DON’T LET CONGRESS TAKE AWAY YOUR CIGARS!
In December, the United States Senate passed a bill dealing with the counterfeiting of cigarettes. A last minute amendment was quietly slipped into this bill (S.1177) to COMPLETELY BAN THE SALE OF CIGARS THROUGH THE US MAIL! The rest of the bill has absolutely nothing to do with cigars. And even worse, the amendment was snuck into the Senate bill without any debate!
Of course this is going to have not only a huge impact on our customers, but on every single cigar smoker in America regardless of who he buys from! Plus no matter how great your local retailer is, there is no way they can stock every brand, nor every size and shape in each brand. Plus, I don't know about you, but I have only one good cigar store within 2 hours of my house, and I know plenty of guys who don't have ANY cigar store within 100 miles of them. And what about our servicemen overseas? US Mail is the only way they get cigars!
Private carriers have already proven they are not willing to stand up to local states and have already stopped accepting cigar shipments in certain places. Honestly, I am just stunned that our government is going to stamp out our freedom to send a perfectly legal product via our tax subsidized US Mail system. And as someone who buys cigars via mail (yes, I buy cigars from other retailers - don't tell Lew...) this whole thing makes me mad as hell. I am truly becoming fed up with the government meddling with my individual rights. The more I think about, the angrier I become...
If this bill passes into law it is going to have a devastating impact on the entire cigar industry and on our individual rights. Well, I am damn well not going to roll over and stick my head in the sand on this. Currently this bill is slated to be considered next by the US House Judiciary Committee under HR2824.
We are all right now sorting out what is the best way to contact the sitting members to let our own voices be heard and we are hopeful that every cigar smoker who reads this will help by doing the same and will pass the word on to others.
Standby for more info - we will publish it as soon as we have it! I don't know if we can stop this lunacy, but I am damn well going to beat the drum like a madman!!!
Here are the SPECIFIC ISSUES:
In the final version of S1177, the PACT Act as PASSED by the Senate is:
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CIGARETTES AND SMOKELESS TOBACCO AS NONMAILABLE MATTER.
Section 1716 of title 18, United States Code, is amended-- (1) by redesignating subsections (j) and (k) as subsections (k) and (l), respectively; and (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the following new subsection (j):
``(j)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the transmission in the mails of any tobacco product, including cigarettes (as that term is defined in section 1(2) of the Act of October 19, 1949 (15 U.S.C. 375; commonly referred to as the `Jenkins Act')) and smokeless tobacco (as that term is defined in section 1(3) of that Act), is prohibited, and tobacco products are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried through the mails. ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall apply only to States that are contiguous with at least one other State of the United States.''.
Also buried in:
SEC. 5. COMPLIANCE WITH MODEL STATUTE OR QUALIFYING STATUTE.
© Definitions.--In this section:
(3) Importer.--The term ``importer'' means each of the following: (A) Any person in the United States to whom non-tax-paid tobacco products manufactured in a foreign country, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or a possession of the United States are shipped or consigned. (B) Any person who removes cigars or cigarettes for sale or consumption in the United States from a customs bonded manufacturing warehouse. © Any person who smuggles or otherwise unlawfully brings tobacco products into the United States.
You can find these yourself in a copy of the final bill as passed:
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/qu...08:S.1177:
Here are the concerns:
1) The fact they list "any tobacco product" rather than just cigarettes and smokeless products under the non-mailable section. Yes they list the two latter, but they do not limit the first. Instead they just separate it with a comma.
2) The imbedding of the word CIGAR under the importer definition although the bill is suppose to be about cigarette and smokeless taxes.
Now to me these seem to be minor issues, but to those with a better grasp of Congressional law say these two seemingly minor points: one by omission, the other by brief inclusion, spell disaster for us cigar smokers.
Last Wednesday the Cigar Association of America (CAA) met with a cadre of lawyers and the conclusion was made that if the US House passed the law as adopted by the Senate it would make the sale of cigars via mail illegal!
So our intent is to do everything we can to let the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITEE, who will be working on the House version of the Bill 2824, know that we do not want their bill to incorporate the language of the senate's final version.
That we want the word CIGAR stricken from it and that there should be NO "any tobacco product" references, but rather that the bill should be specific and exclusively specify cigarettes and smokeless products.
Now the lawyer types can debate it all they want, instead I am going to write the House Judiciary my concerns regarding the pending legislation and do what I can to get them to exclude any reference to cigar and to "any tobacco product."
We will be posting that contact info tomorrow for all.
Thanks,
Steve
ps: And yes, the way I understand it now, it would impact all means of shipment. <sigh>
In December, the United States Senate passed a bill dealing with the counterfeiting of cigarettes. A last minute amendment was quietly slipped into this bill (S.1177) to COMPLETELY BAN THE SALE OF CIGARS THROUGH THE US MAIL! The rest of the bill has absolutely nothing to do with cigars. And even worse, the amendment was snuck into the Senate bill without any debate!
Of course this is going to have not only a huge impact on our customers, but on every single cigar smoker in America regardless of who he buys from! Plus no matter how great your local retailer is, there is no way they can stock every brand, nor every size and shape in each brand. Plus, I don't know about you, but I have only one good cigar store within 2 hours of my house, and I know plenty of guys who don't have ANY cigar store within 100 miles of them. And what about our servicemen overseas? US Mail is the only way they get cigars!
Private carriers have already proven they are not willing to stand up to local states and have already stopped accepting cigar shipments in certain places. Honestly, I am just stunned that our government is going to stamp out our freedom to send a perfectly legal product via our tax subsidized US Mail system. And as someone who buys cigars via mail (yes, I buy cigars from other retailers - don't tell Lew...) this whole thing makes me mad as hell. I am truly becoming fed up with the government meddling with my individual rights. The more I think about, the angrier I become...
If this bill passes into law it is going to have a devastating impact on the entire cigar industry and on our individual rights. Well, I am damn well not going to roll over and stick my head in the sand on this. Currently this bill is slated to be considered next by the US House Judiciary Committee under HR2824.
We are all right now sorting out what is the best way to contact the sitting members to let our own voices be heard and we are hopeful that every cigar smoker who reads this will help by doing the same and will pass the word on to others.
Standby for more info - we will publish it as soon as we have it! I don't know if we can stop this lunacy, but I am damn well going to beat the drum like a madman!!!
Here are the SPECIFIC ISSUES:
In the final version of S1177, the PACT Act as PASSED by the Senate is:
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CIGARETTES AND SMOKELESS TOBACCO AS NONMAILABLE MATTER.
Section 1716 of title 18, United States Code, is amended-- (1) by redesignating subsections (j) and (k) as subsections (k) and (l), respectively; and (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the following new subsection (j):
``(j)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the transmission in the mails of any tobacco product, including cigarettes (as that term is defined in section 1(2) of the Act of October 19, 1949 (15 U.S.C. 375; commonly referred to as the `Jenkins Act')) and smokeless tobacco (as that term is defined in section 1(3) of that Act), is prohibited, and tobacco products are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried through the mails. ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall apply only to States that are contiguous with at least one other State of the United States.''.
Also buried in:
SEC. 5. COMPLIANCE WITH MODEL STATUTE OR QUALIFYING STATUTE.
© Definitions.--In this section:
(3) Importer.--The term ``importer'' means each of the following: (A) Any person in the United States to whom non-tax-paid tobacco products manufactured in a foreign country, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or a possession of the United States are shipped or consigned. (B) Any person who removes cigars or cigarettes for sale or consumption in the United States from a customs bonded manufacturing warehouse. © Any person who smuggles or otherwise unlawfully brings tobacco products into the United States.
You can find these yourself in a copy of the final bill as passed:
thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/qu...08:S.1177:
Here are the concerns:
1) The fact they list "any tobacco product" rather than just cigarettes and smokeless products under the non-mailable section. Yes they list the two latter, but they do not limit the first. Instead they just separate it with a comma.
2) The imbedding of the word CIGAR under the importer definition although the bill is suppose to be about cigarette and smokeless taxes.
Now to me these seem to be minor issues, but to those with a better grasp of Congressional law say these two seemingly minor points: one by omission, the other by brief inclusion, spell disaster for us cigar smokers.
Last Wednesday the Cigar Association of America (CAA) met with a cadre of lawyers and the conclusion was made that if the US House passed the law as adopted by the Senate it would make the sale of cigars via mail illegal!
So our intent is to do everything we can to let the HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITEE, who will be working on the House version of the Bill 2824, know that we do not want their bill to incorporate the language of the senate's final version.
That we want the word CIGAR stricken from it and that there should be NO "any tobacco product" references, but rather that the bill should be specific and exclusively specify cigarettes and smokeless products.
Now the lawyer types can debate it all they want, instead I am going to write the House Judiciary my concerns regarding the pending legislation and do what I can to get them to exclude any reference to cigar and to "any tobacco product."
We will be posting that contact info tomorrow for all.
Thanks,
Steve
ps: And yes, the way I understand it now, it would impact all means of shipment. <sigh>
