Chesapeake Smoke

Well, folks, it’s time to get away from pleasant things like cigar reviews and family reminiscing. The Nanny State is back on our collective asses and trying to gain more traction.

Matt Krimm from Draper’s (http://www.wcurtisdraper.com/), a wonderful smoke shop in DC, put out a call last month for Draper’s regulars to bombard the DC City Council with e-mails. Why, you ask? Because the City Council, having nothing better to do, like fix DC’s broken school system, fight AIDS and other health issues, or do something about rampant drug abuse and addiction, has set their sights on smoking. Yes, sports fan, they’re after us again. After enacting two tax increases in the space of 72 hours (neither of which affected premium cigars), they were looking at enacting a “sidewalk smoking ban.” The effort worked, and a flood of e-mails to the anti-smoking Nazis saved the day … for now.

No sooner do our fellow Brothers of the Leaf convince the DC City Council to back off than the federales get involved. The House of Representatives, in its effort to chip away at the $1.6 trillion deficit, is considering HR4439, which would impose – are you sitting down? – a 775% federal tax increase on pipe tobaccos. SCHIP wasn’t enough, those greedy bastards want more. Follow this link to the IPCPR Legislative Action Center to contact your so-called representative and tell him/her how you feel about this absurd taxation: http://capwiz.com/rtda/issues/alert/?alertid=14599891

Whatever they were smoking on Capital Hill must have made its way to Annapolis, because the House of Delegates of the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Maryland is considering House Bill 88, which would authorize state control of how retail tobacconists do business, including higher taxes (this taxation thing sounds like a broken record) and possibly forcing tobacconists to only buy cigars from in-state distributors. Bottom line, we as consumers are looking at potentially higher prices.

Stop the madness! Call or write your Delegate and tell them to keep their hands off our smoke shops.