There still could be an $850 million gap in the Pennsylvania budget, and lawmakers are looking for a way to plug it. Governor Ed Rendell is using the threat of layoffs, which could reach 700, if the money isn’t found, giving him an easy platform from which to push other taxes, including one on cigars [...]
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It’s really not a big deal, but Zsa Zsa Gabor’s eighth husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt, has dropped out of the race for the big seat in Sacramento. The Los Angeles socialite cites the need to care for his hospitalized 93-year-old wife. Von Anhalt announced his candidacy for governor of California in February ad was [...]
Continue reading about Cuban Cigar, Marijuana Supporter Drops out of California Race for Governor
It would be a mistake to ignore the little guy. In Iowa, smaller, filtered cigars – which look like cigarettes – are providing a bit of tax relief to smokers who have seen their spending creep necessarily higher. They don’t taste like cigarettes, but at prices much lower than traditional cigarettes, these products are becoming [...]
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The Columbia, South Carolina City Council is revisiting the city’s smoking ban. The newly elected council has to decide whether The Tobacco Merchant is covered by it. The establishment was considered a bar by the city, because it sells beer and wine, as well as its core tobacco products, but The Tobacco Merchant doesn’t see [...]
Continue reading about Decision Deferred on Columbia, South Carolina Cigar Shop Status
The number of Iowa businesses seeking cigar and other tobacco permits has plunged in Iowa, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s Tobacco Use Prevention and Control division. From 5,500 retail permits in the state in 2003 and 2004, the tobacco tax and smoking ban pushed the number down by approximately a third.
Continue reading about Cigar Sales: Small Businesses Suffer in Iowa
Apparently, hookah smoking is not nearly as loathsome as cigar or cigarette smoking … at least not in Utah. The Utah County Board of Health has put off a decision on whether hookahs should be banned, citing that it wants more information. In a rare showing of legal constraint in battle of tobacco, Chris Sorensen, [...]
Continue reading about Hookah Smoking Safe in Utah until at Least January
Cuba’s economy is so battered, it seems, that lifting the U.S. embargo wouldn’t even be enough of a help … well, not in the short run. The country’s infrastructure is in such a sorry state that I would take an incredible amount of time to modernize, according to Dr. William N. Trumbull, interim dean at [...]
Continue reading about Lifting Embargo No Solution to Cuba’s Near-Term Economic Woes
About a month ago, Tom wrote a great Post-Tax Guide for Tobacconist and Cigar Manufacturers. The U.S.A. is not the only place that is feeling the brunt of high taxes and tobacco bans (i.e. Canada, the UK, and elsewhere). The UK’s situation, with their draconian anti-smoking laws enacted in 2007, is particularly interesting. The UK laws prevented smoking in any [...]
Continue reading about UK Cigar Smokers Thrive – Despite Draconian Laws
July 1, 2010, a new cigarette tax hike took effect in New York and just after a few weeks it looks like it is proving to be more troublesome than politicians thought. Now with smokers crossing state lines to pick up smokes and illegal smuggling operations it looks as if they are weighting their options. [...]
Continue reading about New York’s Cigarette Tax Hike Looking Like a Loss
If you live in Savannah, Georgia and want to protect your rights – all of them – you need to make sure your voice is heard. The city’s proposed anti-smoking measure would include nearly all workplaces, including cigar shops, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association, and such a broad measure could [...]
Continue reading about IPCPR Urges Action over Proposed Savannah Smoking Ban
