Tag Archives: FDA

Extra, Extra! Another Cigar Review (with Regulatory Insight)

09 Thursday Jun 2016

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Today, since I’m in Cigar City, USA, I tried a Gibraltar Extra maduro by Robert Caldwell. Some of you may be familiar with his King is Dead line. My 52 x 6 1/2 torpedo was perfectly constructed with a firm feel and a slightly oily appearance. The burn and draw were smooth, even, and effortless. The smooth smoke developed alongside a pure gray ash. Beautiful.

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A product of the Dominican, this stick is medium to medium-full bodied with a delighful taste – a little peppery, a little woody, and a little hint of leather. Perfect for a warm but overcast day. Mine was enjoyed with coffee but I could easily see it paired with a good amber or brown ale. This strikes me as one of those rare cigars that will be good at any time of day, any time of the year, and under most atmospheric conditions.

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This cigar is as complex, beautiful, and interesting as its geographic namesake, the Rock of Gibraltar. I have never been disappointed with any Caldwell offering. I hope the tradition continues…

You see Caldwell (founded in 2014) is one of the wonderful boutique firms in danger of extinction thanks to the FDA, Congress, and Hussein Obama. When or if we start losing good cigars, we need to pay our due respects to all of our betters who helped dampen the industry. They’re not helping children. They’re not helping families. They’re helping BIG tobacco and the busybodies of the regulatory state.

The Anglo-Spanish Gibraltar of limestone features a Moorish fort, a relic of the 700 year quest of the Spaniards to rid themselves of Islamic dominance. I pray we need not suffer that long under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Thank you, Mr. Caldwell, for producing excellence. To the producers of government misery – sic semper tyrannis.

They Really Don’t Need a Stinking Warrant

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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America: THE land of freedom, right? Well, economically speaking, we certainly are freer than most of the world, say countries like Somalia or North Korea. It terms of developed, civilized nations, we’re number 11.

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Freedom Index 2016, Heritage.

Switzerland and Australia are numbers 4 and 5 under “free” by the way. Again, that’s economic freedom or the lack thereof – taxes, business regs, etc.

In terms of personal freedom America is nowhere near where it used to be. Those specific rights protected by the Constitution are all but a memory. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals just sided with the 5th, 6th and 11th Circuits to deep-six the Fourth Amendment and the protection against unreasonable searches of persons, papers, and things.

When law enforcement asks a company for cellphone records to track location data in an investigation, is that a search under the Fourth Amendment?

By a 12-3 vote, appellate court judges in Richmond, Virginia, on Monday ruled that it is not — and therefore does not require a warrant.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld what is known as the third-party doctrine: a legal theory suggesting that consumers who knowingly and willingly surrender information to third parties therefore have “no reasonable expectation of privacy” in that information — regardless of how much information there is, or how revealing it is.

Research clearly shows that cell-site location data collected over time can reveal a tremendous amount of personal information — like where you live, where you work, when you travel, who you meet with, and who you sleep with. And it’s impossible to make a call without giving up your location to the cellphone company.

This issue will likely make it to the high court one day where this precedent will be upheld. The developing theory is that no-one, outside of government criminals like Hillary Clinton, has any right or expectation to privacy – anywhere or regarding anything.

Google.

There are ways around such blatantly  Unconstitutional measures. However, the “law” has decided that taken such tactical precautions is evidence of wrong-doing all by itself. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Such measures also elude the technical capabilities of most people anyway.

The worn-out line of the sheep goes: “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.” Two problems there: 1) you don’t know what they consider “wrong”, and; 2) how about when the government is wrong? What then? Move to a freer country? There are at least ten out there – one right next door to the U.S. Sit in your house and do absolutely nothing? That can be considered an indication of criminal intent or an invitation for a “welfare check-in” by the police.

The odds are you do not have anything to worry about. Obey the government in general, don’t make any waves, and they will probably leave you alone. Probably was not what the Founders had in mind with the Bill of Rights though. They desired protection from ALL government overreach.

Overreach is all the government does these days. I noted the other day that the FDA is out to kill off the cigar industry. The draconian regulations are about to begin. I’ve got a lot more coming on that soon. Please note thought, if you read my thoughts on a cellular device (or most any device) the cops may be watching. Worried about that? You should be…

You Can’t Fight City Hall (But You Can Run Over It)

25 Wednesday May 2016

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Government oppression and crime is everywhere – taxes, bailouts, murder, theft, speed limits, regulations, etc. One doesn’t have to look for examples anymore as the state will bring the crap right to your door (sometimes through it, warrant or not). My dear cigar industry friends are in the middle of yet another example of government overreach.

The FDA is about to start lowering the premium cigar business into the grave. Diane Katz explains:

The premium cigar market is populated by limited-edition products and seasonal blends, and most of the small businesses that produce them don’t have the $1 million or more that the FDA estimates it will cost to comply with the regulations. At the same time, the agency concedes that the benefits of the new rules “are difficult to quantify” and it “cannot predict the size of these benefits.”

What is particularly nonsensical is that these artisan products are not the target of the FDA’s latest regulatory crackdown, which is actually aimed at combating teen smoking and the popularization of e-cigarettes (despite the fact that subjecting e-cigarettes to the new regulations will hurt public health far more than protect it).

Indeed, hand-rolled premium cigars are not mass-produced and sold in convenience stores, nor do they contain the flavor additives that attract young smokers these days. They also aren’t meant to be inhaled. According to industry representatives, the market share of premium cigars is a mere 2 percent of all cigars sold each year in the United States. The typical consumer — an adult male — smokes only two premium cigars a week.

Even the FDA concedes that people who smoke cigars exclusively have a lower risk for many smoking-related diseases compared with cigarette smokers, as documented in the 2014 Surgeon General’s Report.

The FDA did consider excluding premium cigars in its proposed regulation. But that option was dropped in the final rule — reportedly at the behest of cigarette manufacturers that would rather the government squelch competition.

One need not like cigars or even approve of tobacco use to recognize that the new regulations are misguided and excessive. That’s all too common now that America is transforming from a land of liberty into an administrative state. Were Julius Caeser Newton to land here today, he never could have built his business. Legislation is pending to exempt premium cigar makers from the FDA’s latest power grab. There is no excuse for Congress not to approve it.

Actually, Diane, there’s just no excuse for Congress. There’s no excuse for the FDA nor any justification for its existence.

Cigar lovers, think of the FDA as a giant City Hall. The old saying goes, “You can’t fight city hall.” The old saying is wrong. City hall has been fought and has been beaten before, destroyed in fact. Consider the plight of Marvin Heemeyer. Heemeyer was oppressed by local criminal officials in Granby, Colorado. They stole and stole and stole; Heemeyer was left with no recourse. The disaffected business owner said, “I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable … Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things.”

Heemeyer tried the official route. He petitioned, he appealed, he campaigned – all to no avail. He suspected local officials and gangsters were in cahoots against him; subsequent investigations confirmed this suspicion.

Then Heemeyer got unreasonable (really he got REASONABLE, if you think about it). He fought city hall – with an armored bulldozer. He “won” his case by running over city hall, the police station, several other government buildings, and a corrupt local business. The police, even the S.W.A.T. team, was powerless to stop him. Knowing the National Guard was coming for him with heavy weapons he got reckless and thus met his end. Still he remains an American hero.

Heemeyer used this armor-plated Komatsu D355A bulldozer to destroy 13 buildings in Granby, Colorado.

Heemeyer’s revenge. Wikipedia.

They don’t make a bulldozer big enough for the FDA’s enormous campus on New Hampshire Ave. Still, there must be some other reasonable actions we can consider in answer to the government’s unreasonable actions. If we choose to be unreasonable, to be unfree, we consent to live as serfs. I wonder if Heemeyer had a cigar in that tank?

FDA ASSAULTS CIGAR INDUSTRY

22 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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I like cigars. I hate government. I really really hate when government interferes with cigars. As if the regulations, restrictions and taxes, taxes, and even more taxes aren’t enough, now the FDA is hell-bent on yet more dastardly regulation of the good leaf.

This issue has been on my radar for a while but it was brought back to my attention over the past few weeks via murmurs I hear in the shops I frequent. Then I saw this Facebook post/plea from my friend Patrick Vivalo:

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Thank you Patrick (and re-post of Russell Wilder).

I think I signed the petition some time back. And I’m not really into petitions (or remembering them).

The FDA’s new rules would wreak havoc on the cigar business through some of the strangest, communist bullshit imaginable. “New” cigars, meaning those crafted since 2007, would have to be inspected and approved by Big Brother. Older, pre-2007 sticks would be exempt. The approval process (GAWD only knows how that will work) will be both time-consuming and onerously expensive – I’ve heard estimates in the hundreds of thousands per cigar type. And more and worse is to come.

WORLD EXCLUSIVE!!!!! I have the first ever photograph of a prototype FDA cigar inspector. Yes, this dude (or someone like him) will regulate our smokes:

U.S. FDA Office of Idiocy.

I could care less what the stated reasons for this unnecessary intrusion into my hobby are. I suspect the FDA wants to protect all of those children one is constantly tripping over at the local cigar shop – every bit as common as honest politicians and useful regulators!

Reading through the Constitution I found no authority for cigar regulation. I double checked, doubting my own senses. Still not there. In fact the word”cigar” does not appear even once in the text. Believe it or not, the FDA isn’t mentioned either. A reading of what is in there would lead one to think the government does not have legal authority to regulate cigars – or much of anything else. Odd, that. Not to worry; what the feds lack in legality, they make up for with threats and sheer violence. Tyranny, I think they call it.

Patrick and Russell and many others signed the petition. Russell even went to Washington (an act of supreme bravery and sacrifice) on a mission with other industry leaders to protest this meddlesome evil in Congress. I hate to say they failed … but here we are back at the petition again. (Two petitions – one for the criminals in Congress and one for the chief criminal in the Whitehouse.) I fear none of this will work.

A better, more comprehensive approach would be to get an honest member of Congress to initiate legislation to abolish the FDA entirely. Somehow humanity survived without it up until 1906. Given the departure of Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, it might be just as worthwhile to consult the Wizard of Oz on this matter…

Petitions, Congress, the President, and the various apparati of the bureaucracy are all by-products of the Constitution which established this particular corrupt government in the first place. Like all systems, this one was destined to grow dangerously out of control. Working within the system to fix the system is insane and self-defeating. The Constitution created the government; government killed the Constitution; “let’s have the government follow the Constitution!” Get it? It’s kind of like trying to get to know the termites and reason with them so they won’t eat your house. That won’t work. Tents and gas work.

Thomas Jefferson said, “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. It is it’s natural manure.” The tree is all but dead in Amerika despite the copious amounts of unnatural manure lying about D.C. At any rate, our “patriots” are now completely preoccupied with television, chasing fake money, sports, and other triviality. “Ain’t nobody got time for revolution!”

So we humbly petition our masters to mind their own business. These regulatory measures, very likely to come to pass, will not kill the business just yet. Life will go on. Children will be safe. Voodoo, busybody inspectors will be well paid.

You, the non-cigar reader, might pause to wonder why you should care about this issue. It doesn’t concern you directly. Yet, you rest assured the ever-benevolent forces of the state have some new regulatory scheme in mind for what does concern you. “First they came for the cigar lovers…”

Google.