E-CigaretteDirect.com is picking up the slack as other larger websites are buckling under pressure from various interest groups to remove electronic devices from sale. E-CigaretteDirect.com Sees Increase in Sales As Amazon.com Removes Electronic Cigarettes Many top internet retailer are going to stop selling and supporting the sale of electronic cigarettes on their website. Amazon.com reportedly has sent a notice to all its resellers with the following message: We are writing because it has come to our attention that you have listed a product that we have determined is inappropriate for Amazon ... Jump to full article >>

SAN FRANCISCO — The nation’s largest tobacco company agreed Thursday to drop its legal challenge to San Francisco’s ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies. Lawyers for the Richmond, Va. -based Philip Morris USA Inc. filed a stipulation of dismissal in federal court in Oakland, agreeing to end a lawsuit that claimed the San Francisco law violated its free speech rights. The action comes after a federal appeals court in San Francisco upheld the law on Sept. 9, affirming a decision in which U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland last year refused to issue a preliminary injun ... Jump to full article >>

When Laura Buchta started to smoke cigarettes this past March, she didn’t think she would get addicted. She said she was only dabbling. “Then I was really frustrated with life, after an argument with my ex,” Buchta said. Buchta, a graduate student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said before then, she was smoking with friends socially. “And now I enjoy it. One of these days I know I’ll quit.” According to a USA Today article in 2007, 31 percent of college students smoke, compared to 25 percent of people in the country who smoke. “I ... Jump to full article >>

CIGARETTE sales should be banned from pubs and clubs, say anti-smoking campaigners, who point to the results of world-first research carried out in Sydney. The combination of being in the company of smokers at a venue where tobacco is also for sale softens the resolve of would-be quitters and can turn a one-off cigarette into a full-blown relapse, a study has found. Wendy Oakes, tobacco control manager for the Cancer Council NSW, which funded the research, said long-term smokers would not be disadvantaged if cigarettes were removed from sale in licensed premises. ”Smokers have very habit ... Jump to full article >>

PORTLAND, Ore. — The state of Oregon has gone to court to block the sale of electronic cigarettes on the same day that a New York county banned their sale to minors. Oregon Attorney General John Kroger and Jon Cooper, majority leader of the Suffolk County Legislature on Long Island, N.Y., said Tuesday the lawsuit and the ban are both the first of their kind in the nation. Electronic cigarettes are battery-powered devices typically made out of plastic designed to look like a traditional cigarette, including a light that simulates its glow. But instead of tobacco that burns and creates smo ... Jump to full article >>

Cigar and snuff maker Swedish Match AB (SWMA.ST) posted a 38 percent rise in second-quarter earnings and predicted higher second-half sales and operating profit, lifting it shares on Friday. “It is a surprisingly strong report. The cigar margin is incredibly strong,” said Rolf Karp, an analyst at Ohman Fondkommission. Pretax profit rose to 791 million Swedish crowns ($101 million), adjusted for the divestment of a South African pipe tobacco and snuff operation. The mean forecast for pretax profit in a Reuters poll which included the divested business, was for a 705 million profit. ... Jump to full article >>

Whatever qualms they may have about Big Government, people in business are more strongly averse to Big Tobacco. So we can infer, at any rate, from the results of a poll conducted for AdweekMedia among members of LinkedIn. Participants were asked whether, when it comes to marketing tobacco, the government should ban advertising altogether, regulate it more strictly or leave the rules as is. A majority, 56 percent, said they’d favor an outright ban on tobacco advertising — a step Congress has shown little if any sign of daring to take. Nineteen percent said they’d like the gov ... Jump to full article >>

Fresh off its court win on Friday, the Cayuga Indian Nation today made an offer to permanently settle its cigarette tax dispute with Cayuga and Seneca counties. The Cayugas offered to pay the counties’ $180,000-plus in legal bills tied to the case and said they will not sue the counties for millions of dollars in damages for lost revenues, legal costs and the value of cigarettes seized from their LakeSide Trading stores on Nov. 25. In exchange, the nation asked the counties not to challenge the Cayugas’ court win, which allowed them to resume selling tax-free cigarettes. “Th ... Jump to full article >>

TAMPA – When the landmark cigar maker Hav-A-Tampa announced plans to shut down operations in its namesake city, those smitten with Tampa’s reputation as Cigar City lamented the loss. Stogies helped transform “Tampa town” from a sleepy fishing village with 700 residents in 1885 to a thriving city of 108,000 two decades later. Back then, 159 factories employed some 13,000 workers as cigar rollers and tobacco strippers. A century later, only one major cigar manufacturer remains, leaving some to wonder: Is Tampa still the Cigar Capital of the World? “That’s bee ... Jump to full article >>

THE ban was guaranteed to change the smoking industry for better or for worse when it was introduced two years ago. Jo O’Donnell has met with doctors and landlords to see how the rules have affected smoking and drinking habits across the North East TWO years after smoking was banned in bars, pubs in the North East are reporting huge losses in custom and alcohol sales. Across the country pubs and clubs are calling time and closing at a rate of 50 a week. And now the full impact of the change has been felt, landlords say they have been let down over promises non-smokers and families would ... Jump to full article >>

IT WILL take more than the global financial crisis to slow down Dermtek Sdn Bhd, the exclusive distributor of Nicogel for Asia, as it is on an aggressive mode this year. By using Malaysia as its production hub, the company plans to sell the cigarette-alternative product to 10 countries in Asia by year-end. “We are looking at Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, China, India, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam. We will start by repackaging the gels into sachets and sell it directly to these countries. “After that, we will be appointing distributors for eac ... Jump to full article >>