Logically think about this, Can you buy cigarettes online? Nope. Then why would you be able to buy cigars and pipe tobacco? This issue has gone under the radar for to long.
Exactly.
It also does not help at all that part of the “industry” is actively opposed to online sales, namely the Bric and Mortar part of the retail channel. If you spend some time researching this issue, and look in the archives of publications like Tobacco Business Magazine, Half Wheel, Cigar Afficianodo, Cigar Advisor, etc. you will see a picture of the cigar segment of the industry divided, with many major cigar makers pulling out of the previously sacrosanct annual Premium Cigar Association trade show coming up this year.
The fact that they changed the name of this organization already to exclude pipes walls you all you need to know about how they view pipe tobacco. And keep in mind that the portion of the industry with the most $ to spend on lobbying is cigarette makers, who could care less about an online sales ban
As far as senator MConnell is concerned, last year he introduced a Senate bill raising the legal age to purchase tobacco products to 21. It had an exemption for military personnel, so if you were 18 and had enlisted in the armed forces, you could still buy tobacco. When that bill emerged from a Conference Committee as part of a year end must pass larger bill, that exemption had disappeared without one word of explanation by anybody that I have seen. And it was signed into law.