Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Cheap Newport Cigarettes

NewportNewport, introduced in 1957, is a brand of menthol cigarettes produced by Lorillard Tobacco Company of Greensboro, North Carolina, United States.  In the United States it is considered to be one of the most selling and preferable brands from the menthol category. Newport cigarettes are commonly referred to as “newies,” “new-pees,” , “ports,” and “ghetto breath mints.” They also have many slang terms such a “shorts” “longs” and “loosies”, all of which could be used for other brands but started in the 60′s with Newports and still usually refer to Newports. Newports are particularly popular among the African-American community; a 2005 survey states that 49.5% of cigarette sales to African-Americans were Newports.
Newport has these flavors: full, medium, lights, and “M Blend” — a mixture of a light and a medium flavor. Each is packaged in Regular (Kings, Shorts) and 100′s. The 100 mm has a longer filter. There is also a 25 mm package.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Taking Tobacco Trouble to Duty

Taking Tobacco Trouble to Duty
In most of the villages in the country, it is a common sight to see menfolk — and even children — chewing tobacco, a habit that becomes addiction and the cause of oral cancer. However, there are some villages in Belgaum district in Karnataka where the villagers have ‘banned’ tobacco. Fine is slapped on shops that are found selling gutkha.
Also, those who were earlier addicted to chewing tobacco are now themselves supporting the campaign against it. The campaign involves everyone in the villages: farmers, women, school children and panchayat leaders. When Express visited some of these villages, it came to light that although the villagers are against tobacco and liquor, some business interests are trying to make sure that the business survives and thrives there. Also, even though most of the rural populace is against these Gauloises addictions, the sale of such products continues in a covert way.
How it started 13 years ago
Kalloli village in Gokak taluk took offence to gutkha 13 years ago. The local leaders of Bajrang Dal started the campaign against gutkha and appealed to all the vendors of pan shops and provision stores to stop selling it.
They started the movement after seeing that even primary school students were addicted to chewing tobacco.
Although many vendors agreed to Bajrang Dal’s request, some approached police as legally the shopowners are allowed to sell tobacco.
Even the then DSP got involved in the debate. Ultimately, a resolution was passed wherein it was decided to rid the village of gutkha. After the resolution was passed, four shops were found selling gutkha and they were asked to pay a fine of `1,000 each. Also, villagers declared `100 reward for those who would help catch such offenders red-handed.
Soon the news of Kalloli’s anti-gutkha campaign reached a neighbouring village Rajapur. These villagers too adopted a resolution to save its youth from the health hazards that come with chewing tobacco.
Hefty penalty, strict warning
Another village that has woken up to the hazards of chewing gutkha, Biranagaddi, has already collected `80,000 as fine from those who were found selling gutkha and/or liquor. The amount has been used to construct a community hall and renovate Basaveshwara temple. Also, the villagers have taken note of the practice wherein menfolk get drunk in a neighbouring village and create nuisance back home. They have been clearly told not to quarrel with anybody in inebriated condition and sleep in their house.
Basavaraj Kadadi, one of the anti-gutkha campaigners, says now just one-two per cent people of Kalloli and
Rajapur villages chew tobacco.
A villager Goudappa Kotigi reminisces how his village was nine months ago, when even students of fourth class could be seen consuming alcohol openly. He said it was this sight that got them thinking about starting a campaign against tobacco and liquor.
All is well? No
Some youths of Gokak taluk complain that arrack lobby was stopping them from prohibiting the sale of liquor. A youth, on condition of anonymity, said the arrack lobby was involved with some politicians and thus nobody dared confronting them.
Bailoor and Tigadolli villages of Bailhongal taluk have banned the sale of arrack but the business goes on behind closed doors. The covert trade goes in Balobal too. A 13-year-old boy told Express that there was total ban on sale for three-four months but now someone had resumed it.
Sanganakere Cross in Gokak taluk is the hub of tobacco chewers of nearby villages where gutkha has been banned.
Former addict Shivanand, President of Vishnua Sena, said Sanganakere Cross is the centre point and most addicts get their gutkha sachets from here. He said even drivers and cleaners of commercial vehicles were serving the addicts by bringing sachets from Sanganakere Cross to the villages.
Shivanand said they had observed a day’s bandh there but the vendors were not keen to stop the sale.
Unperturbed, the villagers are determined to end the tobacco menace.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Kelly Osbourne And Miley Share – Celebrity Bond

Kelly Osbourne And Miley Share – Celebrity Bond

Kelly Osbourne has revealed she and Miley Cyrus hit it off on the set of their new movie ‘So Undercover’ because they both have famous parents. Kelly Osbourne and Miley Cyrus have bonded because of their famous parents.

The pair became close while working on movie ‘So Undercover’ together and Kelly – the daughter of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and TV star Sharon – explained they became close because they are so similar and both understand the pressure of being the kids of celebrities.

Speaking about Miley – whose father is ‘Achy Breaky Heart’ singer Billy Ray Cyrus – Kelly told the Daily Record newspaper: “I didn’t know Miley well before. We had only met once or twice but as soon as we started shooting it was pretty instant how we got along so well.

“She just gets it. She has a really similar upbringing to me – though her side of things is on a completely different scale to mine.

“I’m from rock ‘n’ roll music and hers is country . but she gets it.

“It’s nice to hang around an unaffected girl you can have fun with and understand what I go through and I understand what she goes through.”

The pair are so close that Kelly previously took to twitter to defend Miley after the 18-year-old singer-and-actress was filmed smoking Bond a legal high from a bong – a filtration device generally used for smoking illegal drug cannabis.

She previously tweeted: “This really makes me mad. Miley is one of the most hard working respectful women I have ever worked with I am learning a lot from her!

“Miley and I have become really close I’m sick of all the haters judging her she made one mistake and trust me she has learned her lesson!”

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Panel Pushes Tobacco Law Change

Panel Pushes Tobacco Law Change
In the waning days before Republican lawmakers present a reworked version Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011-13 budget, the Legislature’s finance committee pushed through major changes to the tax structure on some smokeless tobacco products.
The Joint Finance Committee approved a provision put forth by Altria Client Services Inc., parent company of tobacco giant Philip Morris and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, that would tax moist snuff, or chewing tobacco, by weight, not a percentage of what it costs distributors.
The tobacco would be taxed at a rate of $1.76 per ounce, or $2.11 if it weighed less than 1.2 ounces.
David Sutton, spokesman for Altria, said it would put smokeless tobacco products on par with other items like Marengo cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline, which Wisconsin taxes by volume. U.S. Smokeless Tobacco is the largest producer of moist snuff and includes the brands Copenhagen and Skoal.
“This is just a much more effective system,” Sutton said. “And it’s why the federal government uses it and two dozen states have gone to the weight-based approach.”
Wisconsin switched from a weight-based tax in 2009 under then-Gov. Jim Doyle as part of a broad tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco products to shore up the state’s flailing budget.
Noncigarette tobacco taxes tallied $59.89 million in 2009-10, up from $29.75 million in 2007-08, but that also included tax increases on cigars and other tobacco products.
State Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, a member of the Joint Finance Committee, said tax rates could be adjusted so the fiscal impact would be minimal. However, opponents point out that weight-based taxes rarely keep up with inflation. Beer, for example, is taxed by volume, and tax collections have increased just $120,000 in the last 10 years.
An ounce of moist snuff was taxed $1.31 in 2008. Distributors now pay a tax equal to 100 percent of the manufacturer’s list price, so brands that charge more for their product — like Skoal and Copenhagen — are taxed at a higher rate. A weight-based tax would likely make the top brands cheaper at checkout while lower-priced products would become more expensive.
Opponents of the effort said switching to a weight-based tax would steer more minors toward tobacco because the desirable products with flashy advertising would be cheaper.
“We’re concerned that changing the taxation on tobacco would make certain products more accessible to kids,” said Gail Sumi, government relations director for the American Cancer Society. “Thirteen percent of kids already use smokeless tobacco. We don’t need to make it easier.”
Writing policy measures into the budget almost guarantees they don’t undergo the same scrutiny as other bills that require separate legislative hearings and votes from lawmakers. That’s problematic, said Sen. Rob Cowles, R-Allouez.
“They’re down to the last week and there’s all sorts of crazy stuff coming up,” Cowles said. “All this stuff should not be taken up in the state budget.”
Nygren said he agreed that the topic would benefit from a full debate but added the law was changed in 2009 in a similar manner.
“One of the things we could do with policies that are egregious and out of line, the quickest way to change them back is to do it in this budget,” he said.