Roll-your-own cigarette operations to be snuffed out

I was curious about something. Specifically, the correllation between lung cancer and cigarette smoke. I've never thought to even question it until I had a unique conversation with a pipe smoker about a month ago who noticed that even though the number of smokers have dropped signifcantly, the death rate for lung cancer hasn't changed (or something to that effect, so don't quote me for accuracy).

Anyways, I found this article on th web and thought it might be relevant:

http://www.journaloftheoretics.co...1/e1-4.htm


The Untold Facts of Smoking (Yes, there is bias in science)

or

"I feel like the Fox Network" (a bastion of truth in a sea of liberalism)

1. USWM smokers have a lifetime relative risk of dying from lung cancer of only 8 (not the 20 or more that is based on an annual death rate and therefore virtually useless).
2. No study has ever shown that casual cigar smoker (<5 cigars/wk, not inhaled) has an increased incidence of lung cancer.
3. Lung cancer is not in even in the top 5 causes of death, it is only #9.**
4. All cancers combined account for only 13% of all annual deaths and lung cancer only 2%.**
5. Occasional cigarette use (<1 pk/wk) has never been shown to be a risk factor in lung cancer.
6. Certain types of pollution are more dangerous than second hand smoke.3
7. Second hand smoke has never been shown to be a causative factor in lung cancer.
8.A WHO study did not show that passive (second hand) smoke statistically increased the risk of getting lung cancer.
9. No study has shown that second hand smoke exposure during childhood increases their risk of getting lung cancer.
10. In one study they couldn't even cause lung cancer in mice after exposing them to cigarette smoke for a long time.23
11. If everyone in the world stopped smoking 50 years ago, the premature death rate would still be well over 80% of what it is today.1 (But I thought that smoking was the major cause of preventable death...hmmm.)

If there is any truth to this article, it would appear that the goverment is making a monster out of a product that is not nearly as harmful as they have made it out to be. It would als show that the immense bias towards cigarette smoking is unsubstantiated.

Then again, there are other risks associated with cigarette smoke other than cancer. I've seen many people who have emphysema, such as my father-in-law. He had to quit or else his lungs would give out on him eventually.

Quote from hsjpatman : I think cigarettes are way over taxed.

We need to tax cigarettes to pay for schools and health care!

Quote from Gotchaforce : Note: Smoking is dumb and i hate tobacco companies That being said, i think theyre taxing machines? I dont see how you can tax a cigarette rolling machine. I dont know the ins and outs of rolling your own cigarettes. Maybe theres some people who like smoking tobacco for the flavor, and the only way to do that is to buy loose tobacco you like and roll your own. An equivalent may be people who brew their own beer? Are brewing kits taxed the same as buying beer in a store?

No, beer kits are either taxed regularly, or taxed the same as food (for the grains and yeast, not the equipment). I don't know how all inclusive kits are taxed (probably at normal rates).

You do NOT need to be 21 to buying brewing supplies. For example: go to the store, buy honey, an orange, a small packet of raisins, a balloon, and a packet of bread yeast.

Welcome to cheap-as-dirt mead making! Pour about 24 oz. of honey into a gallon jug. Slice the orange and remove the peel, add some zest if you feel like it. Put in the raisins. Put in the yeast, and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! Put the balloon over the top of the bottle and hold it down with some rubber bands. Poke a small hole in it. This is your airlock. Place in a pantry somewhere on a plate (to catch any liquids that pass through the balloon). In about one week you will have drinkable mead! Two weeks and it will probably be even better (but it won't be much to look at).

The orange is for flavor, the raisins are for nutrients the yeast need to grow, the honey is the sugar that turns into alcohol.

There are extra steps you could do to improve the chances the mead doesn't get infected, but they are not super necessary.

the free market will find a way.... I love how entrepreneurs find ways around the government's tax schemes. Goes to show that no matter how hard you plan, where there's a will there's a way.

Quote from Xygonn : No, beer kits are either taxed regularly, or taxed the same as food (for the grains and yeast, not the equipment). I don't know how all inclusive kits are taxed (probably at normal rates). You do NOT need to be 21 to buying brewing supplies. For example: go to the store, buy honey, an orange, a small packet of raisins, a balloon, and a packet of bread yeast. Welcome to cheap-as-dirt mead making! Pour about 24 oz. of honey into a gallon jug. Slice the orange and remove the peel, add some zest if you feel like it. Put in the raisins. Put in the yeast, and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! Put the balloon over the top of the bottle and hold it down with some rubber bands. Poke a small hole in it. This is your airlock. Place in a pantry somewhere on a plate (to catch any liquids that pass through the balloon). In about one week you will have drinkable mead! Two weeks and it will probably be even better (but it won't be much to look at). The orange is for flavor, the raisins are for nutrients the yeast need to grow, the honey is the sugar that turns into alcohol. There are extra steps you could do to improve the chances the mead doesn't get infected, but they are not super necessary.

Interesting. I've never made mead but have a friend that makes it, and it tastes great! His is a larger production though. Sounds kinda like a pruno recipe that I have heard of on TV and in movies.

Quote from Dr. J : the free market will find a way.... I love how entrepreneurs find ways around the government's tax schemes. Goes to show that no matter how hard you plan, where there's a will there's a way.

Maybe someone could own the machines in one office, sell the ciggy papers and tobacco in another, and have 'classes' to teach people how to roll their own in the office with the machines....for a fee of course.

Quote from MaryClare : I would think rolling cigarettes a small percentage of income for these tobacco shops. Doubtful if any layoffs occur because of 1 less item being sold there.

One today, one tommorrow, one more the day after that..... It will add up.

Quote from coulditbeSatan : Maybe someone could own the machines in one office, sell the ciggy papers and tobacco in another, and have 'classes' to teach people how to roll their own in the office with the machines....for a fee of course.

Or, people who RYO could buy the little $10 gizmo that loads a single cigarette at a time & actually roll their own. My mother-in-law could roll an entire carton of cigarettes (200) in probably 90 minutes (half the "estimate" given in the OP of 3 hours).

There's no need for any expensive "machines" to RYO.

Bravo congress. You failed on 2 fronts. 1, you let a large, demonstrably corrupt industry push you around, and 2, you bundled it into a bill that probably really needed to be passed, thus ensuring Obama couldn't really veto (even if he wanted to).

Quote from MaryClare : I would think rolling cigarettes a small percentage of income for these tobacco shops. Doubtful if any layoffs occur because of 1 less item being sold there.

This is actually all these RYO Tobacco shops do. There are quite a few of them that have popped up around here over the past couple years.
They will likely have to close up shop because of this law.

Quote from smegalicious : Or, people who RYO could buy the little $10 gizmo that loads a single cigarette at a time & actually roll their own. My mother-in-law could roll an entire carton of cigarettes (200) in probably 90 minutes (half the "estimate" given in the OP of 3 hours). There's no need for any expensive "machines" to RYO.

Didn't read the entire article, but I can tell you that the machines they have around here are able to roll a carton of 200 cigs in about 15 min.
At least that's what they advertise

Quote from OhNoItsDEVO : Didn't read the entire article, but I can tell you that the machines they have around here are able to roll a carton of 200 cigs in about 15 min. At least that's what they advertise

I've seen one of those small RYO machines where you do each ciggy by yourself at home. It was at a garage sale and the guy demonstrated it. It was more like a kid's toy and the interested buyer just laughed and walked away. Nothing like the machines they have in those RYO stores.

I wish smokers would all just up and quit and send a message.
All the taxes go away overnight and the amount of job losses would be crippling.
The government would lose so much revenue that they would be begging for people to start smoking again.
They need people to smoke so they can keep ripping them off like they have done for so long now.

Quote from bridgeburner : Bravo congress. You failed on 2 fronts. 1, you let a large, demonstrably corrupt industry push you around, and 2, you bundled it into a bill that probably really needed to be passed, thus ensuring Obama couldn't really veto (even if he wanted to).

Hopefully the Republicans will have the balls to push the concealed carry reciprocity bill into another similar bill.

Quote from OhNoItsDEVO : Didn't read the entire article, but I can tell you that the machines they have around here are able to roll a carton of 200 cigs in about 15 min. At least that's what they advertise

Right... Which means that the smoker is *not* actually rolling his/her own & that the machine is *manufacturing* them for him/her.

The savings from RYO is *supposed* to come from putting in the work yourself to roll them... I'm a smoker & I have no problem w/such a reclassification - although it certainly didn't belong in a transportation bill.