Marlboro Maker Altria 3Q Profit More Than Doubles

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM AP, Tobacco Writer

Altria Group’s third-quarter profit more than doubled as the Marlboro maker paid out less in legal settlements and freed itself from charges related to paying off debt early last year.

Higher prices and volumes for both cigarettes and smokeless tobacco bolstered its underlying results, which topped Wall Street expectations.

The owner of the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, posted earnings Thursday of $1.39 billion, or 70 cents per share. That’s up from $657 million, or 32 cents a share, in the year-ago period, which included a $874 million charge for a loss on early extinguishment of debt.

Excluding one-time items, earnings were 65 cents per share, beating analyst estimates by a penny. That excludes a $145 million benefit from credits for disputed payments under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement in which some cigarette makers are paying states for smoking-related health care costs.

Revenue for the Richmond, Va., company, excluding excise taxes, increased 6.6 percent to $4.8 billion. Analysts expected $4.53 billion, according to FactSet.

Its shares fell 13 cents to $36.25 in early morning trading Thursday.

Volumes increased more than one percent to 34.1 billion cigarettes compared with a year ago. Adjusting for trade inventory changes, cigarette volumes fell 3 percent during the quarter, compared with a total industry decline of 3.5 percent.

Marlboro volumes grew 1.5 percent, while volume for its other premium brands fell by more than 7 percent, and volumes for discount cigarette brands like L&M increased 5 percent.

Its share of the U.S. retail market rose 0.2 percentage points to 50.7 percent. Marlboro’s share of the U.S. market was flat at 43.7 percent.

The Marlboro brand has been under pressure from competitors and lower-priced cigarette brands amide economic uncertainty and high unemployment.

That’s on top of the tax hikes, smoking bans and a social stigma that have made the cigarette business tougher.

The Marlboro brand sold for an average of $5.86 per pack during the third quarter, compared with an average of $4.36 per pack for the cheapest brand.

The company has introduced several new products with the Marlboro brand, often with lower promotional pricing, to try to keep the brand growing and to lure smokers away from its competitors.

Altria and others are focusing on cigarette alternatives — such as electronic cigarettes, cigars, snuff and chewing tobacco — for future sales growth because the decline in cigarette smoking is expected to continue.

After launching its first electronic cigarette under the MarkTen brand in Indiana in August, Altria said Thursday that its NuMark subsidiary plans to expand into Arizona in December.

Volumes of Altria’s smokeless tobacco brands such as Copenhagen and Skoal rose 9.5 percent from a year ago. Adjusting for an extra shipping day and trade inventory changes, Altria says its smokeless volumes grew about 4 percent. For the quarter, the company’s smokeless tobacco brands had about 55 percent of the market, though smokeless tobacco is a tiny market compared with cigarettes.

Volumes for its Black & Mild cigars rose 6 percent during the quarter.

Altria Group Inc. also owns a wine business, holds a voting stake in brewer SABMiller, and has a financial services division.

 http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/marlboro-maker-altria-3q-profit-doubles-20666767

Flavored cigarette use increasing

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn (KFGO AM) — A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found four out of ten teen smokers prefer flavored little cigars or flavored cigarettes.
Bob Moffitt is with the American Lung Association of Minnesota and says the data also shows kids using the flavored products are less likely to think about quitting than those who smoke traditional cigarettes.
Moffitt says these products are also appealing to teens because they are cheaper and taxed differently.
Moffitt would like to see Minnesota lawmakers draft legislation that would close some of the tax loopholes involving flavored tobacco products.
http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2013/oct/24/flavored-cigarette-use-increasing/

Study finds cigarette alternatives may not be safer than cigarettes

UC Davis Researchers Examine E-Cigarettes, Cigars, Hookah
Written By CATHERINE MAYO

If you’ve ever been convinced to smoke hookah — or anything else for that matter  — because someone told you it was completely safe, you aren’t alone (but you’ve been lied to).

Are smoking alternatives as safe as people think? UC Davis pulmonary physicians recently published a study concluding these replacements can be addictive gateways to cigarette smoking. The assessment — which focused on cigars, hookah, e-cigarettes and a Swedish smokeless tobacco called snus — provides new insight on why people trying to quit smoking (and those who haven’t started) should avoid all types of tobacco products.

“Everything I included … in some way or another has become popular in America or worldwide… [These products] are the most commonly used, and because [of this], there is a misperception about them,” said Michael Schivo, assistant professor of internal medicine at UC Davis Health System and lead author of the study.

The research team found that because of a lack of regulation and research, e-cigarettes show unclear risks. From 2011-12, e-cigarette use among students in grades six to 12 doubled. Many people trying to quit smoking view e-cigarettes as a safe way to wean themselves off nicotine, but according to the study, Schivo recommended smokeless tobacco before e-cigarettes to better avoid lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. Moreover, for non-smokers trying something new, the nicotine can be dangerously addicting.

Smoking hookah, a technique that employs a special form of tobacco called shisha smoked out of a water pipe, is growing in popularity among college-aged adults and is commonly perceived as a harmless recreational activity, was discovered to be significantly worse than cigarettes. Waterpipe use leads to deeper and longer inhalation of tobacco smoke than other forms of smoking. In fact, the Mayo Clinic says a typical one-hour-long hookah session consists of 200 puffs compared to the cigarette’s average of 20 puffs. Nicotine levels are reduced in waterpipe smoking, but the amounts of arsenic, chromium and lead — chemicals known to be carcinogens — are all significantly higher.

While this information may come as a shock to some, many others know it and choose to ignore it as best they can.

“I’m sure that almost everyone who smokes … has been told countless times that they should stop. It’s not that they don’t know the risks, it’s just a tough habit to quit,” said Brad Howard, a second-year civil engineering major.

The study arrives in the final months of UC Davis’ tolerance for smoking. Beginning in January 2014, the UC Davis Smoke-Free policy takes full effect. The campus will no longer tolerate any forms of smoking, including e-cigarettes and hookah.

Krystal Wong, a second-year human development major and intern at the Student Health and Wellness Center, welcomes the addition of this new policy.

“Davis is trying to promote a healthier environment … Second-hand smoking can cause health hazards for many students,” Wong said.

Schivo is in support of the new rules.

“Public awareness is good however it’s employed,” he said.

Whether you are for or against the policy, we can at least now know not to believe anyone who tries to convince us smoking alternatives are safe. We only have evidence to prove the opposite. Take it as you will, live your life, be smart.

http://www.theaggie.org/2013/10/24/study-finds-cigarette-alternatives-may-not-be-safer-than-cigarettes/

Flavors lure 42% of young smokers

By Wendy Koch , USA TODAY

Two of every five youth smokers use cigarettes or look-alike cigars that are flavored, says a U.S. government report Tuesday that’s intensifying the call for federal control of all tobacco products including electronic cigarettes.
Of middle-school and high-school students who currently smoke, 42.4% reported using menthol cigarettes or flavored little cigars, which are often cheaper, says a survey by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such usage was higher among older teens than tweens.
“Flavors can mask the harshness and taste of tobacco, making flavored-tobacco products appealing to youth,” says the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey, adding they can cause kids to develop a lifelong tobacco habit. The survey notes smoking remains the nation’s single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death.
Flavored or not, “little cigars contain the same toxic and cancer-causing ingredients found in cigarettes and are not a safe alternative to cigarettes,” Tim McAfee, who directs CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, said in releasing the results. “Many flavored little cigars appear virtually indistinguishable from cigarettes with similar sizes, shapes, filters and packaging.”
In 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned candy and fruit-flavored cigarettes but exempted menthol ones. In July, the FDA reported that menthol cigarettes cause more youth to begin smoking, boost dependence on tobacco and reduce success in quitting smoking, especially among African Americans.
So sweet-flavored little cigars, not covered by the federal ban, have gained popularity not only among U.S. kids but also among adults. A recent government survey found that more than two-fifths of current adult cigar smokers used flavored cigars during 2009 and 2010.
“The FDA should act promptly to assert regulatory authority over all tobacco products, including cigars,” says Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, arguing tobacco companies are circumventing the ban on sweet-flavored cigarettes by marketing similarly flavored look-alike cigars. “The FDA must close this loophole.”
The study also shows that among youth cigar smokers, almost 60% of those who smoke flavored little cigars are not thinking about quitting tobacco use, compared with just over 49% among all other cigar smokers. The CDC says sales of little cigars, taxed at a lower rate than cigarettes, jumped 240% from 1997 to 2007, and flavored brands account for nearly 80% of market share.
The youth survey, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health,found that slightly more than a third, or 35.4%, of current youth cigarette smokers said they used flavored cigarettes, which could include menthol ones or flavored little cigars that students mistook for cigarettes. The share went up to 42.4% when current cigar users were included.
Myers says some state and local governments — Maine, New York City and Providence — are moving to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including little cigars. More are also banning the sale to minors of electronic or e-cigarettes, which don’t burn tobacco but contain a nicotine solution that is emitted as vapor when a user inhales. This nicotine is derived from tobacco leaf.
A CDC-conducted survey last month found that youth usage of e-cigarettes, also not subject to FDA regulation, has recently doubled. Last year, 10% of high school students said they tried e-cigarettes, up from 4.7% in 2011. A doubling also occurred among U.S. middle school students saying they’ve experimented with e-cigarettes.
While some of the largest e-cigarette manufacturers, including R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris’ parent company Altria, don’t make sweet-flavored e-cigarettes, many other companies do. E-cigarettes — some marketed as “juice pens” — come in chocolate, Fuji apple, Bombay mango, vanilla, cherry crush, and peach schapps.
Blu e-Cigs, a brand that Lorillard bought last year, “are not attractive to kids” despite their multiple flavors, says James Healy, the company’s founder. Myers and other tobacco critics disagree, citing data showing how many kids are lured by flavors.
The FDA, which said three years ago that it would expand its authority to regulate other tobacco products, is expected soon to take the first steps in that direction.
 http://www.freep.com/article/20131023/FEATURES01/310230060/Flavors-lure-42-of-young-smokers

Aldermen mixed on Emanuel cigarette tax hike

By John Byrne and Hal Dardick
Clout Street
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed 75-cent-per-pack cigarette tax increase is getting mixed reviews from aldermen today.
The increase in the city’s cigarette tax is projected to bring in about $10 million. Some aldermen questioned that figure, however, saying the higher tax would result in more black-market and across-the-border sales.
Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said he supports efforts to discourage smoking but worries about the impact on retail stores.
“For the $10 million revenue gain we get from dramatically increasing that tax, my concern is that we’re going to be pushing that business to the suburban communities right across the border from Chicago, where tobacco addicts will be getting their fix. So we don’t want to inadvertantly punish Chicago retailers by trying to do something good on public health,” Reilly said. “So that is something I think we’re going to need to explore. In the greater scheme of a $340 million deficit, a $10 million revenue boost from the cigarette tax may not be worth the negative impact on business.”
Also raising questions about the wisdom of the cigarette tax, which opponents say will dampen retail sales and result in the illegal sale of loose cigarettes, was Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, the City Council Budget Committee chairman.
“I just think it will hurt sales,” Austin said. “I want to see what 75 cents is going to cost. . . . . I don’t want to lose our revenue from cigarette sales to another state.”
Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, who has become a strong supporter of the mayor, said he’s glad the budget does not have an increase in property or sales taxes, a sentiment clearly shared by his colleagues.
He then went on to defend the cigarette tax, which is opposed by many of his colleagues and retail groups.
“The cigarette tax has the benefit of leading to a healthier Chicago,” Moore said. “It results in a healthier populace: less people are smoking, and less people need health care. So it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed 75-cent-per-pack cigarette tax increase is getting mixed reviews from aldermen today.
The increase in the city’s cigarette tax is projected to bring in about $10 million. Some aldermen questioned that figure, however, saying the higher tax would result in more black-market and across-the-border sales.
Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, said he supports efforts to discourage smoking but worries about the impact on retail stores.
“For the $10 million revenue gain we get from dramatically increasing that tax, my concern is that we’re going to be pushing that business to the suburban communities right across the border from Chicago, where tobacco addicts will be getting their fix. So we don’t want to inadvertantly punish Chicago retailers by trying to do something good on public health,” Reilly said. “So that is something I think we’re going to need to explore. In the greater scheme of a $340 million deficit, a $10 million revenue boost from the cigarette tax may not be worth the negative impact on business.”
Also raising questions about the wisdom of the cigarette tax, which opponents say will dampen retail sales and result in the illegal sale of loose cigarettes, was Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, the City Council Budget Committee chairman.
“I just think it will hurt sales,” Austin said. “I want to see what 75 cents is going to cost. . . . . I don’t want to lose our revenue from cigarette sales to another state.”
Ald. Joe Moore, 49th, who has become a strong supporter of the mayor, said he’s glad the budget does not have an increase in property or sales taxes, a sentiment clearly shared by his colleagues.
He then went on to defend the cigarette tax, which is opposed by many of his colleagues and retail groups.
“The cigarette tax has the benefit of leading to a healthier Chicago,” Moore said. “It results in a healthier populace: less people are smoking, and less people need health care. So it’s a win-win for everybody.”
Ald. Ameya Pawar, 47th, defended the cigarette tax and said people will need to consider how much money and time they use up to cross borders to get cigarettes.
“At some point, people are going to say, ‘If I really want to smoke, am I going to drive 40 miles and spend 4 bucks a gallon to get the cigarettes? Or do I buy ‘em here? Or, do I quit?” he said. “That coupled with the fact that we’re using a lot of the money to enroll kids in Medicaid that are Medicaid eligible, I think it’s a brilliant use of dollars.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/clout/chi-aldermen-mixed-on-emanuel-cigarette-tax-hike-20131023,0,1732047.story

Tobacco Is No Longer Tolerated at Valley City Parks

On the heels of a state wide smoking ban in public places, a North Dakota city is taking it one step further. Tobacco use is now against the law in city parks and several other city-owned areas in Valley City. Valley News team’s Eric Crest clears the air on where smoking is, and is not, allowed in the city.
It wasn’t long ago that the state of North Dakota decided it was time to embrace a new smoking ordinance.
“I loved it, I absolutely loved it,” says, Heather Hildebrant of Bismarck.
The state wide ordinance kept cigarettes out of businesses and the approach to their entrances.
“I can bring my son outside and go anywhere and not worry about people smoking outside of buildings or inside of them anymore,” adds Hildebrant.
Recently Valley City took it one step further. A handful of city property will be tobacco free now too.
“They can’t smoke in any park owned property, any activity arenas outside, in any of our buildings,” explains Dick Gulmon the President of the Park and Recreation Board for Valley City.
That includes playgrounds, spectator areas, athletic fields, concession areas, and even parking lots on nearly all of the cities property.
“It’s our responsibility in managing the parks and recreation programming to set an example of a healthy lifestyle,” says Gulmon.
“It drives me insane. They’re not only affecting their body, they’re taking the choice away from everyone else around them that don’t want it in their system,” adds Hildebrant.
The Tobacco Prevention Coordinator in Valley City says by eliminating all tobacco use in public parks in town, they’re not just reversing the normalization of tobacco use, but they’re also impacting generations to come.
“I think it’s the effect on the youth. I think promoting that healthy lifestyle and not seeing cigarette butts in the parks, and (not to mention) what that can do to the environment. But promoting that for the youth and setting that example,” says Gulmon.
Because as the state and cities alike continue taking steps like these, it’s the youth, that will reap the benefits.
“It’s their choice I guess. What they want to do with their body. But it just bugs me when they do it around other people cause then we’re stuck with the consequence of their choices,” says Hildebrant.
Not all public parks in Valley City are tobacco free just yet. The local Tourist Park Campground and Bjornson’s Public Golf Course did not end up on the list. The park board mentioned that out of concern for a loss of business to neighboring communities, they made an exception.
http://www.valleynewslive.com/story/23762032/tobacco-is-no-longer-tolerated-at-valley-city-parks

E-cigarettes forging new pathway to addiction, death and disease

By Ross P. Lanzafame and Harold P. Wimmer – Redwood Times
Electronic cigarette use among middle school children has doubled in just one year. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that e-cigarette use also doubled among high school students in one year, and that one in 10 high school students have used an e-cigarette.
Altogether, 1.78 million middle and high school students nationwide use e-cigarettes. Yet, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still is not regulating e-cigarettes. The absence of regulatory oversight means the tobacco industry is free to promote Atomic Fireball or cotton candy-flavored e-cigarettes to our children. Clearly, the aggressive marketing and promotion of e-cigarettes is reaching our children with alarming success.
It is well known that nicotine is a highly addictive substance, whether delivered in a conventional cigarette or an e-cigarette. The use of sweet flavors is an old tobacco industry trick to entice and addict young children to tobacco products, and the entrance of the nation’s largest tobacco companies into this market clearly is having an impact.
Why does Big Tobacco care about e-cigarettes? Tobacco use kills more than 400,000 people each year and thousands more successfully quit. To maintain its consumer ranks and enormous profits, the tobacco industry needs to attract and addict thousands of children each day, as well as keep adults dependent. Big Tobacco is happy to hook children with a gummy bear-flavored e-cigarette, a grape flavored cigar or a Marlboro, so long as they become addicted. We share the CDC’s concern that children who begin by using e-cigarettes may be condemned to a lifelong addiction to nicotine and cigarettes.
In addition, the American Lung Association is very concerned about the potential safety and health consequences of electronic cigarettes, as well as claims that they can be used to help smokers quit. With no government oversight of these products, there is no way for the public health and medical community or consumers to know what chemicals are contained in an e-cigarette or what the short and long term health implications might be. That’s why the American Lung Association is calling on the FDA to propose meaningful regulation of these products to protect to the public health.
The FDA has not approved e-cigarettes as a safe or effective method to help smokers quit. When smokers are ready to quit, they should call 1-800-QUIT NOW or talk with their doctors about using one of the seven FDA-approved medications proven to be safe and effective in helping smokers quit.
According to recent estimates, there are 250 different e-cigarette brands for sale in the U.S. today. With that many brands, there is likely to be wide variation in the chemicals that each contain. In initial lab tests conducted by the FDA in 2009, detectable levels of toxic cancer-causing chemicals were found, including an ingredient used in anti-freeze, in two leading brands of e-cigarettes and 18 various e-cigarette cartridges. That is why it is so urgent for FDA to begin its regulatory oversight of e-cigarettes, which must include ingredient disclosure by e-cigarette manufacturers to the FDA.
Also unknown is what the potential harm may be to people exposed to secondhand emissions from e-cigarettes. Two initial studies have found formaldehyde, benzene and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (a well-known carcinogen) coming from those secondhand emissions. While there is a great deal more to learn about these products, it is clear that there is much to be concerned about, especially in the absence of FDA oversight.
Ross P. Lanzafame is the American Lung Association National board chair and Harold P. Wimmer is the American Lung Association national president and CEO. For more information, contact Gregg.Tubbs@lung.org or 202-715-3469.

Too many American teens are smoking 'little cigars,' report says

Melissa Dahl, NBC News
They look like cigarettes, and they’re just as harmful as cigarettes — but “little cigars” are much cheaper, and they come in flavors like chocolate or candy apple, which makes them very attractive to kids, experts say.
Now, for the first time, kids’ use of flavored little cigars has been tracked by U.S. researchers. About four in 10 smokers in middle school and high school say they use flavored little cigars, according to the new report, using data from the 2011 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called the new data “disturbing.”
“Flavored little cigars are basically a deception,” Frieden says. “They’re marketed like cigarettes, they look like cigarettes, but they’re not taxed or regulated like cigarettes. And they’re increasing the number of kids who smoke.”
A little cigar looks almost exactly like a cigarette: It’s the same size and shape, but instead of being wrapped in white paper, it’s wrapped in brown paper that contains some tobacco leaf. Many little cigars have a filter, like a cigarette, according to the American Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to prevent teen smoking.

An illustration shows a regular cigarette next to a little cigar.

© American Legacy Foundation

“What makes a cigar a cigar is that it has some tobacco in the paper. Little cigars — there’s just enough tobacco in that paper to make them cigars,” says Erika Sward, assistant vice president for national advocacy at the American Lung Association. “They really are cigarettes in cigar clothing.”
Not that cigars are healthy. Little cigars – and large cigars and cigarillos (a longer, slimmer version of the classic large cigar) – contain the same harmful and addictive compounds as cigarettes. They can cause lung, oral, laryngeal and esophageal cancers and they increase the smoker’s risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The only upside of a cigar is the way they are usually smoked: Cigar smokers tend to take shallower puffs instead of deep inhales. But some research has shown people tend to smoke little cigars just like they’d smoke cigarettes, by inhaling deeply, which can exacerbate the tobacco’s health risks.

cigars & cigarillos

© American Legacy Foundation

But because little cigars are technically not cigarettes, they are taxed far less than cigarettes, making them that much more appealing to teenagers, because “kids are especially price-sensitive,” Sward says. A pack of little cigars can cost less than half as much as a pack of cigarettes, experts say.
“We know if they were cigarettes, what they’re doing now would be banned,” Frieden says. “If they were cigarettes, there would be a much greater awareness of their harm. But because they’re seen as somehow different, they’re getting another generation of kids hooked on tobacco.”
Overall, tobacco use among American kids declined significantly from 2000 to 2011. The same is true for the smoking rate in U.S. adults, which dropped 33 percent in that decade. But the consumption of non-cigarette tobacco products — like cigars or loose tobacco — increased 123 percent in that same time period, Sward says.
Little cigar sales in particular have increased dramatically, more than tripling since 1997, says Danny McGoldrick, vice president of research for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. And most of those little cigars are flavored, thus making them more attractive to kids.
“They’re really cheap, and they’re really sweet, and they have an obvious appeal to kids,” says McGoldrick. “They’re not your grandfather’s cigar.”
Appealing flavors like chocolate, cherry, strawberry or candy apple make it easier for people — especially kids — to start smoking by masking the harshness of tobacco, anti-tobacco advocates say. It’s the same concept behind those “alcopops” – flavored, sweet alcoholic beverages like wine coolers that experts argue are especially tempting to underage drinkers. And adolescence is a crucial time to prevent smoking before it starts, because about 90 percent of smokers start by the time they turn 18, national statistics show.
In 2009, Congress gave the U.S. Food and Drug Administration immediate jurisdiction over cigarettes, smokeless and roll-your-own tobacco. Currently, Sward explains, the FDA has submitted a proposal that would allow it to regulate all tobacco products. She says this current study highlights the urgent need for the FDA to be able to regulate all tobacco products, including little cigars.
“They’re deadly – just like cigarettes,” Frieden says. “It’s really important that we use all means at our disposal to protect the next generation from getting hooked on tobacco.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/too-many-american-teens-are-smoking-little-cigars-report-says-8C11433058

To quit smoking, he sketched a cigarette every time he wanted to light up

By Cara Pesek / World-Herald staff writer
On May 12, at 9:31 a.m., Brian Tait opened a small, homemade notebook and drew a small picture of a cigarette.
Normally at that time, he would have smoked a cigarette.
But Tait was trying to quit, as he had tried to do many times before. This time, he was serious. This time, he had a deadline — the impending birth of his daughter.
Three days later, Janie Wren was born.
In the following weeks and months, the 38-year-old artist and part-time stay-at-home dad drew cigarettes after meals, while paying bills, while taking a break from remodeling his home or painting. He drew them on shopping lists, envelopes, napkins and scraps of paper. He drew them any time he would normally smoke, and sometimes when he just needed to do something with his hands.
In this unconventional way, Tait quit smoking entirely. In the months since May 12, he estimates he’s drawn hundreds of cigarettes. He hasn’t smoked any.
Tait started smoking when he was 15, and he was quickly hooked. He was a skateboarder and street artist as a kid. He and his friends sought out “old guy stuff” — Pall Mall non-filters, Marlboro Reds.
“Branding and stuff got me pretty early,” Tait said.
Through his 20s and 30s, he continued to smoke. He worked as a professional sign painter (he’s painted the signs for the Boiler Room, Big Brain Tattoos and the Nomad Lounge, among others) and as an artist. Smoking was a break when he was stuck, a treat when he liked how things were going, a way to enjoy the weather when he was inside the studio on a nice day.
During that time, he also drank. He was a self-described wild guy, occasionally out of control.
But life changed. He started to date a woman who wanted a family. Tait, who has a 14-year-old daughter, wanted another child, too.
About a year and a half ago, he gave up drinking. He quit cold turkey, without even the assistance of pen and paper. He knew that cigarettes should come next. But no one who knew him knew him as a non-smoker, he said.
“I’ve always been personified as this working-class artist that chain smokes or drinks two pots of coffee a day, which is true,” he said.
He may have been a smoking artist, but he was an artist first. At the same time Tait was thinking of quitting smoking (and the same time the ever-nearing arrival of baby Janie was causing him to mull quitting more seriously), he was also wanting to refine his drawing skills, which after years of computer-aided work didn’t feel as sharp as they once did.
And with that, quitting smoking became an art project.
“Everything at some point is technical ability,” he said. “It’s the constant over and over that makes good people great.”
So he drew, and drew, and drew.
He drew unsmoked cigarettes, partially smoked cigarettes, packs of cigarettes. He drew them all the time — after meals, around the house, while waiting in line to apply for a building permit — and then less often, and then, not at all, though he still runs across the occasional scrap of paper with a cigarette sketch.
Laura Krajicek, who works with smoking cessation patients at Methodist Hospital, had never heard of anyone quitting cigarettes that way before.
She had heard of people quitting through prayer or chewing gum or wearing patches. She knew of people who smoked while driving who took to holding a pen instead of a cigarette while on the road.
“You can’t quit driving, so you have to find something else to do with your hand,” she said.
She heard from one woman who repainted the smoke-stained walls in every room in her house in an effort to remain smoke-free.
“I’ve got to say, I’ve never heard of drawing a cigarette, but good for him,” said Krajicek.
While Tait’s method was unconventional, Krajicek said it also had one key thing in common with other successful smoking cessation techniques — he found a way to fill the time normally spent smoking with something else.
Tait doesn’t need so much to fill the time anymore.
Baby Janie came, and Tait has been busy with her since. He also shares a studio space at 26th and Harney Streets with several other artists, including some younger ones whom he mentors. The giant space, which Tait refers to as “the shop,” includes a stage, homemade skateboarding ramp and various studios, and he’s converting part of the area into a gallery. He began work on a stay-at-home dad blog, and on a couple of other projects, too, and Tait found the time previously reserved for smoking filled with other duties.
Tait’s girlfriend, Jessica Brown, said it’s been a while since she even ran across one of the cigarette drawings that not so long ago seemed to be all over their home. The smell of smoke that clung to his clothes is gone, which is just as well as she doesn’t think her heightened post-pregnancy sense of smell would do very well with it anyway. She’s used to her new, non-smoking boyfriend, and she thinks it will stick.
Tait is an all-or-nothing kind of guy, Brown said, and she’s not surprised that he’s stuck to his experiment.
“He’s extreme,” she said. “He keeps it interesting.”
http://www.omaha.com/article/20131021/GO/131029960/1696#.UmVgaJRUM0M

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel calls for huge cigarette tax increase

By Cheryl K. Chumley – The Washington Times
Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em — and then hurry and quit, because Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is planning a massive tax increase on cigarettes.
His proposed 75-cent increase would bring a pack of cigarettes in the Windy City to $7.42 a pack, the highest price in the nation, Fox News reported.
But the tax hike could have a countereffect on raising revenues for the city. That’s because border residents only need to jump across state lines to buy in bulk. Already, the city’s total tax collection on cigarettes has fallen in recent years due directly to tax increases. In 2006, the city brought in $32.9 million in cigarette taxes, but after two consecutive tax hikes, revenues fell to $16.5 million, the Chicago Sun-Times said.
The tax rate per pack now stands at 68 cents.
Mr. Emanuel said the move could raise $10 million for schools. He plans to bring it before the City Council for consideration in his Oct. 23 proposed budget.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/21/chicagos-rahm-emanuel-calls-huge-cigarette-tax-hik/