The FDA is "ramping up on aromatics"

[condorlover1]

I think all the points made here are sound and certainly well thought out. Coming from the UK, albeit 20 years ago, I have noticed the incredible increase in UK prices whilst I have been in the US. Strangely the UK has a long history of growing your own tobacco which even I use to do. As the prices rose I was surprised there were was not a parallel increase in home grown tobacco as I believe you are allowed to grow up to 40 pounds of tobacco a year without tax from HM Treasury. I suspect it is because the number of people with the inclination to grow the stuff has fallen over the years. Both my parents came of age in the late 1930s when growing vegetables was very common and some people particularly in Essex grew their own tobacco all the time. I remember as a child that there use to be a stand at the Dagenham Town Show for a tobacco growing club in Essex. I guess if the FDA get involved we can always go back to the soil and GYO!

 

[brass]

Condorlover1 says:

Both my parents came of age in the late 1930s when growing vegetables was very common and some people particularly in Essex grew their own tobacco all the time. I remember as a child that there use to be a stand at the Dagenham Town Show for a tobacco growing club in Essex.

I grewup in Carolina tobacco country. My dad's side was from Maryland, another region that depended on tobacco revenue in the early colony years.
Growing tobacco is the easy part. (Aside from crop failures due to drought, floods, bugs, molds, or falling markets prices when there are bountiful crops.) But once the crop is suckered and finally harvested, then the leaves pulled or cut or hung in barns where tobacco has to cure - air cured, flu cured, fire cured or sometimes sun cured. Then the tobacco is processed, pressed, smoked, pickled, etc to make the final product: snuff, chew, cigarettes, cigars, etc.
So, I can see growing tobacco but how did your people cure their home grown tobacco? Did they cure their tobacco in attics or maybe backyard sheds? I'm very interested.

 

[jitterbugdude]

They cure it like everyone else. In a barn, shed, basement etc while controlling for humidity. England is one of the more difficult places to cure tobacco though.

 

[zekest]

Growing your own tobacco could easily become like growing your own pot plants or poppy opium flowers: not an option.

 

[Perique]

So, if you have a complaint about the proposed regulations, start complaining to your Representative and Senator in Congress...

That worked really well with TARP, Obamacare, immigration.......

 

[condorlover1]

@bass Actually I used to use the attic with one of those thermometers you use for developing black and white film. You tied the leaves in 'hands' and then hung them on a string washing line. Underneath you would put large trays of distilled water so that the humidity was constant with the end roof vent open about 20%. This way the yellow leaves that had been fermented under sacking on the lawn were cured over a period of about six months. After October you closed the vent as the chimney breast provided just about enough heat to complete the job with about 40% less water. Once done you would send the tobacco to the Tilthy Tobacco Cooperative in Dunmow Essex to finish the job for you.

 

[condorlover1]

Here is the story of the Essex Tobacco Cooperative which sadly closed last year! I have a copy of the good Fathers book on growing your own somewhere!
http://www.stgite.org.uk/media/cuthbertson.html

 

[batdemon]

I am an employee of a large, nationwide bank and I can tell you that as of the end of last month we stopped doing business with payday loan/advance business. I only mention this because it is on the list of high risk business.

 

[neverbend]

In my opinion, pipe tobacco will be hit as well. In large part this is due to the RYO companies changing their marketing to say its pipe tobacco...MrEnglish

Excellent thread with some good points raised.
I don't have much faith in any 'law' maker separating tobacco from scrutiny and taxation. MrEnglish raises an excellent point that tax revenue is being lost to the RYO market that's growing rapidly and I believe that we can expect pipe tobacco to be included simply because it's there and for the most part it's less taxed when compared to cigarettes.
There seems to be precious little understanding of history when the greed and need for additional tax revenue is at stake so counting on congress to be prudent seems illogical. Whether the optimistic feelings expressed in this thread prove to be salient or not, I have been taking the stance of purchasing tobacco as a hedge against the probability that some day, if not sooner then later, pipe tobacco will have increased taxes. As Andrew ably points out, a 50 gr pouch of tobacco sells for up to $40 a pouch. So you know what's been done and this should be enough to scare any person that wants the ability to enjoy their pipes.

 

[cigrmaster]

This is just another reason why I loaded up on 250 pounds of tobacco which should last me 25 years. This has been a possibility for a few years and now I believe it will come to fruition rather quickly. Leave it to the politicians to screw up a good thing. I also know that it is not a democrat or republican thing as in my state of Florida the repubs passed an 85% wholesale tax on pipe tobacco, making it impossible for me to buy from my local B/M.
Face it guys, the days of 25-35 dollar tins is on the horizon and nothing is going to stop it. Better go balls to the wall on pipe tobacco and lay off buying pipes as this are not going up anytime soon.

 

[captainbob]

monty55 and plateauguy,
Thank you both for your kind words. I am not a "Vapor smoker" but on our local news in Northeastern Wisconsin last night, it was reported that the Village of Ashwaubenon (Green Bay, WI suburb) has passed an Ordinance prohibiting Vapor-smokers from puffing on or in any public place including in-buildings, or outside buildings or sidewalks and public parking lots! I can hardly believe this! It is not even smoke! I'll check it out further to see if I misunderstood something. I don't think I did. I am sure those guys have their own Forums. I don't know. But, this would be another example of eroding of individual freedoms and I am not at all in favor of it. And, as for the other excellent comments, I want you all to know that I have and will continue to actively let my Representatives know how I feel. Please, actively participate in the political arena if you care to have your views known. www.PipesandCigars.com does have a Portal and it is easy to navigate. You don't even have to know who your Representatives are!

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[captainbob]

trailboss,
Good point. Lot's of good points have been made in this discussion. But, never lose perspective. Our Politicians will always vote what they think will be popular with their voting public. We are headed toward "challenge" not "acceptance". Your active participation in voicing your opinion is required (or forever hold your peace!). Please follow the direction of those asking for our help in defending our "personal freedoms". Contact your Legislator's and profess your opinion. "They" do take note. I have been around a long time and remember my pleas to "contact your Legislators" in Forums when the FTCA (Family Tobacco Control Act) was proposed to be enacted. What I learned from that was most were in denial and the "ACT" did pass. Now, we are dealing with the "next step" in Implementation. We can say what we want, here. However, if there is a slight chance to be heard by our Legislator's, we must take that step. Pipes and Cigars has made it easy for us to voice our opinion where it "may" count. Please do so if you have not already done so. I received an email from pipesandcigars.com and I immediately responded. In doing so, I let my Legislator's know exactly how I felt. But, I am only one voice! All of us must make our opinion known when and where it counts. Now is the time.

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[jitterbugdude]

The FDA has put forth several proposals of which many have been discussed here. Some may come true, some may not but the one proposal no one seems to be concerned about that WILL pass is the Grandfather clause that allows tobacco formulated before 2007 to be except from testing for safety. This means any tobacco formulated after 2007 will be subject to rigorous testing. Testing that the manufacturers will not be able to fun. Think about all the blends that have been created since 2007. If you are going to stock up on tobacco you'd probably want to start with tobaccos that have come onto the market after 2007... and there are a lot.

 

[bzero007]

Thank you both for your kind words. I am not a "Vapor smoker" but on our local news in Northeastern Wisconsin last night, it was reported that the Village of Ashwaubenon (Green Bay, WI suburb) has passed an Ordinance prohibiting Vapor-smokers from puffing on or in any public place including in-buildings, or outside buildings or sidewalks and public parking lots!

That is just silly, people even in the house/senate buildings smoke vapors in their offices.

I know that there is a big scare going on about them because there is not a lot of information but still that ban is just out of being scared with out looking at any of the information.

 

[captainbob]

bzero007,
I totally agree with you. But, our Politicians are "fickle" and they will vote on anything that they feel their voter's will find appealing. That is why we must all take advantage of the opportunity to let our opinions be heard by our Representatives. Otherwise, our silence is interpreted as a vote for those voicing their opinions. We cannot afford that!

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[metalheadycigarguy]

I agree with zanthipal. If you want to blame someone look to Congress. Congress screws everything up. To many scratch my back I'll scratch yours, back door deals that cloud everything. The good that many bills could do get ruined by these shady individuals that are only looking out for their own interests and not the interest of those that elected them to office. People want to blame President Obama for everything, but its not his fault, he's stuck with all the yahoo's in Congress giving him bad bills to sign. That's if they actually get off their butt and do their job... HoR.
With that said, I don't have time to worry about whether my cigars will be held to FDA regulations or whether aromatic pipe tobacco my disappear. I live in WA state which has the second highest tobacco taxes behind NY state. As much as some representatives want to eliminate tobacco; they won't because the tax they make on it funds so many state wide programs. If they eliminated tobacco the state would have to cancel numerous programs. Not gonna happen. It's just a fear tactic. If people fear enough that their tobacco will be taken away, then they won't complain so much about the high taxes.

 

[lordnoble]

This thread, while very informative, is treading the line very closely. Let's get back to what captainbob stated in his initial post: what the FDA is planning on implementing.
-Jason

 

[harlockfan]

@metalheadycigarguy... The law was signed on June 22, 2009 when both chambers of congress was controled by one party so you can blame the current house. But the law is there and will definitely change things around. The testing on new blends is only the beginning. In the not so distant future, I imagine pipers will be pushed completely out. Right now, stocking up doesn't sound like a bad idea. Unfortunately, aromatics don't age really well due. Not too long ago, it would have been hard to imagine a day when Captain Black will be gone and difficult to obtain.