Pending Tobacco Bans
This issue will be a departure from our usual pipe related tips. We'd like to take a moment to discuss the effort in the US and worldwide to ban the sale and eventually the use of tobacco.
Tobacco sales have been plagued by potential legislative bans for years. The brief cigar craze slowed the effort but now the movement has unprecedented momentum. Every day we hear of cities, both large and small, that have passed smoking bans. This is a trend that will not stop nor will it be reversed. Of the most concern to us here at VegasSmokes and to our customers is the recent talk of banning online tobacco sales.
This has been attempted for the past few years on many levels without much success until recently. In the past few weeks several states began to enforce the ban of online cigarette sales. Also, after much pressure the credit card companies by way of various gateway processing companies began to enforce a ban on the use of their credit cards for the purchase of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco online.
While this had an instantaneous effect on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco we as pipe smokers will also be effected. The rules and laws are so loosely written that only minor revision, if at all, is required to ban online tobacco sales. In much the same way online gaming was and is effectively controlled by credit card company enforcement so will be the fate of online tobacco sales.
Most all credit card processing companies no longer accept accounts that deal in online tobacco sales. The ones that do get a premium. Existing accounts such as ours have been put on notice as to how fine a line we are on. We also now have to use expensive and time costly age verification services for every order we process. So what does this all mean? Well, a few years or even months ago I would have suggested writing to our elected officials but it is our belief that that time has passed.
We've always known that once the credit card angle was invoked there would not be much we as pipe smokers could do. At the risk of sounding self serving I must say the following. The time is nearer than you think to asses how much you smoke on a monthly or yearly basis and times that by how many months or years you plan to continue to enjoy your pipes.
There are plenty of articles and how tos in the newsletter archive on aging and long terms storage so you can get prepared. I've been diligently putting away tobacco for the past few years and I personally will not be effected if and when tobacco becomes contraband. We carry only a few of the many lines of great pipe tobacco available at low prices so you can stock up.
Being our selection is relatively small compared to what can be had we also suggest looking for other tobaccos at your local brick and mortar tobacco shops. While it might cost a buck or two more than an online purchase you'll be helping and supporting those who are truly on the front lines of the anti-tobacco trend.
Tobacco sales have been plagued by potential legislative bans for years. The brief cigar craze slowed the effort but now the movement has unprecedented momentum. Every day we hear of cities, both large and small, that have passed smoking bans. This is a trend that will not stop nor will it be reversed. Of the most concern to us here at VegasSmokes and to our customers is the recent talk of banning online tobacco sales.
This has been attempted for the past few years on many levels without much success until recently. In the past few weeks several states began to enforce the ban of online cigarette sales. Also, after much pressure the credit card companies by way of various gateway processing companies began to enforce a ban on the use of their credit cards for the purchase of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco online.
While this had an instantaneous effect on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco we as pipe smokers will also be effected. The rules and laws are so loosely written that only minor revision, if at all, is required to ban online tobacco sales. In much the same way online gaming was and is effectively controlled by credit card company enforcement so will be the fate of online tobacco sales.
Most all credit card processing companies no longer accept accounts that deal in online tobacco sales. The ones that do get a premium. Existing accounts such as ours have been put on notice as to how fine a line we are on. We also now have to use expensive and time costly age verification services for every order we process. So what does this all mean? Well, a few years or even months ago I would have suggested writing to our elected officials but it is our belief that that time has passed.
We've always known that once the credit card angle was invoked there would not be much we as pipe smokers could do. At the risk of sounding self serving I must say the following. The time is nearer than you think to asses how much you smoke on a monthly or yearly basis and times that by how many months or years you plan to continue to enjoy your pipes.
There are plenty of articles and how tos in the newsletter archive on aging and long terms storage so you can get prepared. I've been diligently putting away tobacco for the past few years and I personally will not be effected if and when tobacco becomes contraband. We carry only a few of the many lines of great pipe tobacco available at low prices so you can stock up.
Being our selection is relatively small compared to what can be had we also suggest looking for other tobaccos at your local brick and mortar tobacco shops. While it might cost a buck or two more than an online purchase you'll be helping and supporting those who are truly on the front lines of the anti-tobacco trend.
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posted by Shang Ning | 4:09:00 PM
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