Too Fruity

I got a copy of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act this morning, and it turns out the bill's flavor restrictions apply only to cigarettes. Specifically, the bill says:

A cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.

So clove cigarettes would be banned by the bill, but cherry pipe tobacco, fruity waterpipe mixtures, and wintergreen smokeless tobacco would still be legal. The rationale, presumably, is that fruit, spice, and other nontobacco flavorings make cigarettes more palatable to novice smokers, especially minors. (This sort of objection, which gives no weight to the interests of adults who happen to share the tastes of teenagers, also has been raised against sweet malt beverages such as Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade.) I guess it's just a happy coincidence that Philip Morris, one of the bill's main backers, does not make any of the brands that would be prohibited, although it does make menthol cigarettes, which are specifically exempted from the ban.

Comments

[Gary Gunnels]

Mark S.,

Ha ha ha ha.

[chthus]

At least there will still be watermelon and guava/papaya flavored cigs. For now.

On the same note, if all milkshakes tasted like cigarettes, maybe we wouldn't have this damned juvenial obesity problem.

[steve]

By this logic we should outlaw flavored candy as a way to head off the emerging obesity epidemic.

[Mark S.]

"On the same note, if all milkshakes tasted like cigarettes, maybe we wouldn't have this damned juvenial obesity problem."

THAT'S IT! That's the true reason behind America's obesity problem! The evil food corporations have conspired to make their products actually TASTE GOOD while making health foods tasteless and unappealing.

Face it, anyone with half a taste bud can tell the difference between "regular" and diet foods, and for the most part the "healthier" alternatives taste like crap. Diet sodas are bitter while foods advertised as "fat-free" are bland compared to their fat, starch, sugar, and cholesterol laden cousins.

Everyone knows that the food mega-corporations have the formulas for health foods that taste just like fatty foods locked away... in the same vault they keep the plans for the 100-miles-a-gallon automobile and the Roswell space ship.

I better shut up. Banzhaf might come across this thread.

[R C Dean]

By this logic we should outlaw flavored candy as a way to head off the emerging obesity epidemic.

Sadly, the health nazis see and agree with this argument. As predicted, the war on smoking is morphing into to the war of tasty food right before our eyes.

[djarum]

Specifically, would it simply ban American manufacturers from making cloves? Would it ban the import of cloves? Would it ban the possession of cloves?

I already live in a state which prohibits the sale of cloves but since its so easy to import them directly from Indonesia, the law is easy to ignore. I'm wondering if the federal law will be as easily dismissed.

[dhex]

prohibits the sale of cloves?

why?

how the fuck do you make apple pie?

or do you mean clove cigarettes?

[djarum]

In the context of this conversation, the meaning of "prohibiting the sale of cloves" should be self-evident.

+

[Brendan Perez]

All along we heard how taxes on cigarettes need to be raised because "price sensitive" youth will be discouraged. I was at a tobacco store yesterday and noticed that most of the "flavored" cigarettes and tobacco were as much as 30% more expensive then "regular" cigarettes. Just like with alcohol, so much for price sensitivity.

Taste and marketing seem to be the common "lure" for youth. They've done almost as much as they can with marketing for now, so the anti-smoking groups have to move on to taste.

If they follow the same playbook for tobacco as they do for alcohol, I imagine we'll see one of their inconsistent attacks aimed at cigars, riddled with bizarre nonsensical claims that they are the new "tobacco product of chioce for teens".

[Pete Guither]

I wonder if this would also outlaw the herbal cigarettes that are often used on stage in theatres as a replacement for tobacco cigarettes.

Theatres could get caught in a bad situation, with some cities' smoking bans in public places forcing the theatres to move to herbal cigarettes, and now even those could be illegal from another perspective.

I suppose the actors could just use a candy cigarette with the fake red end and pretend it's a real one -- but no, that would be a flavored cigarette as well, wouldn't it?

[Gary Gunnels]

Hmm, as I only smoke clove cigarettes when I do smoke (usually at the pub or after a long night of "rump riding"), they may be right.

[Mark S.]

"The rationale, presumably, is that fruit, spice, and other nontobacco flavorings make cigarettes more palatable to novice smokers, especially minors. (This sort of objection, which gives no weight to the interests of adults who happen to share the tastes of teenagers, also has been raised against sweet malt beverages such as Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade.)."

So, by that rationale, in order to make sure that devil rum or deamon tobacco does not fall into the hands of innocents the government should require manufactures to make liquor and tobacco products taste terrible.

Nothing like the refreshment of a Smirnov Cod with the great taste of fish oil while smoking a Winston Manure flavored cigarette True, they're acquired tastes, but at least our precious children are using them.

[Will]

The problem is the proliferation of Special Interest Groups who do not find common cause and coordinate efforts.

These Special Interest Groups include: clove smokers, cigarette smokers, cigar smokers, marijuana smokers, cocaine users, heroin users, acid heads, fat eaters, sugar eaters, hunters, gun owners, homosexuals, people who enjoy kinky (and therefore illegal) sexual acts, prostitutes, and dozens of other persecuted minorities.

Today, each of these groups is a small minority. The very nature of democracy causes these groups to have no effective political voice.

The solution is for ALL of these groups to join together and support EACH OTHERS rights.

The goal is not to end smoking bans, or to prevent taxes on snack foods, or to preserve the right to hunt ducks -- the goal is to END THE WAR ON CHOICE.

I like that phrase. It's something that Americans should be able to rally around.

We only need 51% of the voting population and then we really can ensure that there will be no consensual crimes in our free society.

[asd]

Shouldn't they ban cig filters too?

BTW, I can taste almost no difference between diet sodas and regulars--perhaps there is a genetic difference between some people's taste buds.

[Monsyne Dragon]

Ah, just wonderful. This is the sort of thing that just makes me want to sceam "WHO THE *F--K* DO THESE PEOPLE THINK THE ARE?!?!", or something equaly antisocial.

I'll bet the unintended consequences will be interesting. I'm a pipe smoker myself, and where I used to live (Oregon) I had noticed a huge upswing in the number of pipe smokers in the 20-30 age range, as well as a truely enourmous boom in the sales Roll-Your-Own cigarette supplies, both due to the high taxes on cigarettes.

I'd bet the market for pipe tobacco goes up if this monstrosity is passed. I also predict the sales of tobacco flavoring kits, too.

[dhex]

djarum - yes, i suppose it should have been. 🙂

"end the war on choice" - i like that, but the first thing that'll come to mind is a pro-abortion stance.

[R Seitz]

It's up to Ben & Jerry now to start feeding the contented cows of Middlebury a high Bright Leaf diet and produce Sobranie Garcia frogurt to sucor the refugiees from Manhattan that will soon arrive pursued by Commisar Bloomberg's goons .

Still you can't beat Oz for the Higher Wierdness - EG
"

Thousands of Maoris march to defend 'their' beaches

Now Bondi Beach surfers face smoking ban

There have been reports of cigarette filters being found in the stomachs of whales,
But the measure is likely to be unpopular with local surfers, who are accustomed to flinging themselves on to the sand for a smoke after riding the waves.

The mayor of Manly, Peter Macdonald, said the council had voted unanimously to take the step because of the environmental impact ..." the important thing that's going to come out of it is it de-normalises smoking," Dr Macdonald said.