Smokeless tobacco

Smokeless tobacco accounts for a significant and growing portion of global tobacco use, especially in South Asia. Over 25 distinct types of smokeless tobacco products are used worldwide, including both commercialized and local or homegrown products, used orally and nasally. Some products combine tobacco with substantial amounts of chemical additives and other plant material that may confer additional risk to the user. Moreover, smokeless tobacco products contain many of the toxins and carcinogens found in cigarettes, and thus result in many of the same diseases caused by smoking. In addition, smokeless tobacco use increases periodontal disease, tooth loss, and precancerous mouth lesions.
Despite the harm from smokeless tobacco use to both individuals and society at large, these products are not sufficiently regulated in many countries. The landscape of smokeless tobacco manufacturing and marketing is rapidly evolving. The largest American, British, and Japanese cigarette companies have entered the smokeless tobacco market and are branding their smokeless products as an extension of cigarette brands,a complement to be used in smoke-free environments. Understanding this “dual-use” consumption pattern will be essential to developing an appropriate regulatory structure for smokeless tobacco.

Global patterns of smokeless tobacco use vary widely. The import and sale of smokeless tobacco products are banned in 40 countries and areas. In some countries, like Finland and Egypt, men use smokeless tobacco products in much greater numbers than women because such products are perceived as masculine; in countries like South Africa, Thailand, and Bangladesh, women use smokeless tobacco products more than men because they are seen as a discreet way to consume tobacco.
Research addressing smokeless tobacco is limited. Monitoring and surveillance systems are scarce, and significant research gaps exist in identifying ingredients, additives, and toxicities of smokeless tobacco products. Little is known about product pricing, substitution of smokeless tobacco for smoked tobacco, and youth susceptibility to smokeless tobacco use. Policies to control smokeless tobacco are underdeveloped. The integration of smokeless tobacco control measures into the wider framework of tobacco control can help to curb its use.

Consumer Says:

Beta ek gutka khane ka itna shauk hai to ek kaam kar. Ek dost aur banna. Kaandha deney ke kaam aayega.

Son, if you are so fond of eating gutka [chewing tobacco], make sure you make a friend so that you have someone to help carry your coffin.

Title track from Bollywood movie, Wanted, India

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THE INDUSTRY Says:

We adopted our core strategy for growth: and that was to expand the smokeless tobacco category by converting adult smokers to smokeless tobacco.

Daniel Butler, President, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company
Source: Tobaccoatlas.org

Cigarettes Grab Spain’s Tobacco Market

A number of increases in taxes on cigarette sales that were recently registered in Spain have prompted both price warfare between companies struggling for recession-hit consumers, and a sudden increase in the sale of cigarette products.
“At present the problem of cigarette market seems to worsen due to recession and an evident falling purchasing power,” stated José Luis Nueno, a professor of marketing.
According to a report realized by leading tobacco company Imperial Tobacco, about 6% of all cigarette sales in Spain belong to illicit market, more than 10% in Andalusia and nearly 20% in such regions as Málaga and Seville.
Within the past two years, tax increases in Spain have prompted a huge number of smokers switch to cheap cigarette brands or even rolling tobacco in comparison to earlier popular Virginia and such famous smokes as Marlboro and Camel.
One more option for the hard-pressed Spanish smoke lovers has been the chance to try something of Chinese-produced bootleg smokes that have become rather popular common, or to purchase cigarettes. The lowest prices for cigarettes and availability can make the illegal cigarettes more appealing.
Spain’s porous borders have always made it an appealing and very profitable market for contraband cigarette smugglers.
One of the most powerful cartels importing non-taxed tobacco products were Galician-based gangs who used high-speed boats in order to bring these products in the country. Very soon they switched to higher margin crimes, such as cocaine smuggling, and corresponding faced a wave of arrests. Mr. Nueno said that criminal operations in Spain have become much more divergent.
The great part of cigarettes confiscated by Spanish custom authorities comes through the country’s borders with Andorra, Portugal, and Gibraltar.
“Officially Spain has three regions where the use and demand for cigarettes is highest, namely Galicia, as it situated in the main proximity to Portugal. Andalusia, due to Gibraltar, and Catalonia, because of Andorra,” added Mr. Nueno.
The estimates for contraband tobacco products coming Spain are based on the extrapolation from the amount confiscated at customs.
According to statistics, in 2009, about 12.3 million cigarettes from illicit market entered Spain.

Etymology of Tobacco

The Spanish word "tabaco" is thought to have its origin in Arawakan language, particularly, in the Taino language of the Caribbeanmarker. In Taino, it was said to refer either to a roll of tobacco leaves (according to Bartolome de Las Casas, 1552), or to the tabago, a kind of Y-shaped pipe for sniffing tobacco smoke (according to Oviedo; with the leaves themselves being referred to as cohiba).

However, similar words in Spanish and Italian were commonly used from 1410 to define medicinal herbs, originating from the Arabic tabbaq, a word reportedly dating to the 9th century, as the name of various herbs.

The tobacco industry

“More people smoke today than at any other time in human history. One person dies every ten seconds due to smoking-related diseases. Research evidence in the past five years shows a bleaker picture of the health danger of smoking than previously realised. Tobacco is the biggest killer, much bigger in dimension than all other forms of pollution.
Children are the most vulnerable. Habits start in youth. The tobacco industry knows it and acts accordingly. This is a medical challenge, but also a cultural challenge. Let us all speak out: tobacco is a killer. It should not be advertised, subsidised or glamourised. Adolescents should not be allowed to mortgage their lives to the seductive advertisements of the industry.
Girls and women are being targeted all over the world by expensive and seductive tobacco advertising images of freedom, emancipation, slimness, glamour and wealth.
Tobacco companies should be accountable for the harm caused by tobacco use. The day I took office I launched the Tobacco Free Initiative (TFI) to spearhead the struggle to reverse the worsening trends in health caused by tobacco and to add momentum to a critical public health struggle.
The initiative aims at heightening global awareness of the need to address tobacco consumption. It also seeks to build new partnerships and strengthen existing partnerships for action against tobacco; to commission policy research to fill gaps; and, to accelerate national and global policy to implement strategies. The way it works illustrates the way we wish WHO to work in the future making the most of our own resources and knowledge and drawing heavily on the knowledge and experience of others.
Our goals are to:
• build “a vibrant alliance” between WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank, and “partnerships with a purpose” with non governmental organisations, the private sector, academic/research institutions and donors.
• try to get more people to work on and support tobacco control activities and ensure that more resources are committed to tobacco research, policy and control.
• develop the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world's first public health treaty. The treaty will only be effective if it works in conjunction with, and builds upon, sound domestic interventions. The good news is that the epidemic does not have to continue this way. There is a political solution to tobacco – a solution routed through ministries of finance and agriculture as well as health and education. We know that tobacco control measures can lead to a reduction in smoking as witnessed among some member states. WHO, the World Bank and public health experts have identified a combination of the following as having a measurable and sustained impact on tobacco use:
• increased excise taxes;
• bans on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and marketing;
• controls on smoking in public places and workplaces;
• expanded access to effective means of quitting;
• tough counteradvertising;
• tight controls on smuggling. These must all be implemented if the predicted expansion of the epidemic as outlined in this atlas is to be prevented. The picture is far from bleak. Globally, we have seen a sea change over the past few years. A groundswell of local, national and global actions is moving the public health agenda ahead.

A message from
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland
Director-General
World Health Organization

Tobacco use - cause of illness

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and illness in the United States, causing more than 443 000 deaths each year. The consequences of tobacco use include harms to the health of the fetus, such as low birth weight and sudden infant death; harms to children from tobacco use and secondhand tobacco-smoke (SHS) exposure, including respiratory illness, infection, and decreased lung function; the uptake and establishment of tobacco use and nicotine addiction by the next generation; fires attributable to smoking; the economic costs of purchasing tobacco and tobacco-use materials; litter and debris from tobacco products; additional cleaning and maintenance of facilities in which tobacco is used; the health care and emotional costs of diseases associated with tobacco use and SHS exposure; and the costs to families and society because of poor health and lost productivity.

Most tobacco users (
80%) started using tobacco products before 18 years of age.Initiation of tobacco use is often instigated by exposure to tobacco use by parents or peers, depiction in movies and other media, advertising targeting children and adolescents, and other environmental and cultural factors. The connection between children and tobacco use is so strong that the commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration declared tobacco use a “pediatric disease” in 1995.

Tobacco use is a pediatric disease because of the extent of harms to children caused by tobacco use and SHS exposure, the relationship of pediatric tobacco use and exposure to adult tobacco use, the existence of effective interventions to reduce tobacco use, and the documented underuse of those interventions. This statement provides guidance for providers of pediatric services, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and its members, and summarizes other AAP policies that have addressed tobacco use and control. Because tobacco use has significant effects on children and families, its management has been reviewed in many AAP policies and official documents.

The information and recommendations described in this statement are consistent with recommendations in the other AAP publications cited as well as with tobacco policies from other clinical professional membership organizations, including the Academic Pediatric Association, the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, the American Academy of Family Practice, 21 the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the American Medical Association. The policy is accompanied by 2 technical reports: “Secondhand and Prenatal Tobacco Smoke Exposure” and “Tobacco as a Substance of Abuse.”The AAP recognizes the dangers of tobacco use and SHS exposure to children’s health. Tobacco control was named a strategic priority by the AAP in 2005, and the Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence (www.aap.org/ richmondcenter), dedicated to the elimination of children’s exposure to tobacco and SHS, was established in 2007 to foster tobacco-control initiatives at the AAP.

3 shops hit for underage tobacco sales

Three local businesses recently were found in violation of state laws against selling products to minors, according to a press release from the authorities.

the inspections were conducted by the Southington Police Department’s Detective Division and Special Investigators of the Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services, Tobacco Prevention and Enforcement Program.

Under the direction and supervision of the Department of Mental Health special investigators youths under 18 employed by the Tobacco Prevention Enforcement Program attempted to purchase tobacco products at 37 establishments.

The three establishments found to be in violation are Sam’s Foods Store, 2201 Meriden Waterbury Turnpike in Marion; Milldale Mobil, 1896 Meriden Waterbury Turnpike in Milldale and Quick Mart located at 802 West St.

The offending clerks at these establishments were each issued an infraction violation with a $200 fine.

The clerk at Sam’s Foods Store was identified as Iftikhar Ahmed, age 49, of Flushing, N.Y.. Ahmed sold two Dutch Master Cigars valued at $1 each.

The clerk at Milldale Mobil was identified as Arthur Riley, age 19, of Meriden. Riley sold one Vanilla cigar valued at $1.35.

The clerk at Quick Mart was identified as Parul Patel, age 43, of Glastonbury. Patel sold one pack of Camel brand cigarettes valued at $6.32.

Tobacco laws to change in October

On June 22, President Barack Obama signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, or the FSPTCA. This law grants the FDA permission to control and regulate all tobacco products.

According to the FDA’s Web site, the FDA plans to, by October, prohibit cigarettes from having “candy, fruit or spice flavors as their characterizing flavors.” The FDA is expected to set in more regulations as time passes. Such regulations may include:

By January 2010, tobacco manufacturers and importers are expected to have to submit product information to the FDA.

By April 2010, the FDA plans to reissue a 1996 regulation aimed at reducing tobacco use among minors.

By July of 2010, it is expected that tobacco manufacturers will no longer be able to use the terms “light,” “low” or “mild” without a special order from the FDA. The FDA also plans to revise warning labels on smokeless tobacco products

By October 2012, the FDA plans to strengthen the warning labels on cigarette packs.
In St. Cloud, some businesses rely on the sale of flavored tobacco products.
The Smoke Shop, located on Division Street, is one such shop

The manager of the Smoke Shop, Alex Dodin, said that Djarum cigarettes and Dream cigarettes were going to be banned along with flavored cigarillos as of Sept. 22.

He said he was not sure what else would be taken off the market and said these news laws against flavored tobacco would strongly affect his business.

“What else are they going to smoke after this?” Didon added.

Ezekial Butler, SCSU junior and CA for Stearns Hall, had some opinions on the proposed ban.

He said that he occasionally enjoyed the Dream cigarettes and will stock up before the ban takes hold.

“They [The FDA] have a decent reason to ban flavored cigarettes, but it’s unfair to those who are of age that enjoy them,” Butler said. “Even though I plan on quitting, this new ban is not going to stop me from smoking.”

The new laws that are planned to be put into affect are aimed at decreasing smoking among adolescents, but it may also have consequences for those who sell and those who enjoy smoking tobacco legally.

Importer tries to get around clove smoke ban

The nation's top distributor of clove cigarettes is offering fans a new way to get their fix after the spice-flavored cigarettes are banned later this year — cigars.

The new filtered cigars — close to the size of a cigarette and flavored with clove, vanilla and cherry — allow Kretek International Inc., which imports Djarum-brand tobacco products from Indonesia, to avoid new federal laws banning flavored cigarettes other than menthol.

The ban on flavored cigarettes, which critics say appeal to teenagers, goes into effect at the end of September. It doesn't include cigars.

The difference? Cigarettes are wrapped in thin paper, cigars in tobacco leaves. While the cigars also are made with a different kind of tobacco, the taste is similar. The cigars come 12 to a pack, rather than 20 for cigarettes, but cost nearly half as much.

The ban is one of the first visible effects of a new law signed by President Barack Obama in June that gives the Food and Drug Administration wide-ranging authority to regulate tobacco, though it can't ban nicotine or tobacco outright.

The new law gives the FDA the power to ban other products like flavored cigars, but that hasn't happened yet.

Whether the cigars are truly different or just an attempt to circumvent the ban by making superficial changes is in the hands of the FDA, said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

"The key is the legislation gives the FDA the authority to respond to these types of frankly totally irresponsible actions," Myers said.

Myers joined executives from the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the Amercian Legacy Foundation late last month urging the FDA to take a closer look at the issue.

Often associated with hippies and other bohemians, clove cigarettes may be the most well-known target of the ban. Some major cigarette makers experimented with mint- or chocolate-flavored blends earlier this decade, but many of those products are no longer made after coming under fire, accused of targeting children.

John Geoghegan, director of brand development for Moorpark, Calif.-based Kretek International, said the private company has been "puzzled about (the ban) since the very beginning" because clove cigarettes constitute less than 1 percent of cigarettes sold in the U.S.

"For people to say, 'Well, clove is a starter cigarette or a trainer cigarette' or something was just preposterous," Geoghegan said, citing company research about when and how consumers begin smoking.

Kretek International holds a 97 percent U.S. market share with its line of Djarum clove cigarettes, a staple of Indonesian smoking culture.

The U.S. market for clove cigarettes is about $140 million annually, with about 1.25 million clove smokers. Cloves have been imported to the U.S. since the 1960s and are mostly smoked by people younger than 30.

While Geoghegan said clove cigarettes make up about 65 percent of Kretek International's business, the ban is "damaging but not fatal" because of the company's other products like lighters and pipe tobacco.

Now, clove smokers are being forced to decide whether to switch to the new cigars, or quit. Many will likely stock up or try to buy product over the Internet.

And how the ban will work remains a point of contention for shop owners who sell clove cigarettes. But the FDA says the message is clear: Flavored cigarettes are banned, and the agency has the authority necessary to enforce the prohibition.

"So, what do we do with the stuff that's on the shelves? Who eats that? Is it legal to sell until it's gone or what?" asked Jim Carlson, owner of two CVille Smoke Shop stores in Charlottesville, Va., about 70 miles northwest of Richmond.

Carlson said he sells about 3,000 packs of the flavored cigarettes a year.

"You don't make a lot of money, but still it's income ... and it brings customers into the store," he said.

Lake Isabella, Calif., resident Terry Day, 42, used to drive 240 miles round trip to buy clove cigarettes when he lived in rural Valentine, Neb. He said he might try the cigars but was dubious about whether he would like them.

"I certainly don't like to be forced into that choice," said the clove smoker of 14 years. "I'm probably going to buy me enough to last until Oct. 1, then I'm just going to have to quit."

Tobacco Maker Names Chairman

British American Tobacco PLC on Wednesday tapped former Bank of Ireland PLC Governor Richard Burrows as its new chairman.

Mr. Burrows will take over from Jan du Plessis, who will become chairman of Rio Tinto PLC, on Nov. 1.

Mr. Burrows resigned from the Bank of Ireland in May, following a troubled fiscal year in which the bank's net profit dropped to €69 million ($97.5 million) from €1.7 billion a year earlier and had to seek €3.5 billion in financial assistance from the Irish government. Mr. Burrows apologized to investors at the time for the loss of shareholder value and the cancellation of the company's dividend.

BAT, meanwhile, demonstrated the resilience of the tobacco industry last month when it posted a 16% rise in first-half net profit to £1.45 billion ($2.4 billion).

Sales of cigarettes are continuing to hold up pretty well in the recession because smokers are reluctant to give up tobacco. Also, any dropoff in volume can be offset with price increases. The company's shares have risen 3.4% in the past year.

Analysts weren't concerned by Mr. Burrows's Bank of Ireland record, concentrating instead on his highly successful career in the fast-moving consumer-goods industry.

He was chief executive of Irish Distillers from 1978 until its takeover by Pernod Ricard SA in 1988. He continued to work within the French drinks company and eventually served as co-chief executive of Pernod Ricard from 2000 to 2005.

The BAT chair is a nonexecutive position, but a higher-profile role than at other similarly sized companies. During his five years in the job, Mr. du Plessis took responsibility for commenting on any political issues -- such as antismoking legislation -- leaving Chief Executive Paul Adams to concentrate on operational matters.

Mr. Burrows will be paid an annual salary of £525,000 and will work a two-day week for BAT. The salary is below the £686,000 Mr. du Plessis received to reflect the short working week, the company said.

Ohio dealt decisive blow in tobacco funds dispute

The Strickland administration will mount an appeal to a Tuesday court ruling that would prevent the state from using $230 million in smoking prevention funding to help pay for home-care services under Ohio’s latest budget.

Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge David Fais’ decision bars the state from touching $230 million from the dissolved Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation. The battle over the money began in April 2008, when Gov. Ted Strickland outlined plans to use tobacco foundation money to partly finance a $1.57 billion jobs stimulus plan in the state.

With the money frozen while the legal fight played out, the state shifted the intended use of the cash to optional Medicaid services, a children’s Medicaid expansion and cancer screenings, said Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst.

In the ruling, Fais wrote that two pieces of legislation backing a liquidation of the foundation and transfer of the money are unenforceable because they “clearly violate” tenets of the state Constitution. Assets in the foundation’s endowment fund are now in the state Treasury’s custody, but they’re to be used solely for tobacco prevention programs mounted by public or private agencies.

Wurst said Strickland was disappointed by the ruling and the time it took to reach a decision. The governor has asked state Attorney General Richard Cordray to speed an appeal of Fais’ ruling “to ensure these vital services continue for Ohioans.”

“Today’s ruling will delay or jeopardize the ability of these health-care services to continue to serve the people of Ohio,” Wurst said.

Fais reiterated a position he held when issuing an injunction on use of the money last February: The state had a reasonable alternative to raiding the tobacco fund for the jobs stimulus plan by issuing bonds instead.

Tough Summer for Tobacco Crop

It's a sight you'll find up and down the Connecticut River Valley, field after field abandoned or already harrowed.

"It's like a ghost town," said Allan Zuchowski. "It's like a spaceship came and took all the farmers away."

It's not the farmers that are gone, but instead their tobacco crops, a result of a very cold and wet summer.

Zuchowski, a farmer in Hadley, has lost seven acres worth.

"It pays the bills. It replaces the equipment. It keeps up the buildings," he said.

Wally Czajkowski, another farmer in town, has lost 30 acres.

"It's just a big hole in the middle of our season," he said.

It's leaving a big hole in Czajkowski's wallet. His tobacco crop makes up a third of his income.

Both farmers say it's a combination of factors that have led to the devastating loss. Four diseases attacked the crops early in the season, and the cold and wet weather made it too difficult for the plants to fight them off.

One virus many tobacco farmers are dealing with leaves spots all over each leaf. When cured, the spots become holes, and the leaf becomes useless.

"Tobacco is a job that requires many hands and many hours and those hands are idle now," said Zuchowski.

"There's going to be a lot of unemployed farm workers this fall," said Czajkowski.

Both Zuchowski and Czajkowski are now paying close attention to their other crops. They must now rely on those to make up for the loss of income.

But both say they're not giving up on tobacco.

"We'll just try again next year," said Czajkowski.

Farm Labor Supply Surprising Tobacco Growers

About the time the economy went in the dumper in 2001 folks started saying that the recession would improve the farm labor supply. But a fellow at an agricultural outlook seminar in Gainesville, Fla., said the supply of field laborers was just fine.

"We have a great system," he said. "It's called Greyhound. It crosses the border, picks up workers and when the job's done, it takes them back home."

No self-respecting American who could get a check in the mailbox would go sweat in a field, the speaker said. At the time, he was accurate.

Either times have changed and some of those folks who could get a check prefer to earn an honest's days wages - as my parents and grandparents taught - or, well, I don't think there is an or. You see, those checks still are available to just about everyone who asks for one and Congress keeps extending unemployment eligibility.

But farmers are reporting Americans coming to see about working in their fields. Laborer jobs. Earlier today Ray Tucker couldn't help grinning when he said an American was among the fellows harvesting the tobacco on his Kentucky farm. And Jay sounded a little proud when he said the American was keeping up with the Mexicans who came here through the H2A program.

More Cigarettes More Health Problems

A recent study found that smokers have more migraine attacks than non-smokers. But a research published in The Journal of Headache and Pain indicated that smoking could ameliorate migraines by reducing anxiety, one of the main factors that spark an attack.
One advantage of this study is that the sample used, 361 medicine students from the University of Salamanca, were fully informed about what a migraine was. Most surveys which studied the migraine in smokers are done in people without knowledge of the illness, but this recent study tried to found about the presence or absence of migraine and whether or not they smoked in people knowing everything about this disease.
At the end of the investigation was found that 16% of students fulfilled migraine criteria, while 20% smoked. But the percentage of smokers was higher (29%) in those who were also migraine sufferers and migraine frequency in those students who were migraine sufferers and smokers was clearly higher than in those who were non-smokers and migraine sufferers.
According to this last study, smoking is a precipitating factor of this type of headache, as the influence of active smokers is one third higher in migraine sufferers and there is a direct relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and the frequency of migraine attacks.
At the end of the study researchers became more stressed, because they assure that the tobacco dosage play a very important role in migraine sufferers. The study results detected that the migraine sets in after five daily cigarettes.
Moreover, although the percentage of those who smoked was higher in people with migraines, they smoked less than those who did not suffer migraines. This is because they knew that if they will smoke more than five cigarettes a day, they would be more likely to have a migraine attack.
The neurologists argued that in no case should a migraine sufferer be advised to smoke thinking that it is going to improve their migraines.

Tobacco use

In conformity with 2002 edition of World Tobacco Atlas published by the WHO, in the region of the Caribbean Sea and Central America, every year local smokers consume from 500 to 1,200 cigarettes each. Although the smoking rates among men tend to drop in recent years, this decline is very slow-going.

Moreover, generally, more educated men from the Caribbean countries do not smoke or have quit lighting up, being aware of all the negative health consequences related to smoking. Therefore, smoking is more likely to be widespread among the non-educated lower- income men.

History of Montecristo

Distributed widely throughout the world and sold originally by Dunhill New York, the Montecristo brand cigar currently accounts for almost 50% of all Cuban cigars exported each year, making the Montecristo the most popular Havana cigar in the world. The Montecristo was originally branded in 1935 under the name “the H. Upmann Montecarlo Selection”.When appointed the British distribution agent, the John Hunter firm shortened the brand’s name to Montecristo. The John Hunter firm also redesigned the brand’s logo to its distinctive red and yellow box with the triangular crossed swords.These delicious, full-flavored cigars are highly recognizable to the pallate due to their unique tobacco blend, and their highly distinctive flavor. The Montecarlo brand is also highly popular as the result of it’s exeptionally consistent quality.

Highest standard of quality

Relying on the skills and experience of the decades, our Karelia cigarettes insist on the highest standard of quality. The state -of-the-art production services are among the first in Europe, producing for about 15 billion cigarettes per year.These exquisite cigarettes have been created from a superior blend of tobaccos to produce a cigarette of perfection. Grown in tender beams of hot Greek sun, Karelia Cigarette possesses an irresistible bouquet of tobacco flavor. Karelia presently exports its Premium brands to over fifty countries within Greece and Europe mainly, but to North America, Asia Pacific Africa and South America also not without participation of our online shop.Recently the company started the Karelia Tobacco Company (UK) Ltd., that is, the new subsidiary in order to sell its brands on the English market.
Karelia Tobacco Company Inc. is the Greece’s leading cigarette manufacturer and exporter. The Company’s principal activity is the manufacturing of cigarettes and other linked to tobacco products. Karelia Company became now an international Company, which exports cigarettes and tobacco products over the World. Karelia is family-owned company and is very proud of its position and traditions. George Karelia produces a wide range of tobacco products and different brands. Karelia Company produces “Kasetina”, the archetypal Greek brand, as a part of the local heritage in Greece.

Davidoff most luxury things

Davidoff brand is most luxury things. There are excellent cigars, cigarettes and pipe tobacco. Beautiful accessories that are embodiment of elegance of quality are also produced under Davidoff mark.
Everything that is produced under Davidoff brand are worldly recognized as of premium quality. All tobacco products of this company brand are shadowed under same brilliance star.
Mentioning trade name “Davidoff” first that comes into mind is luxury. This is referred to Davidoff cigarettes too. They are beyond doubt from superior tobacco that was created for smoking persons that wish to taste beauty of life.
Blend of Davidoff cigarettes is of time-experienced quality that becomes a prominent international tobacco brand name of this famous firm.
Emotions that offer this cigarette brand are full of outstanding fragrance that is accompanied by delicate flavor. Taste of Davidoff smoking cigs you will never forget or compare.
It is very hard to render luxuriousness and elegance of Davidoff smoking tobacco using words from nowadays vocabulary. This cigarette brand will be undeviating placed on premier rank on tobacco markets from entire world forever.
The prototype of Davidoff tobacco brand is allied in elegant hard packs that are differentiated in colors and smoking taste. This premium tobacco is presented in variety of Davidoff Classic, Davidoff Lights and Davidoff Slim Lights.
These smoking cigarettes are different in color, but not in gorgeousness of quality.

Uganda: Tobacco Firms Should Be Socially Responsible

I wish to draw attention to the damage tobacco growing has caused to the environment in West Nile, the North, Bunyoro and south-western Uganda.
Several acres of woodland have been felled for flue-cured tobacco production in Maracha, Arua, Koboko, Yumbe, Hoima, and Masindi districts. Forests that would otherwise have filtered carbon emissions and protected arable land from erosion are removed, and temperatures in the tobacco-growing districts are rising.
Firms like British American Tobacco, Leaf Tobacco and Commodity, as well as Continental, in their fallacy, give eucalyptus seedlings to farmers supposedly to replace chopped forests without considering the long maturity period and its impact on the water table.
The tobacco firms do not plough back their high profits yet they hype their cosmetic social responsibility programmes. South African Breweries' "Drive Arrive Campaign" resulted into 10% decline in road accident-related deaths in 1998. What have the tobacco companies done?
Apart from the trivial contribution through the mandatory 2000 Crop Ordinance that Arua enacted, tobacco companies have not done much for the community. Since tobacco growing is laborious and an all-year round activity, many food crops are foregone by tobacco farmers, which has caused food insecurity.
Besides, during peak seasons, students stay home harvesting tobacco, leading to poor academic performance and child labour. Tobacco companies have not trained farmers to invest their little earnings and this leaves them in a cyclical poverty trap.
The negative impact of tobacco growing includes the accumulation of chemical compounds in soils and declining fertility. Tobacco production negatively affects people's health. The effects include nicotine poisoning, pesticide exposure, respiratory effects, musculoskeletal and other injuries.
The Government should assist tobacco growers in West Nile to produce alternative crops that thrive well there without fertilisers or pesticides. The sh48b the Government gets in tax revenues from tobacco exports and products should not shroud the negative effects on tobacco on the population.

Wegmans, DeCicco Markets Ditch Cigarettes

Anti-smoking groups are praising Wegmans Food Markets and DeCicco Markets for discontinuing the sale of tobacco products at their stores.

The American Lung Association of New York State presented Wegmans with the Lung Champion Award to recognize the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer’s January 2008 decision to stop the sale of such items at all 70 of its locations, which are in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland.

“The American Lung Association of New York State commends Wegmans for its leadership in removing cigarettes from store shelves and putting the public health of its employees and customers above profits,” said Deborah Carioto, president of the organization. “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in this country, and with the single act of halting tobacco sales in its stores, Wegmans has set what I hope will be a trend among major retailers in this country.”

Besides banning the sale of tobacco products, Wegmans now offers a quit-smoking program for its employees. It said 550 are currently enrolled.

“Wegmans believes that the many young people who work in our stores will be affected by the message the company they work for is willing to give up profits out of concern for their health,” said Wegmans vice president Mary Ellen Burris.

Pelham, N.Y.-based DeCicco Markets, with locations in both Westchester and Rockland counties, stopped selling tobacco products at five of its six grocery stores in February. The sixth location, which opened in Ardsley, N.Y. last year, has never carried tobacco products.

DeCicco was honored at the sixth annual “No Thanks, Big Tobacco” appreciation event sponsored by the Elmsford, N.Y.-based Tobacco Control Partners of the Lower Hudson Valley.

Imperial Reports Lower Profit, to Raise $10 Billion

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc reported a 45 percent drop in first-half profit on costs for buying Altadis SA and said it will sell stock worth 4.9 billion pounds ($10 billion) to current investors to help fund the takeover.
Net income dropped to 233 million pounds in the six months through March from 421 million pounds a year earlier, the Bristol, England-based company said today in a statement. That missed the 370 million-pound median estimate of five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Imperial agreed to buy Madrid-based Altadis in July of last year, months after unveiling the acquisition of U.S. cigarettes maker Commonwealth Brands. Most of the Spanish company's sales come from its domestic market and France, adding to its allure for Imperial, which is expanding in new locations because its main U.K. and German markets are shrinking.
``The focus will be to see how Altadis is performing,'' Rogerio Fujimori, an analyst at Credit Suisse in London, said yesterday. The takeover gave Imperial, Europe's second-largest cigarettes maker, cigarette brands including Gauloises and the world's largest manufacturer of cigars.

Investors will have the right to buy one new share for every two held as of May 15, said Imperial, the maker of Lambert & Butler and Davidoff cigarettes. It will sell 338.7 million new shares for 1,475 pence each, 44 percent less than yesterday's closing price in London trading.
Imperial rose 16 pence, or 0.6 percent, to 2,618 pence in London yesterday. The stock has slipped 3.5 percent in 2008, while larger competitor British American Tobacco Plc, the maker of Pall Mall cigarettes, is little changed.
The cigarette maker had said costs related to the Altadis purchase would lop 110 million pounds from first-half profit. The drop in earnings is ``all because of this exceptional charge,'' Fujimori said.
Imperial had said it would sell as much as 5 billion pounds of stock by July to help finance the takeover and retain its investment-grade credit rating. The company has raised its stake in Logista, the Spanish cigarette distributor controlled by Altadis, to about 97 percent following an offer to minority investors this month.