Post by lestrout on Sept 9, 2016 17:37:19 GMT -5
Marty Pulver's wonderful site, PulversBriar.com, often is a kind of blog, with interesting thoughts. Today, he has an interesting and compelling take on how the gross FDA regs may have come to pass"
" The Mill
Sept. 8, 2016;
My intention these past weeks was to
type and then post something both
germane and rational regarding the FDA
regulations that have us all shivering in
our timbers (or is that Timberlands?).
Twice I've started but could get no
further than a confused, chaotic rant,
which would not help anybody, least of
all myself and my blood pressure.
Perhaps this time something worth
sharing will emerge, thanks in good part
to a friend, (I hope) customer and
correspondent. He's bright and
insightful (notwithstanding that, he did
just get a fellowship to study a couple
years at Yale, which means, of course,
that they will dangle their $25 billion
endowment in front of his hungry face
while paying him what will average 45
cents per hour for his labors.
He reminded me of something that will
allow me to provide at least a bit of a
context to what is happening to us.
And it goes like this. Back when the
cigarette companies were digging
themselves into a deep ditch with lies
about what their research divulged about
the health hazards
of their product, the pipe and tobacco
people kept their mouths shut, hoping
that the negative blowback would not
also land on them. There are a bunch of
pathetic reasons for this
negligent, head in the sand attitude on
the part of the pipe and premium cigar
people, but it is also true that there was
but one slim lobbyist to cover both pipes
and cigars. He was a good, bright and
dedicated man, Norm Sharp, who had
been a Peace Corps volunteer. But one
man hired to cover 100 Senators and
over 430 Congressmen and women is not
designed to come on ssssssstrong, as
Martin Short might say. We were weak
and got swept up in the venomous anti-
tobacco tide, which demonizes anything
that uses that T word (despite that we
tobacconists don't consider what goes
into the major commercial cigarettes to
be real tobacco. It's the sweepings, so to
speak). That is why the old Retail
Tobacco Dealers of America, the RTDA,
changed its name to IPCPR, or
International Premium Cigar and Pipe
Retailers. They took the word “tobacco”
out of their name, but retained their
flaccid approach to dealing with the
problem that may yet sink us. Rather
lame approach to dealing with an
onslaught from the most powerful
government in the world, and about 80%
of its population.
During this initial anti-tobacco era, and
the expensive settlement with tobacco
companies that was meant to provide
standing funds for lawsuits against the
industry
(any company that could not, or would
not, pony up these millions in advance of
a potential law suit would simply not be
allowed in the U.S. market-place, which
is why you do not see any of those old
great, true tobacco-filled imported
cigarette brands in the U.S. any longer)
one company fulsomely (look it up) told
the public, and the incredibly gullible
and easily duped gov't. agency, the FDA,
that they were all for keeping tobacco
away from the rebellious, drug and
alcohol-infused teens that were smoking
(who else smokes...certainly not the
nerds that take AP classes with their
attendant 10 hrs. of homework each
night). That company was Philip Morris,
looking to be the greatest cartel in
history. They were pro all the stringent
regulations because they were the only
company that could comply. Those that
couldn't comply became history. And
that is how it has been since the
establishment of that Master Settlement
Agreement (MSA).
There were a lot of shenanigans in
getting this implemented, a lot of lies
and misinformation, but that's nothing
different than what happens anywhere
when so much money is at stake.
It went swimmingly until, and I quote
my newly Eli friend here: “ it finally
dawned on me why this is important to
the FDA and why the date of 2007. I
understand that the FDA has been trying
to regulate electronic cigarettes for the
last several years, and big tobacco is
quite perturbed because it's basically a
multi-billion dollar mom-and-pop
industry that Philip Morris and others
haven't been able to get a major foothold
in. It also cuts into sales of nicotine
gum, lozenges, pills, patches, and sprays
that major pharmaceutical companies
produce as cessation aids. 2007 or 2008
is when electronic cigarettes were
introduced to the US market. What
they've done here, and I think what is the
major move in regards to electronic
cigarettes, is to brand electronic
cigarettes as a tobacco product so that
they can be regulated as such under the
new guidelines. This is problematic
because the only thing that is used in
electronic cigarettes that comes from
tobacco is nicotine. If nicotine equals
tobacco, then under this faulty logic,
tomatoes and eggplants are arguably
also tobacco products that could require
arduous FDA testing -- why not? Most, if
not all, of the moms and pops that make
electronic cigarettes will not be able to
pay for testing of all of their products or
survive without income while their
products are being tested and sales are
suspended, but of course Philip Morris
will happily weather the storm if it means
it will kill off their competition. My
prediction is that when the FDA rules
come into effect and the dust settles,
we'll live in a golden age of Philip Morris
brand electronic cigarettes and Nicorette
Gum, and 10% of the population or so
(my estimate) will still smoke Marlboros
or their preferred brand and pay through
the nose for them. My guess is that
pipes and cigars aren't necessarily the
real target here, but rather are "collateral
damage" so that the FDA can make these
sweeping rulings about tobacco
products that really go after a cottage
industry that the people who butter their
bread want a piece of.”
That last line, for us, is perhaps the
crux of the matter. We, pipe smokers,
and premium cigars smokers, too (of
which many of us are a cadre) can easily
be considered collateral damage. No one
will care...certainly no one of any
moment in the larger reaches of the
tobacco business (although we may be
the only people who smoke actual, real,
quality, tobacco). It reminds me of a a
line in the old “I Claudius” series on
public television starring Derek Jacoby
and stemming from a book by Robert
Graves. Many of we old timers remember
that superb show. In one episode, the
wife of an emperor, Nero or Caligula, I
forget which, visits and addresses the
Gladiators in the bowels of the Coliseum
prior to their entry into the arena, to
provide amusement for the masses as
they fight to the death. She wants to
exhort them to fight well for the
entertainment value, issuing the line,
“you're scum, and you know it.” That is
how we are viewed and our demise is
more than acceptable.
This still leaves you and me without
confirmed information as to what will
happen to pipes as far as the FDA is
concerned. This is because neither I nor
the FDA, the dupe of Philip Morris,
knows the answer yet. If solid
information becomes available to me, I
will impart it to you. For now, it's
business as usual.
Marty
P.S. I have been posting pipes. On the
English page is a well grained Charatan
After Hours. On the Danish page is a
Stanwell with Regis. numbers, and on
the Italian page is an older Castello Old
Antiquari.
I can't understand why people are
frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of
the old ones. -John Cage, composer (5
Sep 1912-1992)"
hp
les
" The Mill
Sept. 8, 2016;
My intention these past weeks was to
type and then post something both
germane and rational regarding the FDA
regulations that have us all shivering in
our timbers (or is that Timberlands?).
Twice I've started but could get no
further than a confused, chaotic rant,
which would not help anybody, least of
all myself and my blood pressure.
Perhaps this time something worth
sharing will emerge, thanks in good part
to a friend, (I hope) customer and
correspondent. He's bright and
insightful (notwithstanding that, he did
just get a fellowship to study a couple
years at Yale, which means, of course,
that they will dangle their $25 billion
endowment in front of his hungry face
while paying him what will average 45
cents per hour for his labors.
He reminded me of something that will
allow me to provide at least a bit of a
context to what is happening to us.
And it goes like this. Back when the
cigarette companies were digging
themselves into a deep ditch with lies
about what their research divulged about
the health hazards
of their product, the pipe and tobacco
people kept their mouths shut, hoping
that the negative blowback would not
also land on them. There are a bunch of
pathetic reasons for this
negligent, head in the sand attitude on
the part of the pipe and premium cigar
people, but it is also true that there was
but one slim lobbyist to cover both pipes
and cigars. He was a good, bright and
dedicated man, Norm Sharp, who had
been a Peace Corps volunteer. But one
man hired to cover 100 Senators and
over 430 Congressmen and women is not
designed to come on ssssssstrong, as
Martin Short might say. We were weak
and got swept up in the venomous anti-
tobacco tide, which demonizes anything
that uses that T word (despite that we
tobacconists don't consider what goes
into the major commercial cigarettes to
be real tobacco. It's the sweepings, so to
speak). That is why the old Retail
Tobacco Dealers of America, the RTDA,
changed its name to IPCPR, or
International Premium Cigar and Pipe
Retailers. They took the word “tobacco”
out of their name, but retained their
flaccid approach to dealing with the
problem that may yet sink us. Rather
lame approach to dealing with an
onslaught from the most powerful
government in the world, and about 80%
of its population.
During this initial anti-tobacco era, and
the expensive settlement with tobacco
companies that was meant to provide
standing funds for lawsuits against the
industry
(any company that could not, or would
not, pony up these millions in advance of
a potential law suit would simply not be
allowed in the U.S. market-place, which
is why you do not see any of those old
great, true tobacco-filled imported
cigarette brands in the U.S. any longer)
one company fulsomely (look it up) told
the public, and the incredibly gullible
and easily duped gov't. agency, the FDA,
that they were all for keeping tobacco
away from the rebellious, drug and
alcohol-infused teens that were smoking
(who else smokes...certainly not the
nerds that take AP classes with their
attendant 10 hrs. of homework each
night). That company was Philip Morris,
looking to be the greatest cartel in
history. They were pro all the stringent
regulations because they were the only
company that could comply. Those that
couldn't comply became history. And
that is how it has been since the
establishment of that Master Settlement
Agreement (MSA).
There were a lot of shenanigans in
getting this implemented, a lot of lies
and misinformation, but that's nothing
different than what happens anywhere
when so much money is at stake.
It went swimmingly until, and I quote
my newly Eli friend here: “ it finally
dawned on me why this is important to
the FDA and why the date of 2007. I
understand that the FDA has been trying
to regulate electronic cigarettes for the
last several years, and big tobacco is
quite perturbed because it's basically a
multi-billion dollar mom-and-pop
industry that Philip Morris and others
haven't been able to get a major foothold
in. It also cuts into sales of nicotine
gum, lozenges, pills, patches, and sprays
that major pharmaceutical companies
produce as cessation aids. 2007 or 2008
is when electronic cigarettes were
introduced to the US market. What
they've done here, and I think what is the
major move in regards to electronic
cigarettes, is to brand electronic
cigarettes as a tobacco product so that
they can be regulated as such under the
new guidelines. This is problematic
because the only thing that is used in
electronic cigarettes that comes from
tobacco is nicotine. If nicotine equals
tobacco, then under this faulty logic,
tomatoes and eggplants are arguably
also tobacco products that could require
arduous FDA testing -- why not? Most, if
not all, of the moms and pops that make
electronic cigarettes will not be able to
pay for testing of all of their products or
survive without income while their
products are being tested and sales are
suspended, but of course Philip Morris
will happily weather the storm if it means
it will kill off their competition. My
prediction is that when the FDA rules
come into effect and the dust settles,
we'll live in a golden age of Philip Morris
brand electronic cigarettes and Nicorette
Gum, and 10% of the population or so
(my estimate) will still smoke Marlboros
or their preferred brand and pay through
the nose for them. My guess is that
pipes and cigars aren't necessarily the
real target here, but rather are "collateral
damage" so that the FDA can make these
sweeping rulings about tobacco
products that really go after a cottage
industry that the people who butter their
bread want a piece of.”
That last line, for us, is perhaps the
crux of the matter. We, pipe smokers,
and premium cigars smokers, too (of
which many of us are a cadre) can easily
be considered collateral damage. No one
will care...certainly no one of any
moment in the larger reaches of the
tobacco business (although we may be
the only people who smoke actual, real,
quality, tobacco). It reminds me of a a
line in the old “I Claudius” series on
public television starring Derek Jacoby
and stemming from a book by Robert
Graves. Many of we old timers remember
that superb show. In one episode, the
wife of an emperor, Nero or Caligula, I
forget which, visits and addresses the
Gladiators in the bowels of the Coliseum
prior to their entry into the arena, to
provide amusement for the masses as
they fight to the death. She wants to
exhort them to fight well for the
entertainment value, issuing the line,
“you're scum, and you know it.” That is
how we are viewed and our demise is
more than acceptable.
This still leaves you and me without
confirmed information as to what will
happen to pipes as far as the FDA is
concerned. This is because neither I nor
the FDA, the dupe of Philip Morris,
knows the answer yet. If solid
information becomes available to me, I
will impart it to you. For now, it's
business as usual.
Marty
P.S. I have been posting pipes. On the
English page is a well grained Charatan
After Hours. On the Danish page is a
Stanwell with Regis. numbers, and on
the Italian page is an older Castello Old
Antiquari.
I can't understand why people are
frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of
the old ones. -John Cage, composer (5
Sep 1912-1992)"
hp
les
