Thin End Of The Wedge?

[mawnansmiff]

I just spied this article whilst reading the BBC News website...scary reading.
Russia's health ministry is considering a permanent ban on selling cigarettes to people born in 2014 or later.

It's part of a tough anti-tobacco strategy the country's politicians are trying to make a reality.

The ban on the sale of tobacco to this generation and younger would continue even after they reach adulthood.

It's only being considered at the moment but it could mean smoking eventually becoming illegal for all Russians.
My highlight.
Full story to be found here...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38571174/young-russians-born-this-decade-face-complete-smoking-ban
Regards,
Jay.

 

[pipeman84]

British Medical Association proposed something similar a while back in the UK. Since it spread out of the Americas centuries ago, tobacco has always had its detractors. The modern anti-tobacco movement, wrapped in a shiny package of junk science has its roots in Nazi Germany. What's truly scary is that even the real Nazis didn't go full Nazi on smoking like WHO and most governments do all over the world. 8O

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

Singapore, Australia, Britain and Norway have proposals.
Doctors to vote on cigarette sale ban for those born after 2000
Norway Smoking Ban?

 

[cally454]

I would love to the ruskies try to take the masses vodka away

 

[woodsroad]

Sounds like this is being promulgated by the Russian Mafia. Make tobacco illegal, create phenomenal opportunities for organized crime.

 

[oldtoby]

Indeed. ^^^^^

 

[mawnansmiff]

Theloniousmonkfish, both your links are dead :roll:
Regards,
Jay.

 

[seagullplayer]

What is funny here in the US is the rush to legalize pot smocking while continuing to treat all other smokers like second class citizens.
Its all politics one way or another.

 

[theloniousmonkfish]

Let me try this again.
Link 1
Link 2

 

[toobfreak]

Every organization looks for something to do to justify their existence, always with some good ideal as their stated or intended goal. People get shot, ban the guns! That'll stop violence! Have to protect the children! These groups go after everything from sugar in drinks to what you watch on TV. They should just mind their own lives. None of it is about helping you, it is only about justifying their own existence and making themselves relevant / part of the picture in controlling other people's lives.

 

[mawnansmiff]

I think it's just a shame that pipesmokers will likely be drawn into this despite the fact it is primarily designed to curb cigarette smoking.
Regards,
Jay.

 

[toobfreak]

Jay, that is why the smart money is on getting the pipes you want, and stocking up your cellar. You just never know. Then it does not matter. The day they bust my door down to confiscate my tobacco is the day I go out in a blaze. Not really worth living in a world like that anyway, is it? I have more pipes than I need and if I never buy another tin, I'll be doing good just to smoke what I have. The officials can go suck my ass. Anything I buy from here on in is just icing on the cake.
Nothing pisses me off more than to have someone tell me how far I can't go from someone that has never even left themselves.

 

[sablebrush52]

As I sit here typing, surrounded by jars of various blends and pipes scattered all over my desk, I reflect on the war against tobacco and on how it's winning, not through all of this interdiction, or the folly of prohibition, but through constant education. Social pressures work better than Prohibition.
I love my pipes and tobaccos, but I'm not delusional on the matter and don't consider this a healthy habit, or one that couldn't shorten my life. I find pipe smoking one of life's great pleasures, life is finite, and so I enjoy my pipes and tobaccos. Just as I don't want anyone dictating to me about tobacco, I'm not going to dictate to anyone else around me who doesn't smoke, by lighting up in a crowded space.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

When I see on social media and even at the Briary, some young 19 year old picks up smoking with a big shit-eating grin, I hear the guys all cheering and slapping him on the back, with congratulations and "way to go"s. Sure, sure, I love smoking my pipes, but I've also had my war with cigarettes. But, I feel more like the returning warrior looking at a newbie headed off into battle, where I have lost a dad to lung cancer, an aunt, several friends, bodies in the trenches, parts scattered about. It's hard to look at the new, young fresh soldier and feel good about sending him out to the front lines.
But, I swallow all of those feelings, nod at them, and walk away without saying anything.

 

[pappymac]

I'm one of those guys who never smoked cigarettes. My father was a cigarette smoker and he died of Emphysema. I found it interesting when talking to his doctor that my dad's emphysema was caused mainly from working around hazardous chemicals for most of his life. He worked on towboats and barges and was even paid extra to go inside oil barges and steam clean them back in the 50s. He was also involved in a collision where another boat rammed the ammonia barge his boat was pushing and he fell into the water and swallowed a lot of the ammonia fumes.
I started smoking a pipe and cigars in 1972 but not nearly as heavy on some people on here. I've seldom smoke more than a bowl a day now and haven't had a cigar in about 6 months. I've always had the opinion that it's not the tobacco we smoke but the chemicals added to cigarettes that are the culprit in causing lung cancer.
So don't smoke cigarettes, smoke a pipe or a cigar is my suggestion to young adults.

 

[mso489]

Russians have health problems, short lifespans, low birthrates, and other troubles. I don't think they can curb their vodka and other alcohol consumption with it so deeply ingrained. Of course, they critique us right back.

 

[warren]

Or, smoke cigarettes which are not loaded with such. There are options out there. My choice is a very tobacco tasting cigarette, unadulterated with chemicals intended to increase the burn rate and shorten the life of the cigarette. Putting tobacco by-products into one's body is a calculated risk. No amount of self-justifying bull crap will change that. However, if one needs to down play the risks do as I do, very selfishly, I simply enjoy tobacco more than I fear the attendant risks. So, accept the risks, trust to your genes, and enjoy.
Or, exercise good financial and health sense and do not start burning up your moneys. No sense starting a vice unless you feel as I do that everyone should have one wee vice.

 

[pipeman84]

As someone who recently (2 months ago) switched from cigarettes to pipes, I can confirm there's a BIG difference between the 2. I guess before 1950s they were pretty much similar but between Big Tobacco's quest for profits and the meddling of 'public health' bodies, nowadays manufactured cigarettes are an inferior, more expensive product compared to pipe tobacco.

 

[warren]

More generalities. Not all cigarettes are manufactured the same any more than all blends are the same. If you have only smoked a certain style of cigarette you certainly lack the experience to speak for all brands of cigarettes. Canadian cigarettes are different from American, no additive cigarettes are different from those smoked by most people. A pure Turkish cigarette, as manufactured in Turkey, is a sublime experience, especially with their style of coffee handy in a tiny cup.
I'm not sure you tried very hard to find a great cigarette. Did you try every brand available? I'm certain you haven't tried any of the more expensive pipe blends either. Wait until you buy a blend in a jurisdiction with high tobacco taxes. You're a neophyte right now, you'll learn more as you continue. Wait until you find a truly inferior blend. Lot of surprises waiting for you.
I really hate it when I get a button pushed. My apologies, couldn't resist. The keyboard was just sitting there.

 

[pipeman84]

Well, I'm referring to perhaps 95% or more of manufactured cigarettes out there. It's a fact that less and less tobacco is needed per cigarette compared to 60yrs ago, due to the use of reconstituted sheet, expanded tobacco and so on. Moreover, since the EU introduced an upper limit on tar&nicotine yields, they pretty much screwed and uniformed the market. Don't get the part with buying in a jurisdiction with high tobacco taxes. 8O

The most expensive blends I bought were Dunhill Standard mixture (11.8eur) and Peterson Old Dublin(11eur) for 50g

The cheapest, Kaptan Bester (German brand) 14eur for 180grams.