smokes a pipe as well. He has four books that you can check out on Amazon. In Pipe Parts, Brian will have Part I of a review of a quite large pipe collection. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 522! Our featured interview tonight is with pipe maker Jason Patrick. Jason is from the Chicago area, and he started making pipes in 2019. Some of his earliest memories are of his grandfather smoking a pipe. He started pipe smoking in his early 20’s, and soon decided that he wanted to make them. He started with standard shapes, and then branched out into Danish-style freehand designs. He likes to listen to our show while kayaking. In Pipe Parts, we will have an Ask the Tobacco Blender segment with Jeremy Reeves. Jeremy is the Head Blender at Cornell & Diehl, which is one of the most popular boutique pipe tobacco companies in the USA. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
It’s no secret that I love old pipes. Like a well broken-in pair of jeans, there’s something they bring with them that makes them sort of special. They carry an unspoken history with them; the places they’ve been, the tobaccos they’ve seen. Sometimes, this history is evidenced by the knocks and dings they show, or the aromas and tastes of tobaccos long since forgotten. Depending on how poorly it’s been treated, this can make an old pipe rather less than desirable, but a well cared for briar from eras past can be, or can become, a cherished favorite. Some collectors I’ve spoken with have insisted that old pipes are better than new ones. How often have we heard, “They just don’t make ‘em like they used to?” There may be some validity to this, but I’m not convinced this sort of universal statement is true, or even necessarily a positive one. Let’s look a little closer, first at pipes of olde, and see if we can make some informed speculations. At the zenith of the pipe’s history, at least with respect to popularity, pipes were made and sold by the millions. Manufacturers across all quality levels procured briar by the ton, not by the piece, and the best makers performed whatever magic they felt appropriate to ensure a good smoking result, always with an eye towards differentiating their pipes from those of their competitors. Some air dried their briar for long periods, others force-dried their briar more quickly in klins. The final processes of sorting, grading and finishing was sometimes a closely guarded secret amongst makers, with only the finest pieces finding their way down the line to being sold as top grade pipes. Additionally, various techniques were often employed after the pipe was machined, such as Dunhill’s famous “oil curing,” used as part of the finishing process for their legendary “Shell” sandblasts. Sasieni was said to “oven-cure” turned bowls, subjecting them to tortuous heat over a prolonged period; those that survived the ordeal were reputed to be very dry smokers. Of the more budget friendly brands, the Dr. Grabow “pre-smoked” pipe, employed what is likely the most dramatic “curing” method. Using a technique developed by Louis B. Linkman in 1933, finished pipes were filled with tobacco, smoked gently to the bottom by his Automated Smoking Machine, the process repeated several times. This was, if nothing else, a stroke of marketing genius. Inexpensive as they were, the briar used to make Dr. Grabows was arguably not especially consistent or well cured, which would result in at least some pipes tasting bad out of the gate. The smoking machine could mitigate the potential harshness of those early bowls without suffering the torment a human smoker would, allowing lesser quality briar to be made into acceptably good smoking pipes. One thing is certain. Of the millions of pipes made each of those golden years, some were certainly exquisite, many were likely dreadful, and the majority fell somewhere in between these extremes. Pipes then, especially those in lower price categories, were seen as tools, simple items to buy, use, and occasionally discard. It’s probable that the worst of them simply never survived to share their horror with us today. Even if a pipe was good and smoked heavily, it would eventually reach the end of its useful life, either through just being “smoked out,” or suffering a broken tenon or bitten through stem or other misfortune, and find itself cast aside. Only “special” pipes, the favorites, the best of the best, would be lavished with sufficient care to allow them to survive the decades in relatively good nick. So, when we find old pipes, at least those from the makers with good reputations, they are more likely to be accidentally curated specimens rather than overall representative examples. If we add to the equation the fact that old pipes, again, if well cared for, have already been thoroughly broken in, we are likely to find some true gems amongst the antiquities. So, are old pipes really “better?” What about today’s low volume pipe makers who operate in a rather different environment? Because today’s demand for briar is significantly lower, suppliers can be more careful in choosing and cutting burls. They’ll cut blocks to maximize their quality, or at least their grain consistency, rather than to achieve the burl’s greatest yield. Too, they can spend more time ensuring that the wood they sell is carefully boiled and dried sufficiently to deliver consistently good smoking. The pipe maker can then do whatever is in their bag of tricks to further increase the probability that the pipe they make is an exceptional one, lavishing great care on all the subtle details of its creation. Additionally, with today’s ease of information exchange, and perhaps somewhat less of a tendency towards competition, a lot of experimentation has been performed and shared, along with some pretty detailed analysis of what has worked in the past, and what may not have. The result is that more is probably known today than ever before about what makes a great pipe, and what doesn’t, which certainly benefits us as pipe smokers. In terms of artistry, witnessing the exploration some makers have taken in creating new shapes and forms can be a remarkable adventure in its own right. And, there are more choices to be found for interesting stem materials, including improved vulcanite that is less resistant to oxidation than much of what was available in the past, and custom-cast acrylic that presents the smoker with more choices of color and style than ever before. Though probably not universally true, even amongst “high volume” manufacturers, today’s lower demand can result in greater care in briar selection, with advances in technology arguably creating increased consistency in construction. There are many factory pipes at affordable prices that rival the best the past had to offer. I’ve got a lot of beautiful old pieces in my collection that are brilliant smokers, including the one I’m puffing […]
Welcome to The Pipes Magazine Radio Show Episode 521! On tonight’s show we have a new episode of an ongoing segment of what Brian likes to call “Inside Fred’s Head” with Fred Hanna. Fred is a well-known pipe collector, author, and speaker at pipe shows. He has a PhD. in psychology and teaches the same at the Chicago Campus at Adler University. He is also author of the book, “The Perfect Smoke”. This is the 11th in the series with a long form discussion of pipe and tobacco questions sent in by our listeners. In the opening “Pipe Parts” segment, Brian will get caught up on some of the longer answers from questions mailed in. Many of these are great tips for newbies, and a good refresher for the rest of us. Sit back, relax with your pipe, and enjoy The Pipes Magazine Radio Show!
That’s a dry-eyed step-by-step walk through the deeming regulations as they are written and currently expected to be enforced. If the law suits delay and waylay the process, that may be a saving grace, but clearly that’s not to be expected. The effect on pipe manufacture or hand crafting sounds especially ominous, not least for our friends and compatriots at Sparta, N.C., at the Dr. Grabow plant, and Washington, Missouri, at the Missouri Meerschaum plant. And at blending workshops throughout the U.S. and beyond (beyond as relates to importing, etc.). So maybe estate pipes (and all of the pipes on your rack) will be worth five times what you’d ask today, but that isn’t much fun, nor solace. Most of us don’t won ’em to sell ’em anyway. Thanks, Tom, good story, hard reality. Looking for a brighter day.
I’m obviously missing something here.
I’m looking at the FDA’s published document on rules governing tobacco product manufacturers and importers. on page 3 of their summary the FDA explicitly EXCLUDES “components and parts not made or derived from tobacco”. On page 5 the FDA gives EXPLICIT examples of items EXCLUDED from regulation including “Pipe, mouthpieces, pipe bowls”. So please explain to me, when the FDA EXPLICITLY EXCLUDES REGULATION of these items in its PUBLISHED GUIDELINES how any of this requires pipe carvers to provide 20 example of their work for FDA approval. Either I’m missing something, or somebody else did and error is becoming a “fact”.
There are other parts of the article that don’t exactly gibe with what I’ve read, but let’s start with that one.
I,too, agree. This is somewhat different from what I’ve been reading. I also don’t believe that all of this will stick. The silence in response to this article is palpable.
The web page defining the FDA Regulation of Pipe Tobacco specifically states “This includes components and parts such as pipes, but excludes accessories such as lighters.”
Here is the link: http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/ProductsIngredientsComponents/ucm482580.htm
My honest opinion ,in french, f—- them. Don’tworry till they knock on your door. And in all likelihood, they won’t. This is tantamount to the Volstad act and it just won’t-Jeb yes, I’m not afraid to voice my opinion. There are loopholes.
Carry on your business as you have. Let them come see you,and make the first move.Dee
The FDA COULD be about to seriously impinge, and eventually to “abrogate”, the civil rights of the “original pipe makers & smokers”, Native Americans themselves.
I say this because where the FDA seems to be strongly intending to affect the availability of much more than just pipe mixtures themselves, but just about everything involved with our enjoyment – pipes, pouches for tobacco, “you name it” – just as “sablebrush52” has reminded us that the “FS & TCA” from 2009 PROHIBITS the FDA from affecting ANYTHING more than pipe mixtures, PERIOD.
With a serious number of the 600+ Federally- and state-recognized Native American tribes (the number for the entire United States), for those tribes within that number living east of the Rocky Mountain Continental Divide that still have involvement with tobacco as a traditional part of their cultures and traditions, and everything that’s connected with them, ANY move by the FDA – even the long-feared “tobacco-pocalypse” of a 16-fold increase in pipe mixture Federal excise taxes to hearly $50/pound, among many other measures the above article includes – WOULD impact such long-held civil rights of indigenous Americans, something they should NOT be expected to ignore in any manner.
A recent attempt to auction off Chief Red Cloud’s catlinite, or “pipestone” bowl/shank ceremonial pipe by the State of Texas – in VIOLATION of Federal law – is being opposed vigorously by the Oglala Lakota of today, as mentioned at http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/06/07/3785666/native-american-auction-cultural-items/ as evidence of HOW strongly some tribes feel about anyone messing with their civil rights…(just copy & paste if it’s not an active link to get there)…and likewise, the native peoples of the USA have their own civil-rights-related site at http://www.narf.org/ .
If the FDA manages to get so “controlling” concerning pipe tobacco AND everything that goes along with it, that involves both general American culture, AND the Native American tribal nations that have always had, and continue to have a cultural and spiritual involvement with pipes and their tobacco, it IS eventually going to impact them as well…and in a much more serious manner…as it IS, quite likely — even if it’s seem by some as a non-intentional “infringement” of such rights — the tribal cultures being affected will quite rightly see such FDA action as a central attack on Native American civil rights regarding pipe tobacco and everything else that’s directly related to such traditions and culture.
Check this – sent over from the author – I haven’t had a chence to read it yet –
http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/ProductsIngredientsComponents/ucm482580.htm
The problem is that pipes are defined as “components or parts” of pipe tobacco. It doesn’t make sense, but that is why it is part of the lawsuit mentioned in the article.
“In 2016, FDA finalized a rule extending our regulatory authority to cover all tobacco products, including pipe tobacco. FDA now regulates the manufacture, import, packaging, labeling, advertising, promotion, sale, and distribution of pipe tobacco. This includes components and parts such as pipes, but excludes accessories such as lighters.”
See the following link for details: http://www.fda.gov/TobaccoProducts/Labeling/ProductsIngredientsComponents/ucm482580.htm
Thanks Kevin.
I touted contacting our Congressmen/women, but now, of course, they are on Summer “recess”. But THEIR OFFICES STILL WILL TAKE OPINIONS FROM THEIR CONSTITUTENTS – PLEASE CALL THEM TOMORROW! Let them know that this overkill will eliminate multitudes of jobs, shut industry and retailers, is restraint of trade, and is an affront to ADULT CITIZENS’ freedoms. Also, Mitch Zeller, the head of the Center for Tobacco Products division of the FDA is a former lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies that produce “smoking substitution products”. Ask your Congressman to start an investigation into Zeller’s conflict of interest.
A question: cannot individuals and retailers, in some way, join these lawsuits? And/or file letters to the courts expressing our testimony and dissatisfaction with this action taken by the FDA?
To sablebrush52, I have only found the online version of the FDA deeming regulations. No page numbers given. However on one of the summary pages, tobacco components are specifically stated to include pipes. I have not found the ‘exclusions you mention. I would be very appreciative if you could give me a link to the full regulations you reference in your comment above. Thanks!
The FDA uses three different definitions of tobacco products. “Tobacco products” includes both pipe tobacco and pipes. “Covered tobacco products” includes pipe tobacco, but not pipes. “Finished tobacco products” includes both.
I had to go back and re-read everthing, keeping those definitions in mind..
Did they do their research before making these new regulations?
Did they even know artisan pipes and pipe makers existed?
Did they know about the yearly limited once off holiday pipes made?
Did they know about the yearly limited once off holiday pipe blends?
Did they know about house pipe blends?
Did they know about limited batch blends or special edition blends?
What about estate pipes and vintage tobacco sales?
How can you regulate without the research?
I think there will be much information presented at the lawsuit which of which the FDA did consider or know about.
-Tim
Clearly the FDA needs to be destroyed!
I’ve only just taken the trouble to read this. I was vaguely aware something was afoot in the States and that it was detrimental to smokers in general but never realized the severity of the situation.
Here in the UK we have crippling taxes on anything smokeable and of course have to put up with the hideous and downright disgusting stickers plastered all over our packaging but I think compared to what is happening over the pond we should count our blessings and keep quiet lest we open up the hornet’s nest.
I always thought America was the land of the free? History may well have to be rewritten.
Good luck.
Regards,
Jay.
re “did they do their research” from timpiper: no – no one in Congress did any research – can’t you understand this. Our representatives just whole-heartedly handed over a bill (probably written by the FDA Center for Tobacco Products office of the zealot Mitch Zeller) with carte’ blanche authority. Yep, let’s give them total power over this stuff and get it out of our way.
I’ve again called the offices of my Senator and Representative today, giving my opinion on this, and asking the rep to stop the FDA deeming regulation, in order to investigate the impacts, rights and legality of this. HAVE YOU?
To timpiper
Retailers do have a problem with old tobacco stock that does not carry the newly required warning labels. They must be sold before May 2018.
Pipes would also fall under the warning label requirements, but the FDA’s required labels “this product conains nicotene” and “this product is made from tobacco” obviously do not apply. This is a great example of where pipes just “fell thru the cracks”. They are really clueless when it comes to pipe making. I am still awaiting their reply to question like this.
Yes, they do know about house blends. They just do not care. Retailers that blend their own tobacco are considered pipe tobacco manufacturers under their rules. This is true if all they do is package popular blends, like 1-Q.
As to estate pipes, the FDA makes no mention of secondary markets, so that should not be a problem. (Just do not remind them about it.)
To timpiper
Retailers do have a problem with old tobacco stock that does not carry the newly required warning labels. They must be sold before May 2018.
Pipes would also fall under the warning label requirements, but the FDA’s required labels “this product conains nicotene” and “this product is made from tobacco” obviously do not apply. This is a great example of where pipes just “fell thru the cracks”. They are really clueless when it comes to pipe making. I am still awaiting their reply to question like this.
Yes, they do know about house blends. They just do not care. Retailers that blend their own tobacco are considered pipe tobacco manufacturers under their rules. This is true if all they do is package popular blends, like 1-Q.
As to estate pipes, the FDA makes no mention of secondary markets, so that should not be a problem. (Just do not remind them about it.)
Tom Wolfe
One of my least favorite things is for anyone too stick their nose in my business, yet anti-tobacco has done this worldwide, and now in my backyard. It’s hard for me to understand FDA as anything but a powerful meddler. Good thing I have plenty of pipes and a lifetime supply of tobacco, as I foresaw this day coming, you miserable bastards!
Thank God for the “dark web”. Through browsers like Tor, we can still engage in commerce without restrictions and in total privacy. I suspect we underground pipers are considered as notorious as those who want to buy LSD and nitroglycerin.
Ok guys, so we have all these rules set forth by the FDA(nsdap) . Now, I’ve seen people throw up their hands in surrender.Well, what are the ramifications ? Are they going to throw you into prison, Fine you into bankruptcy, or what. I’m tired of seeing this automatic submission to their so called authority. Push their buttons. Just my honest opinion. P.S. If your going to throw all the tobacco into the bay like tea,let me know, I’ll take it. We either hang together or surely we shall all hang saperatly. Jeb
I really hope my comments get some folks to thinking. They may run over you, but I’ll be damned if they’ll run over me or mine (of which I hope I can include all of you !) FDA take care,we’llsee ya in court.
FDA Loses lawsuit over tobacco labeling
https://www.facebook.com/groups/unitedpipeclubs/permalink/904759139650866/
“this product conains nicotene”
Tom, for one writing about tobacco and related products I would have thought you would know how to spell ‘nicotine’. As for ‘conains’ I’m sure we can put that down to a mere typo 😉
New here,.. and returning to the pipe after a 30 year break. Glad to see there is still pipe smokers out there,.. because as of now,… I have seen none and know none. I appreciate the information found here. From the article and the following comments,… I see there is some confusion as to just what is what. I have little to offer other than my support for the cause. I too have great distain for govt. telling us what is good and not good for us.
I look forward to future updates. The simpler the better,…. as all of that lawyer “gobility gook” can be quite confusing. (just as they intended it to be,.. I am sure)
It is good to be back! 🙂