Maryland Tobacco Tax Increase is Anti-Business

On May 1st, Maryland state residents will no longer be able to order their favorite pipe tobaccos from their favorite online retailers. They must buy from a licensed physical store, and be sure to pay the taxes, which, by the way are being proposed for a 500% increase!

A proposed 500 percent excise tax increase on ‘other tobacco products’ could decimate Maryland’s cigar and pipe tobacco businesses, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.

Maryland House Bill 853 and Senate Bill 654 both propose to increase the excise tax rate on tobacco products other than cigarettes from 15 percent to 90 percent with a $3 cap on cigars.

"When will legislators realize that tax increases like this never produce the revenues predicted and always result in negative consequences like lost jobs and businesses?" asked Chris McCalla, legislative director of the IPCPR. "In a small state like Maryland, tobacco customers can easily cross to another state or make their purchases online and pay little to no state or local taxes."

According to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan educational organization founded in 1937, Maryland was the only state to raise every major tax in 2008 in order to fund new spending programs including doubling of its cigarette tax from $1 to $2 per pack. The Foundation said the tax increase served to introduce record levels of bootlegged product into the state, hurt local businesses by sending thousands of the state’s smokers to surrounding states to purchase their tobacco products, and generated only half the revenue increase predicted by tax supporters.

In addition, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 is funded solely by excise taxes on tobacco products. CHIP raised federal taxes on cigarettes to more than $10 per carton and on roll-your-own tobacco from about $1.10 per pound to $24.78 per pound – a 2,253 percent increase.

"Now the Maryland legislature is considering raising excise taxes yet again on other tobacco products from the current 15 percent of the wholesale price to 90 percent," McCalla said.

McCalla believes the only result that would be sure to take place from such an action is the further destruction of Maryland small businesses, which includes the loss of jobs and state, federal and local tax revenues.

"Premium tobacco products like pipes and cigars are highly sensitive to price increases because they are more a choice than a habit. They are adult products that make ordinary moments special and special moments extraordinary, like a fine wine," he said.

McCalla urged Maryland smokers and nonsmokers alike to tell their state senators and delegates to vote no on tax increases such as these.

http://pipesmagazine.com/blog/pipe-news/proposed-maryland-tobacco-tax-increase-is-anti-business/

Mount Vernon Tobacco Plantation

"If you can't send money, send tobacco."
~ George Washington to the Continental Congress, 1776

If you are visiting the Washington, D.C. area, all fellow Pipe Smokers should make it a point to take a day trip to Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon is located near Alexandria, Virginia and was the plantation home of the first President of the United States, George Washington. The mansion is built of wood in neoclassical Georgian architectural style, and the estate is located on the banks of the Potomac River. Mount Vernon was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is owned and maintained in trust by The Mount Vernon Ladies' Association and is open every day of the year, including holidays and Christmas.

Mount Vernon has a rich history, but more importantly, I want to emphasis George Washington's tobacco plantation. For more than 40 years, George Washington had embraced the life of a Virginia tobacco planter, producing a significant cash crop for export to England. Although tobacco production was labor intensive, it also required alot of people to cultivate and process the crop. Tobacco needs rich fertile soil, as it is a nutrient dense plant. Unfortunately, Mount Vernon's soil was not rich at all and they were incapable of growing high quality tobacco plants. In the mid-1760's, Washington did not receive sufficient revenue for his tobacco and this caused him to turn towards other crops, such as wheat.

In a letter dated September 20, 1765, Washington writes about receiving poor returns for his tobacco production:

"Can it be otherwise than a little mortifying then to find, that we, who raise none but Sweet scented Tobacco, an endeavor I may venture to add, to be careful in the management of it, however we fail in the execution, and who by a close and fixed correspondence with you, contribute so largely to the dispatch of your Ships in this Country should meet with such unprofitable returns?"

During the 45 years Washington owned Mount Vernon and he expanded the property from 2000 to 8000 acres comprised of five farms. Washington tirelessly sought out new ideas to improve the efficiency and profitability of his plantation. In his late twenties, Washington made a pivotal decision to turn away from the cultivation of tobacco in favor of wheat. Tobacco threatened to waste his lands and left him vulnerable to the British tobacco trade. Wheat enabled him to exercise total control over its distribution and to sell his wheat in markets as far away as the West Indies.

George Washington is often credited within history books as the most innovative, tobacco farmer. So next time you fill your bowl with Virginia's finest tobacco, contemplate on the trials and tribulations of this great man, the first President of the United States, George Washington.

http://www.mountvernon.org/

The Three Stooges & Pipe Smoking

Every Sunday morning from 5 A.M. until 9 A.M. on the AMC channel, The Three Stooges is broadcasted. I can recall watching them when I was younger and I seem to contemplate what it would have been like to live during those times. Every New Year's Eve, TV-38 would have their Annual Three Stooges Marathon and I would try to stay up all night to watch them.

As the years passed, I recorded every episode so that if I didn't stay up all night, I could watch their episodes at a later time. Even today, I have a box full of VCR tapes labeled with the years of The Three Stooges episodes and I believe I have seen them all. I still wake up every Sunday morning to watch them on AMC, in hopes of seeing an episode I have not seen before or possibly one that I may not remember.

With The Three Stooges having a long span from 1922 until 1975, I admire the early episodes the best with Moe, Larry, and Curly. I don't particularly care for Shemp or Joe but still, credit should be given where credit is due. Besides watching The Three Stooges and reflecting on what it would be like to live during the 1920's - 1940's, I find myself trying to notice any of The Stooges smoking a pipe. Although I have seen countless episodes of them smoking cigars, recently I found a few episodes featuring pipe smoking:

The 1941 Three Stooges short titled "I'll Never Heil Again," Moe has a pipe in his mouth while Curly smokes a water pipe with the Bay of Rum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4bD3pn2nik

In another episode, in which I have not been able to find on YouTube yet, Curley smokes a gourd of calabash.

If there are more episodes featuring pipe smoking, contact the Northern Virginia Pipe Smokers Society (NVPSS) as we would be enthralled to let others be entertained. Until next time, Happy Pipe Smoking!

Put That in Your Pipe

Pipe smoking is a fun hobby. It is relaxing. It tastes good. It feels good. It helps us unwind. It helps us cope with stress. It enhances objectivity. It facilitates contemplation. People like Waxman and Kessler never mention these intangible benefits. They just want to know if the activity in question is "good for you" in a strict biological sense. If not, or if they think it is bad for you, they will attempt to outlaw it. This sort of reasoning would also support a ban on obesity, a requirement that all Americans exercise, the prohibition of junk food, limits on alcohol and caffeine consumption, and so on. The irony is that Waxman is, frankly, a little chubby, while Kessler used to be fat (and yo-yo dieting is quite unhealthy).

From Northern Virginia Pipe Smokers Society (NVPSS)

Compare these two with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is as healthy as a horse and a dedicated cigar and occasional pipe smoker. I work out regularly myself. I have even trained with Arnold. In fact, I am something of a health nut. I go for a five-mile run at least once a week as part of my exercise program, which includes a minimum of four hours of strenuous workouts each week. I am in terrific physical condition. Yet I'm put on the defensive and treated as a pariah because I enjoy a pipe.

When it comes to pipes, I'm strictly a beginning student. Christopher Morley wrote in 1916 that "pipe smoking is properly an intellectual exercise." I have read 17 books on the subject and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of articles, and I still learn something new every time I visit a knowledgeable tobacconist. The best overview of the subject I've seen is The Ultimate Pipe Book by Richard Carleton Hacker, a fact-filled volume written in an interesting and fun style. Pipe collecting as a hobby has become such a passion for me that I own nearly 200 pipes, some dating back to the 1920s and '30s. I know the history of nearly all of them and the biography of the pipe carver. There may be only a few pipe smokers left, but we are intelligent and dedicated.

If smoking has any future at all, it lies in moderate pipe smoking. I realize excessive pipe and cigar smoking can contribute to some forms of mouth, throat, or lip cancer, but it is the excess that is the problem. It is relatively easy, with time and practice, to be a moderate pipe smoker.

As a statement of rebellion against political correctness, it's hard to beat pipe smoking. It's not nearly as risky as smoking cigarettes, and it offers unique pleasures. A whole new world of enjoyment will open up for you once you start discovering the various types of briar, the thousands of blends of exquisite tobaccos from all over the world, the hundreds of traditional and unusual shapes, sizes, and finishes for a pipe, and the possibilities for beautiful artwork carved into meerschaum and briar pipes. Remember the advice of this century's greatest scientist: Pipe smoking facilitates relaxation and objectivity. Also keep in mind that Einstein did not worry about defying convention. And to be a pipe smoker in America in the 1990s, you really must be an individualist.

From Northern Virginia Pipe Smokers Society (NVPSS)

Excerpts retrieved from: Put That in Your Pipe
As an act of rebellion against political correctness, pipe smoking is hard to beat.

by Rick Newcombe from the July 1994 issue

Link: http://reason.com/archives/1994/07/01/put-that-in-your-pipe

Manly Smells

Manly Smells

Smells can conjure up some powerful memories. The smell of pine needles can take you back to childhood Christmases or the smell of a laundry detergent can remind you of home. For me, there are certain smells that I’ve come to associate with manliness. Whenever I smell them I think of my dad or grandpa or some aspect of my boyhood and my initiation into the rites of manhood.

And apparently, I’m not alone. For fun last week, I asked Art of Manliness Facebook Fans and Twitter followers what smells they thought were manly. The response was overwhelming. I decided to pick a few of my favorite responses and make a post out of it. So without further ado, I present 15 manly smells.

Pipe Smoke

From Northern Virginia Pipe Smokers Society (NVPSS)

Not many men smoke pipes these days, which is a shame because people are missing out on the sweet manly smell of pipe tobacco. Cigarette and cigar smoke can be acrid and obnoxious, but pipe smoke is, well, just pleasant. A whiff of a nice clove or cherry wood blend summons images of kindly older men in tweed jackets sitting in a chair next to a warm cozy fire with an old dog nearby.

Other Manly Smells worth pondering over:
Gun Cleaning Solvent
Your Grandpa’s Chair
Original Old Spice
Hardware Store
Bowling Alley
Shoe Polish
Gunpowder
Barbershop
Cut Grass
Campfire
Charcoal
Sawdust
Leather
Scotch

Retrieved from: http://artofmanliness.com/2009/06/23/15-manly-smells/#ixzz1D1x6HC5n

Missing the Aroma of Pipes

When was the last time you saw someone smoking a pipe?

There was a time when pipe smoking was an acceptable practice in America. It even provided a pleasant aroma that many found familial and fascinating.

And some of our great icons were pipe smokers, including Santa Claus, Albert Einstein, Douglas MacArthur, Mark Twain, Hugh Hefner, Bing Crosby and, of course, Popeye.

Alas, the pipe has been banned along with cigarettes and cigars to that nether region where people retreat to enjoy unpopular pleasures.

But it hasn't disappeared completely.

"You don't see people out smoking pipes any more because of the smoking laws," said Lola Marley, owner of The Smoking Lamp, a King Street tobacco shop. "But many people who object to cigarette smoke do not object to pipe smoke because it smells wonderful."

Southern Magic

Indeed, some people still have olfactory memories of pipe smoke that reminds them of their fathers or grandfathers.

We all remember those commercial cherry-flavored tobaccos that floated around in the old days. But today Marley makes her own special blends that are in great demand.

"We have a strong mail-order business for our custom blends," she said. "Some of those include Charleston Choice, Watson's Blend and Southern Magic."

And her customers range in age from college students to people in their 70s, said Marley, who herself is a cigar smoker.

But there's just something special and separate about pipe smoking, even if it has been driven underground by society's effort to create a smoke-free world.

"Pipe smoking is very relaxing," Marley said. "The ritual is very relaxing. And, of course, you don't inhale pipe smoke. I'm not going to make any health claims for tobacco, but pipe tobacco is extremely pure. It doesn't have any chemicals or additives. It's all natural."

Different culture

There's also the creation of the instruments themselves, a subject that can be discussed at great length while lighting, relighting and puffing away on a pipe.

Marley said all pipes are made out of briar, a burl of the root of the heath tree that only grows in the Mediterranean.

"It has to be harvested by hand in such a way that it doesn't kill the plant," she said. "It's really an art form. The briar has to age and dry for many years. Then, of course, the better pipes are hand carved.

"Some are like sculpture. The aesthetics of it is all part of how it looks and how it feels in your hand. That's all part of it."

After 24 years in the tobacco business, Marley says pipe smoking is different in many ways.

"It's a whole culture," she said. "Pipe smokers are not like other people. They are very interesting, very thoughtful and tend to be opinionated."

If, of course, you can find one.

Reach Ken Burger at kburger@postandcourier.com or 937-5598 or follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Ken_Burger

To read previous columns go to postandcourier.com/burger

Shelley's Back Room, Washington, D.C.

Join Us Tonight (Saturday, 29 JAN 2011) at Shelly's Back Room for Pipe/Cigar Night @ 7 P.M.




Shelly's Back Room Washington, D.C.

If Sheldon Jacobs has his way, the "civilized cigar parlor" he created will soon undergo a metamorphosis. Jacobs, a world-renowned cigar connoisseur, will reposition Shelly's Back Room as "the American tavern." This nominal change seems aimed mostly at communicating that the restaurant is not just a cigar bar.

At lunch, the idea of catering to nonsmokers is working. Several of the tables consistently accommodate people who "don't do cigars." The $140,000 Kleen-Aire Fresh Indoor Purification System, which is based on a principle called "thermal displacement ventilation" (ask Britt Meyer, the manager, to explain it to you), is replacing the air in the room every two minutes.

"We wanted to create a club feeling for the common man," says Jacobs, the chairman and chief executive officer of Minneapolis-based Woodroast Systems Inc., parent to the Back Room concept, which began as an adjunct to its full-size restaurant in suburban Maryland. Jacobs sees a further difference between his cigar-friendly establishment and the image of many cigar bars. "Some of these places are pretentious," Jacobs says. "They're uppity. So, I wanted to have an upscale feeling for people who hadn't experienced a club before. A place where a guy who owns a gas station can meet the elite of Washington."

Shelly's Back Room succeeds. A former chairman of a presidential commission on physical fitness shares a table with lobbyists from U.S. Tobacco. The former press secretary of a former president enjoys a cigar after work. Others are just there to have a light dinner before attending a show at the nearby Warner or National theaters.

The menu is ample and reasonably varied for a kitchen run by two people. Start with one of the three sausages--preferably the one called Fire--if you have been smoking a cigar before you eat. It goes well with Shelly's own Birch Bay microbrewed beer. The smoked oysters are perfection and the campfire chicken wings are prepared in the restaurant's patented slow-roaster--not fried like most--which locks in the chicken flavor under a deceptively spicy jerk seasoning. The double chicken breast sandwich can be garnished with swaths of sweetly smoked bacon worthy of its own EKG and topped with a roasted red pepper mayo.

In general, the food is accessible. Nothing fancy. Very comforting. Yeah, yeah, they have salads and steaks, too. And lots of cigars. Thirty different makes, starting at $4.50. Standouts among the list are four sizes of La Gloria Cubana, Ashton, 8-9-8, enough Arturo Fuente Hemingways to merit a second drink, and five from Paul Garmirian, who lives in nearby McLean, Virginia. Shelly's also carries 10 cigars from Punch, including the Vintage No. 40 Natural, a selection made exclusively for Philadelphia's Holt's Cigars.

As impressive as anything else about Shelly's Back Room is that at 9:30 on a school night--Washington is an early burg--the place is hopping. People are smoking and drinking and eating in an area of downtown that used to empty out hours earlier and from which some of the less knowledgeable commuters flee for fear of their safety. But now with Shelly's Back Room, there's a better place than the long ride home to enjoy a cigar. --Alejandro Benes

Alejandro Benes is a writer and business executive in Washington, D.C.

Shelly's Back Room
1331 F Street, NW
Phone (202) 737-3003
http://www.shellysdc.com/