FDA rule cuts off troops’ cigar donations
The Tampa Bay Times reports that a new Food & Drug Administration rule that became effective August 8th may forbid cigar donations to troops deployed overseas;
Among the regulations is what many interpret as a ban on the charitable donation of tobacco products. Premium cigarmakers and retailers like Thompson that have donated thousands of cigars each year risk fines or other sanctions if they keep giving.
Their hands, they say, are tied.
“The troops are out there putting their lives on the line to protect our freedoms, rights and privileges, and the federal government is taking away those same freedoms and rights,” said Rocky Patel, owner of Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Co. in Bonita Springs. “This is how we can give back to our country and it’s amazing the FDA unilaterally seeks to take that away. It just hurts me we’re not going to be able to do this anymore.”
I sent my son a box of La Gloria Cubana Miami-rolled, torpedo-shaped cigars and it was the bright spot of his Afghanistan tour.
If the Feds want to make tobacco illegal, they should just go ahead and do that instead of nibbling around the edges of the regulation of a legal product. I say that as a consumer of said legal product.
Thanks to Bobo for the link.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
And just think: this is the same kind of thinking that will make the rules for “single payer” healthcare, should we ever be stupid enough to go that route.
Wonderful. Just freaking wonderful.
I see the Fed. Dumb Ass Dept didn’t intervene about the cigars in the oval orifice…err office!
And at the state level, marijuana is legal and the stupidity just continues…heavy sigh
Of all the stupid dumbass chickenshit…
Is tobacco illegal? No? Then what the fuck is this horseshit?
I say this as a nonsmoker/nondipper who hates the smell of nicotine.
How much you wanna bet the people behind this rule favor the legalization of marijuana?
Swisher Sweets are the best insect repellent
short of huffing DEET.
Right there with you, TOW.
I do not like tobacco – I’ve seen the effects of smoking and dipping.
But this “It’s for your own good” attitude of these busybodies makes me want to light one up and blow the smoke into their face, followed by a well-place stream of 2nd-hand Red Man in their eyes. Or dump a whole can of Red Man in their mouth and tie their jaws shut…
Yep. Let’s screw with the military for your “social cause of the day”, yet again. If this company is donating their product and troops can still buy tobacco in theater, then what the hell business is it of the FDA anyway? It’s not like a pharmaceutical company that’s wanting to donate reds and black beauties to the troops. This sounds like something the old bag of dicks Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders would have thought up. Next on the list will be Twinkies, Ho-Hos and Moon Pies. Then you’ll see the fights start over who got the peaches and pound cake in their C-Rats!
It’s going to get very ugly if they try to ban Dr. Pepper and moon pies…
Yeah, I guess I’ll have to go up the road to the Shell station and pick up some Hostess chocolate creme-filled cupcakes, several cans of Cheez-Whiz, and one ginormous pack of Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip ice cream.
I was going to do that, anyway, but now – well, I’m inspired by Sparks! Don’t forget the Fresca! And Spam. Can’t do without Spam.
This is our government doing what it does best: reducing personal liberty. There is always a damn good reason for it but the result is always the same: Something is taken away from us. In 2009, when the FDA was given control of regulating tobacco, it was FOR THE CHILDREN. You should go and read the flowery, kumbaya horseshit that accompanied the bill. And every year, the noose tightens through executive regulatory action and it will continue to tighten until smoking is outlawed altogether. That’s the way tyranny works. There’s always a good reason for freedom’s loss.
Yep and I was “over there” in 2010 when it became no longer possible to buy a roll of Copenhagen online, even though it was being shipped to an APO AE address in Southwest Asia. Think of how many children they protected with that horseshit. Way to support the troops and contractors…let them dip sand. Fuckers.
AAFES PX would be out of dip for months at a time, while all the little Haji shops had it. How does that work? Highway robbery, literally.
Loved those Cigar donations. So did most of the Battalion. Smoke pit leadership counsel was a great unit tool and definitely stress relief.
Yes smoking is bad for your health, but fucking with someone’s shit will get you hurt a lot quicker.
Brought to you by the same people that didn’t see a thing wrong when old Bill used them for pokin’, not smokin’.
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^^^^^^Here’s your sign!^^^^^^
Reputedly the male Clintoon’s favorite Pink Floyd tune was “Have a Cigar”. (smile)
Great tune, Hondo!
When the world ends, I’m going light a cigar, play this song, kick back and watch it all end from my window.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMr3KtYUCcI
Great tune indeed. I used to think it was the best tune on the album.
Today, I realize it’s the 2nd best one on that album. The best one immediately follows it.
+1
As a member of the CRA, I have been watching as the FDA deemed that the same Obama pushed regulations that allow them to harass makers of ‘flavored’ cigarettes (except menthols) because their goods are ‘aimed at children’ said that they could do the same to cigars for the same reason. It’s sickening, I’ve never met a child smoking a Tatuaje pudgy minster or an Arturo Fuente Rothschild.
So the smoking lamp will no longer be lit.
Next thing you know, they’ll be taking away the daily grog ration. Oh, wait–.
Already is. All submarines have been smoke free for years, and a lot of surface ships as well.
No wonder so many guys are going sad panda. As the old Adam Ant song goes, “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what do ya do?”
But Hitlery’s Nominal Hubby, BillY Bubba, can smoke $600 Gurkha Cigars and our troops can’t get Rocky Patal’s?!?!? WTF!
There are three days in a man’s life when he should smoke a cigar:
On the day of his marriage;
On the day his first child is born;
On the day he dies.
I started smoking when I was sixteen years old and quit when I was twenty-two years old.
I really enjoyed smoking, and my only reason for giving it up was because I joined the Mormon church.
BUT – – – , a long time ago, when I was a soldier in the United States Army, we were issued C-Rations, and each of those C-Rations included a pack of four (04) cigarettes.
I always gave mine away.
Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed eating C-Rations.
The menthol Salem brand traded higher on the street. I liked C-rats. The only thing missing was the toy.
I smoked straights, so I got a good share of the Lucky’s, Camels and pall Malls from the guys you smoked filtered only.
Have you ever wondered about the origin of “menthol”? It’s an interesting story. Invented a few blocks away from where I am now.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/the-real-history-of-ross-ave-7147763
Nothing like a damn good cigar!!! Of course the numbnuts in the FDA, have to pretend to justify their own existence, now by f&%king with the troops.
Well, remember, bodaprez was supposed to give up smoking for his own good, but he didn’t. So it’s okay for him to blaze up a doobie but not for you.
Apparently, it’s also OK for his daughter to light up a doobie, but the troops can’t have a cigar.
Wait a minute! The FDA is not saying you CAN’T have them. They’re just saying no more charitable donations. Are you seeing the same things I am? Man, those massive tax write-offs by cigar vendors are really taking a bite out of the budget, aren’t they?
So who’s to say a box or carton or three of cheap cigars can’t be sent to a designated recipient as a gift? Gifts from friends are allowed, aren’t they? A carton of cigars instead of just a box – why, that would make a lot of guys happy about getting their usual oral addiction fix.
So what are you going to do for the girls?
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I detest the smell of pot more than tobacco by a 7-league distance.
DEC 2003, Camp Liberty Iraq. Unit received a large box from Vassarette, female troopies are ecstatic. Until the box was opened. Wasn’t exactly practical female type undergarments… more along the lines of Victoria’s secret. And, before you ask, none of it was modeled for the boys.
I’m still kinda pissed about that part.
Actually, that’s not true at all. Due to the new regulations, you cannot give cigars away at all, save with a purchase. So my friend, at his tobacco shop, cannot give me a free cigar, but if I buy something he can throw one in with it as a special for free.
Just to clarify.
Makes me want to start a non-profit and work a deal with these cigar makers to purchase in bulk for super low prices, use a network of family contacts of deployed service members to distribute them. Can’t give them as charity, but FDA can’t regulate individual care packages. They can however go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
Donuts are fattening. Has to be a whole-grain rolling bagel.
And protection! Can’t skip that!
OSC,
I was also thinking along those lines. The COMPANY can’t give or send the cigars, but nothing says an INDIVIDUAL (employee) can’t do the same thing.
Joe and Sam: “Hey, boss, what’s up?”
Boss: “Joe and Sam, here are several boxes of cigars. Not for you, but for the troops. Slap your names on the outside, and we’ll make sure they’re mailed. Thanks, this’ll mean a lot to our boys overseas.”
They can forbid it all they want. We’ll find a way to make it happen anyway. I’m with a small forum of enthusiasts (cigarbum.com ), and we’re still gonna do our donations. By the way, Jonn, LGC is about my favorite brand as well. Kudos to ya!
Seems stupid that I can walk over to the BX in Kandahar and buy any tobacco product I choose but folks back home can’t donate them?
Sorry, “PX” not “BX” here…
There is ample precedent for the Federal government screwing with the troops’ right to do legal but “bad” things that have no impact one way or the other on the military. Case in point: you can buy any legal “adult magazine” you want off-post in the USA. But for a number of years you haven’t been able to buy them on-post.
DoD does this “for the troops’ own good”.
In other news the Obama Administrations BATFE just issued new regulations on wet nitrocellulose. The stuff gunpowder is made of. It is going to raise the cost of powder and ammo but no-one knows how much yet. Combine this with the above story, Obama’s intent to sign a “climate treaty” in China against the wishes of American and The Constitution and his ramming through TPP and you haven’t seen anything yet as to what his last few months in rule of us peons have in store.
We are truly a banana republic
I smoke when I’m nervous and I can’t imagine how the guys out there fighting not having a ciggie, chew or cigar..
Yeah, why not continue to control every freaking aspect of American life? Nothing more than an alphabet agency run amok, desperately trying to justify larger budgets in the future. “Hey, look what we did.” The old adage is true … The beatings will continue until morale improves. It’s a damn shame those beatings come from one’s own government. The FDA should rescind this ruling until not one swinging dick at the FDA smokes or dips.
Around this time each year I post the following on various forums. If you want to help the Army/Marines/Sailors/Airmen/Coasties/Anyone I Forgot, you can send packages of food/stuff. Formerly/currently referred to as Care Packages. Each unit has a person to receive the package and distribute its contents. There are many google posts that explain how this is easily done. They are, I believe, particularly thankful if the box of goodies is from a vet. We sign ours HMC xxxxx, and SP4 xxxxx. Mrs. HMC is an Army vet, but I don’t hold that against her. (Yeah, I know. I don’t care. BWHAA.) They crave stuff such as protein bars/mixes and other types of food, what we in the Navy called geedunk. They also really want those plastic Ziploc freezer bags, the thick ones, not those thin ones for everyday use. Also, a recurring theme is WARM SOCKS. Every year, socks. Oh, and that dried jerky stuff. They almost always ask for jerky. We buy in bulk on Amazon. We no longer send chocolate … that stuff melts and can destroy the contents of the box, no matter how well it is wrapped. Also, the ladies ask for smelly lady stuff, which may not be readily available on ship/station. Stuff like smelly shampoo/conditioner/bath wash stuff/lotions/potions/etc. You know, lady stuff. We go to local uniform shop and scarf up the socks, hit the commissary for bars, lady stuff, etc. Mrs. HMC knows what lady stuff to buy. We hit up our TRICARE dentist for 50 or so toothbrushes and those little tubes of toothpaste, dental floss and other dental stuff and send them along in several boxes. We send many boxes each year but I think they are particularly welcomed around the Christmas/Winter/Whatever Holiday Season when they might be most lonely. Yeah, they’re studs, but they get lonely. I did. So did you. Postage is set by box size and it is usually less than, oh, $25-$30. Doesn’t matter what it weighs. If you could stuff a Buick in the box, it would go for the same price. Those folks deserve it. I… Read more »
Thanks for sharing and we’ll be sending too..a great idea to pass to friends..
This C.S. Lewis quote just seems to fit”
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”