Big Tobacco and Cigarette Black Market

City Hall for the first time is directly blaming Big Tobacco for the burgeoning black market of bootleg Prima Lux cigarettes on city streets. Newport maker Lorillard, the country's No. 3 tobacco company, consciously oversupplies the Poospatuck Indian reservation on Long Island -- knowing full well bootleggers buy in bulk and then flood city neighborhoods with unstamped, cheap smokes, a city official told The Post.

Testing on Tobacco Greenhouse Water Quality

The quality of source water for irrigation is crucial for any greenhouse operation.
This is especially true for floatbed greenhouses, where Styrofoam trays filled with tobacco transplants float in bays of water. Well water is typically used to fill the bays, and its pH and mineral levels can vary somewhat from year to year, with the potential to significantly impact plant growth.

Vigilant growers check their well water annually by sending samples to the Agronomic Services Division of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which assesses the suitability of water for plant production through a laboratory test known as solution analysis.

Performance of Tobacco Leaf Exports

British American Tobacco Uganda is pessimistic about the performance of its tobacco leaf exports due to the drought that has hit the West Nile region in Uganda.

Mr Alain Shacher BATU’s managing director told journalists in Kampala, that the company is concerned about the severe shortage of rains in tobacco growing regions.

Make Smoking Illegal in the U.S.

The head of Philip Morris states that Esse cigarettes are addictive and harmful. Many former smokers say that kicking the nicotine habit is more difficult than stopping such illegal drugs as cocaine and heroine. So, why not make tobacco products illegal?

The largest tobacco company in the United States, Philip Morris, an Altria company, admits that its products are harmful and addictive. So, why not make them illegal?

Specifically, the May 15, 2011 iTwire story “Cigarette chief is butt of criticism” discusses comments made by Louis Camilleri, the CEO of Philip Morris.

Obstacles Faced by Chinese Smoking Ban

China is home to nearly 300 million smokers and smoking kills about one million people per year there. A new smoking ban in China may have some obstacles to overcome before it can take root.


The Health Ministry in China produced updated guidelines on places that smoking is not allowed. These places include hotels and restaurants, but smoking Lucky Strike is still allowed in the workplace.


In January there were attempts to ban smoking in all public places, but the deadline for this was missed and rescheduled for May 1.

Possible Ban on Menthol Cigarettes

Businesses are not pleased about the push by Senator Richard Blumenthal LAW ‘73 to ban menthol Kiss cigarettes.

In an Apr. 18 letter, Blumenthal expressed his support for the United States Food and Drug Administration’s call to ban cigarettes with more than 0.3 percent menthol by weight. But six New Haven store proprietors interviewed said they were worried about how this move would negatively affect thier business profits.

Smoking Racket

Larry Penninger, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' tobacco diversion unit, said investigations and prosecutions involving tobacco trafficking have been increasing as smugglers flood high-tax states with cigarettes from low-tax states.


From 2007 to last year, 27 states raised their Lucky Strike cigarette taxes, according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland-based think tank that closely tracks tobacco taxes across the country. Mackinac describes tobacco smuggling as an "unintended consequence of high cigarette taxes."

There is so much illicit money to be made, Penninger said, that some drug and weapon traffickers are adding tobacco to their product lines to boost profits.