Cheap Newport Cigarettes

Newport, 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.

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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.

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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!”

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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.

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Snus focus of yearlong study

A University of South Carolina researcher is preparing to answer two questions with widespread implications for the tobacco industry and public-health community.
Can a smokeless product, in this instance Camel Snus, contribute to a smoker quitting cigarettes — particularly one who doesn’t want to stop?
If it does, could an increase in use of smokeless-tobacco products over cigarettes cause a net harm to the population?
Trying to provide clarity is Matthew Carpenter, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the Department of Medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina. Carpenter’s research focus has been on tobacco use and control, with his studies primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The yearlong study will consist of 1,250 smokers nationwide, half being given Camel Snus or another smokeless product, and the other half given nothing.
Carpenter’s research team wants to learn whether Snus leads to quit attempts, smoking reduction and cessation. They also want to measure the amount and pattern of Snus use.
“The study will provide strong, clear and objective evidence to guide clinical and regulatory decision-making for this controversial area of tobacco control,” Carpenter said.
Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said research of smokeless products must evaluate what harm is caused by the product along with how the product is marketed.
“If a smokeless product reduces the risk of disease, but results in more people using tobacco, it could result in more deaths, not fewer,” Myers said.
Carpenter said researchers are not trying to encourage the use of smokeless tobacco with the study.
“We’re just trying to mimic the real-world scenario of a smoker being exposed to these products in their own environment, such as a grocery store,” Carpenter said.
“If they decide to use them, what is the effect? We believe no matter the determination of this study, it will have a public-health impact.”
The study follows up on a similar smoking-cessation study Carpenter released in February 2010 on Star Scientific Inc.’s Ariva and Stonewell tobacco lozenges.
The main determination of that study was smoking decreased by 40 percent during the two-week study period, but overall use of tobacco remained stable.
“This suggests that Ariva and Stonewall are effective products to curb withdrawal and craving,” Carpenter said in his report. “We found no changes in overall craving or withdrawal, as smokers substituted Ariva/Stonewall for cigarettes.
“We found no evidence that smokeless tobacco (Ariva or Stonewall) undermines quitting. To the contrary, readiness to quit — in the next month and within the next six months — significantly increased among smokers who used a smokeless-tobacco product relative to those who continued to smoke conventional cigarettes.”
Carpenter said it is “doubtful that a smokeless-tobacco product could ever serve as a total substitute for cigarettes among a majority of smokers.”
“However, the amount of substitution among those smokers who choose to use smokeless products is not insignificant,” he said.
* * * * *
The multimillion-dollar Camel Snus study is part of an initiative the National Cancer Institute began in October 2009.
The institute wants to determine whether smokeless products, such as snus and dissolvable Camel Orbs, Camel Sticks and Camel Strips from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., provide “a truly less-harmful alternative to conventional tobacco products, both at the individual and population level.”
“We want to explore all aspects of tobacco products, including the sale, marketing and health risks,” said Michele Bloch, medical officer of the Tobacco Control Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute.
Carpenter said “a number of short-term lab studies of toxicant exposure suggest smokeless tobacco could offer reduced harm as compared to conventional cigarettes.”
Major U.S. tobacco manufacturers, led by Reynolds, are putting more emphasis on smokeless products to gain market share and sales as the smoking rate among adults is declining. Government figures show that fewer than 44 million Americans smoke, down from a peak of 53.5 million in 1983.
“We certainly support studies conducted objectively while using sound scientific principles and techniques on the use of tobacco products and tobacco-harm reduction,” said David Howard, a spokesman for Reynolds.
The evolution of some health-advocacy groups from anti-smoking to anti-tobacco is ratcheting up the moralistic aspect of buying and consuming a legal product.
Some advocates say that smokeless tobacco can serve as a gateway for youths to smoking.
Others are encouraging the Food and Drug Administration to allow the advertising of smokeless tobacco as less harmful than cigarettes if such claims can be proved through research.
A study of smokers ages 18 to 70 — released in November by the Tobacco Use Research Center of the University of Minnesota — found that “quit rates for Camel Snus were comparable to those obtained with nicotine-replacement therapy.”
The Minnesota center said a “properly powered study is needed to determine if use of smokeless-tobacco products with higher nicotine content can be an effective path to smoking cessation, perhaps especially among smokers who are not interested in or previously were not successful with using approved pharmacotherapies.”
Reynolds added fuel to the debate in December when it launched its first campaign aimed specifically at encouraging smokers to switch to Camel Snus.
* * * * *
Reynolds has marketed Camel Snus as an option for tobacco consumers who can’t smoke in a growing majority of public venues.
Carpenter acknowledges the intensity of debate in his abstract. “There is limited evidence to determine if potentially reduced exposure products ultimately undermine or promote public health,” he said.
John Spangler, a professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said he supports research that determines whether smokeless tobacco can help with quitting cigarettes.
Spangler is conducting a National Cancer Institute study, which began in September 2009, that’s aimed at developing strategies to encourage reduced use or even quitting smokeless-tobacco products. Wake Forest received a $2.9 million grant for its study.
Among the goals are: determining the health risk of smokeless-tobacco products; whether the products serve as a gateway for nontobacco users, particularly teenagers and young adults, into smoking; and whether they can be accurately marketed as a reduced-risk alternative to cigarettes.
“We have a substantial amount of data in our research showing that users of smokeless tobacco have a very high likelihood, not of quitting smoking, but of co-using smokeless and cigarettes,” Spangler said.
Bill Godshall, executive director of SmokeFree Pennsylvania, said, “I’d be shocked if Reynolds would apply to market it as a smoking-cessation drug device.”
Scott Ballin, past chairman of the Coalition on Smoking or Health, said the study could demonstrate that there is not enough evidence available about reduced risk, “therefore products like snus or Ariva or Stonewall should not be able to make any claims.”
“That would preserve the status quo and give the pharmaceutical companies the competitive protections they want,” Ballin said.
In October, the consumer health care division of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which sells nicotine-replacement therapy products Nicorette and NicoDerm, requested that the FDA take Reynolds’ dissolvable tobacco products out of test markets.
The FDA acknowledges Reynolds is marketing the products to adult consumers, but has concerns that the marketing and shape of the dissolvable products might appeal to children and adolescents.
GSK’s request strikes at the core of Reynolds’ attempt to create a reputation as an innovator of products that could be less harmful to consumers than cigarettes.
Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health, said “GSK is clearly trying to protect its own market for dissolvable tobacco.”
“From a business perspective, this is understandable,” Whelan said. “But from a purely public-health point of view, if products like the orbs can help more smokers quit more effectively than other cessation products, then let them stay on the market.”

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Imperial Tobacco aims for organic growth

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On the first anniversary last week of Alison Cooper’s appointment as chief executive of Imperial Tobacco, an analyst at Investec Securities reminded investors of the fundamental question that she needs to answer: can the FTSE 100 tobacco company transform itself from the M&A machine it has been over the past two decades into a vehicle for organic growth?

The tobacco marketShareholders may have been temporarily distracted from that question by the announcement that Imperial would begin buying back shares.

The company has paid down debt from its last big deal – the acquisition of Altadis, maker of Gauloises Blondes, in 2008 – to just over two times earnings.

It will also push up dividends, hitting 50 per cent of adjusted earnings this year and aims to increase them ahead of the rate of earnings growth.

But with investors’ “cash return bloodlust now sated” – as the Investec analyst Martin Deboo put it – the organic growth question is nagging again.

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Ms Cooper does not deny the importance of the answer, for employees as much as investors. She recalls how, a year ago, some staff had seemed hesitant about the new direction she was advocating.

She wants to turn a team skilled at bedding down new businesses – from Australian, Dutch and African acquisitions in the late 1990s, to Reemtsma of Germany in 2002 and Altadis six years later – into one that can increase market share and volumes through better sales and marketing.

“They all said, ‘we like Alison, we really want to go for it’,” she says. “But they wanted to get some meat on the bones.” Enthusiasm has grown in the course of the year, she believes, as seen at a recent management meeting in Prague. “All the feedback from Prague was, ‘we really see it’.”

She has also brought in fresh blood. Two recent hires – a marketing director from Reckitt Benckiser and a sales director from Metro Group, the German retail business – underscore her belief that Imperial should think of itself as a regular fast-moving consumer goods company and that organic growth, not M&A, is top of the agenda.

Investors, meanwhile, saw some signs of progress in the company’s half-year results. Sales of its premium Davidoff brand were up 9 per cent, helped by a strong performance in emerging markets. And while the West value brand had subdued growth – up just 1 per cent – and cigarette volumes were down as a whole, fine-cut tobacco volumes rose 5 per cent.

“In most of my discussions with the investment community, I feel there’s a general growing confidence with the organic growth story,” says Ms Cooper.

Mr Deboo is less convinced. He points out that market share declined in the six months to March 31 in 11 of the company’s 20 reported markets, including Russia, France and regulation-hit Spain.

To counter these trends, Ms Cooper has been creating “cocktails” of solutions, designed for each territory. They are based on the notion that Imperial can improve revenues not just through pricing and cigarette sales, but by selling cigars, fine-cut tobacco, rolling papers and filters, even rolling machines.

The difficult UK market, where Imperial generates 13 per cent of its revenues via brands such as Lambert & Butler, Regal and Golden Virginia, is a good example. The company is coping with poorer, recession and austerity-hit smokers by pushing fine-cut tobacco as a cheaper alternative to cigarettes. This year, it introduced an alternative to roll-your-own tobacco: cigarette-making kits, with filters already fitted into tubes, and a special cut of loose tobacco to be fed into the tubes using a machine.

Julian Hardwick of RBS says: “There’s a perception in the market that the European Union is not a good place to have a tobacco business. One of the strong views that Alison has is that there are always growth opportunities. It may not be in cigarettes, it may not be in premium cigarettes, but there are always going to be opportunities, and it’s very important that Imperial capitalises on them through its ‘total tobacco’ portfolio. That’s a key mindset that’s brought to the whole business.”

If Ms Cooper can’t capitalise on these opportunities, M&A could be back on the agenda – this time with Imperial as the target.

Some of the 12 per cent climb in the share price since the start of the year has come on the back of research by analysts at Goldman Sachs arguing that four global tobacco companies – Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and Imperial – is still one too many. They argue that debt across the sector is low, volumes are stagnating and competition issues are not insurmountable, particularly if BAT were to buy Imperial.

Ms Cooper, who occasionally deviates from the on-message, unironic language of top managers to show a more jaundiced view of the world, is sceptical: “Anything to do with four to three has got very significant antitrust issues; I always describe it as not impossible but very difficult. But I’m sure bankers in particular will continue to speculate. Because I’m sure they’d love the fees on a deal like that.”

Her counterpart at BAT, meanwhile, who is also new to the job, says M&A will not be his focus for the next few years at least.

Mr Hardwick, of RBS, argues, like Ms Cooper, that if the market were taking bid speculation seriously, the shares would be much higher than they are. Even Mr Deboo says that the stock is a safe buy, “the closest thing to a bond available in the equity market”. He contests the notion, however, that Imperial is cheap next to rivals with greater emerging markets exposure.

Ms Cooper prefers to see emerging markets as one of the opportunities on offer for a company occupying fourth position in the global market. For the M&A bulls on the sidelines, being fourth could offer other tantalising opportunities, too.

The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

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Philip Morris International: Alternative Annual Report

Every year, one of the world’s best-known corporations provides its shareholders a glowing image of a company that is handsomely rewarding its shareholders by expanding into new markets, developing new products, and overcoming market and regulatory challenges.
The truth is that this corporation makes its billions of dollars in profits at the expense of people’s health and their lives. This report reveals the dark truth behind how Philip Morris International earns its profits.

Philip Morris International (PMI) is the world’s largest, deadliest and most profitable publicly traded transnational tobacco corporation. PMI currently operates in 180 countries and holds more than 27 percent of the international tobacco products market (excluding the People’s Republic of China and the United States). In 2010, PMI reported revenues (excluding taxes) of over US $27 billion and an operating income of US $11.2 billion. Another way to look at it: That’s $5,500 in profits for every person who has died so far this year from tobacco-related disease.

FINANCIAL LOWLIGHTS: THE PRICE PAID FOR PROFITS

PMI reported 11.6 percent growth in profits and an increase of 4.1 percent in its cigarette shipment volume in 2010. This increase in profits and volume contributes to:

One tobacco-related death every six seconds worldwide. That’s 5.4 million people every year.
Premature deaths. On average, smokers lose 15 years of life and up to half of all smokers will die of tobacco-related causes.
Higher healthcare costs and lost productivity. Tobacco causes a $500 billion global economic drain each year — nearly $74 for each person in the world.
For every dollar of PMI revenue, health care expenses and productivity loss cost the world economy $7.39.

To achieve these profits, PMI:

Spends nearly $5 on its so-called corporate social responsibility initiatives for every tobacco related death — a means of distracting attention from its core business of selling a harmful and deadly product.
Implements a range of tactics to undermine the success of public health policies that protect people from the harms of tobacco, including:

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