Cigarette lighter with built-in stun gun is great for self-defense

If you’re a fan of novel inventions, you might be interested to check out particular cigarette lighter that has a stun gun built into it, ultimately pulling double duty as a lighter for your cigarettes and at the same time offering a form of self defense.

Cigarette lighter and stun gun

While the cigarette lighter is nothing to shout about, the stun gun might be worth taking a look at. It has the capability to output 260KV and is powered by a integrated NiCad rechargeable battery, a body built from ABS engineering plastic and features a charging time of 10 hours. As icing on the cake, the cigarette lighter/stun gun will also pack a LED flashlight, just in case you need a clearer look at the guy your electrocuting. Jokes aside, this cigarette lighter/stun gun/LED flashlight is available, and needless to say that you should be extremely careful with it if  you plan on buying one for yourself.

 

Packets of cigarettes to go up by 37p

Drinkers and smokers faced added pain today as George Osborne confirmed another duty rise on alcohol and cigarettes.

Woman holding a cigarette near an ashtray

 

Cigarettes meanwhile will  increase by five per cent above the rate of inflation, increasing the average price of a packet of 20 by 37p.

George Osborne told the House of Commons today that the increases would be effective from 6pm tonight.

He said: ‘Smoking remains the biggest cause of preventable illness in this country.

‘There is strong evidence that increasing the price of cigarettes deters people from smoking.

‘Duty on a packet of cigarettes will rise by five per cent above the rate of inflation. This will increase the cost of a packet of cigarettes by 37p.’

But smokers’ groups have slammed the duty increase on duty on tobacco products as a ‘smugglers’ charter’.

Simon Clark, director of Forest, said: ‘This is a smugglers’ charter. More and more consumers will turn to the black market or buy their tobacco abroad.

‘The elderly, the low paid and the unemployed will be hit the hardest but this is an attack on all law-abiding smokers who support Britain’s retailers by purchasing their cigarettes at home.

‘The only people celebrating this decision will be criminal gangs and tobacco control lobbyists.’

 

Brazil to ban flavored cigarettes, including menthol

Brazil is to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, across the country, according to a GlobalPost story.

The Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária (Anvisa – National Health Surveillance Agency) announced the ban on Tuesday, saying the additives used exclusively in these products were what lured many young people to start consuming tobacco.

Flavored cigarettes: Rich cigarettes, Kiss cigarettes and Richmond cigarettes

Tobacco manufacturers will have 18 months from when Anvisa’s decision is officially published to pull their flavored cigarettes from the national market, and 24 months to pull other flavored tobacco products from shelves.

Manufacturers will still be allowed to add sugar to Brazilian-made tobacco products and those imported into the country.

And they will be allowed to manufacture flavored tobacco products in Brazil for export.

Tobacco industry representatives were said to have been in favor of prohibiting additives that created flavored cigarettes, but that they had wanted to continue to be able to sell menthol products.

The industry said there was no scientific proof that menthol made cigarettes more palatable or addictive than did non-menthol cigarettes.

 

International Sales of Cuban Cigars Up 9 Percent

International sales of luxurious Cuban cigars climbed 9 percent in 2011 with revenues of $401 million following an upturn in the market, executives of Habanos S.A. said Monday.

On the opening day of Cuba’s 14th Cigar Festival, organizers stressed how important these results are amid the economic woes afflicting their main European markets and the spread of restrictions on smoking.

Habanos Cuban cigars

Habanos S.A., founded in 1994, is a mixed company with equal participation by state-owned Cubatabaco and the Spanish corporation Altadis, a subsidiary of the Imperial Tobacco Group PLC.

The company’s Vice President for Development Javier Terres and Marketing Director Ana Lopez told a press conference that the corporation has held onto its 80-percent share of the international market for hand-rolled cigars.

Habanos currently purveys such exclusive brands as Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagas, Hoyo de Monterrey, H. Upmann and Punch to 150 countries.

Its leading markets are Spain, France, China, Germany, Switzerland, Lebanon, Cuba, Greece and the United Arab Emirates.

Some 53 percent of sales are in western Europe, followed by the Americas with 15 percent and the Asia-Pacific region representing 13 percent.

Habanos executives said that in seeking to maintain sales, the company is trying to adapt to the new circumstances, so that smokers can “identify” where to find a quality Cuban cigar and shorter cigars are being designed for places where smoking is restricted.

Terres said that China is Asia’s most promising market with double the sales it had three years ago.

As for knock-offs of its star products such as Cohiba, Lopez said the company is trying “to limit to the maximum” illicit activities by means of “systematic tracking,” which in 2010 allowed it to detect more than 10,000 fakes under Cuban brand names.

 

The evolution of the Cuban cigar

Havana’s sprawling Palacio de Convenciones normally plays host to Communist Party congresses. This week it has been converted into an exclusive emporium.

Three Cohiba cigars

The walls are draped in huge adverts for Cuba’s most luxurious export: hand-rolled Habanos cigars. Milling around the gleaming display stands below are hundreds of visitors to the island’s annual international cigar festival.

This year’s event commemorates 520 years since Christopher Columbus first discovered tobacco here and introduced it to Europe.

Western Europe is still the key market for the cigars Cuba later learned to fashion from its leaves. But the economic crisis there and the spread of anti-smoking laws are creating changes.

International appeal

Distributor Habanos opened the festival by announcing a 9% increase in sales in 2011.

The firm says emerging markets like China are now making up for others in decline.

“When you talk about luxury products, that upturn is driven now by China. It’s booming,” says Habanos Development Vice-President Javier Terres.

Sales to China, including Hong Kong and Macau, rose by 39% last year, even as sales to Habanos’ biggest buyer, Spain, plunged 20%.

“The Chinese are quite heavy smokers and much more interested in luxury products. The best-seller there is the Cohiba, our most expensive cigar,” Javier Terres explains.

So among the international crowds touring Cuba’s tobacco fields and its factories this week are Chinese traders, cigar-tourists and aficionados. There is also a busload of Russians.

“There’s no smoking ban in Russia. You can still smoke in bars, clubs and restaurants there,” points out Riad Bou Karam, who runs the Casa de Habanos outlet in Moscow, where he says sales are strong.

Unlike the initial post-Soviet years when expensive but vulgar was the vogue, Russians say they are now seeking out quality first and foremost.

For that, Cuban cigars have long been hailed as the best you can get.

 

Angelina Jolie is Chain-Smoking, Drinking, and Bursting into Tears

It seems that recent criticism of Angelina Jolie has sent the insecure celeb on crying jags and has her smoking cigarettes and drinking to the point of drunkenness.  Apparently producers of her new movie, Maleficent, are concerned that Angelina’s gaunt appearance and new chain-smoking habit do not auger well.  A Hollywood source told In Touch Print Edition, March 26, that what set Angelina off was the negative reaction to now infamous leg-thrust pose on Oscar night.

Angelina Jolie in a black velvet dress at Oscars 2012

An insider revealed to In Touch that a stressed-out Angelina has taking to smoking instead of eating as a response to the negative criticism.

‘She always stinks of smoke,’ said the source.  According to a pal Angelina ‘is all sharp bones and it hurts Brad when they hug.”

The Hollywood insider said that while Angelina might put on an insouciant exterior she is in fact very insecure.  When people ridiculed the ‘look-at-me’ pose she struck while presenting the screen-writing Oscars, she simply fell apart.

The source said: ‘She’s still mortified.’  ‘She had this cool aloof persona – and she messed it up.’

Angelina’s decline began immediately after the Oscars with an episode of drunkenness.  Angelina had six glasses of red wine at an after-party at Craig’s Restaurant and an eyewitness claims that she had to be practically carried out to the car by Brad Pitt.  George Clooney, Stacey Keibler and Brad were onlookers at the sad fiasco.

Brad wants Angelina to grow up and get over her embarrassment for the children’s sake.  A friend says:  “He feels like she’s setting a bad example with her weird behavior and eating habits.  He is concerned that Shiloh and Zahara could end up unhealthy like her.”

This is not the first time that Angelina has been accused of being anorexic and on the verge of collapse.  Recently she was accused of being 98 pounds, heading to rehab AND PREGNANT – all at once!

Facts are that Angelina is such as huge star that anything she does – or does not do – will lead to sensational tabloid stories.  In any case, this is the territory that comes with celebrity!

 

Smoking bad for car resale value

Drivers who smoke, take note. An auction company says motorists who has smoked cigarettes in their vehicle over a period of time will see a serious dent in the value of the car when they come to sell.

“The British Medical Association has highlighted research showing the levels of toxins in a car can be up to 23 times higher than in a smoky bar”, said Tim Naylor of British Car Auctions (BCA).

“But if drivers aren’t motivated by the health of their passengers, perhaps they will be by the diminishing health of their finances. Lighting up inside a car seriously devalues the vehicle for resale.

Man smoking a cigarette in his car

“Our research shows that presentation is one of the top factors influencing the price of used cars. So if a car is more like an ashtray on wheels, chances are buyers will move on to find one that looks and smells fresh as a daisy.

“Professional valeting can alleviate most of the effects of smoking, but is expensive and time consuming and might mean replacing some interior trim, such as nicotine-stained headlinings.

“Motorists should avoid having a cigarette in their car, especially if they intend to sell it in the near future,” said Naylor.

“This will avoid the lingering smell of cigarettes in the interior, as well as eliminate the risk of scorch marks on the upholstery or dash. All of these things will put buyers off, even if they smoke themselves.”

 

Plain tobacco packs ‘could have huge impact on stores’

Retailers are being urged to back a campaign against the introduction of plain packaging for tobacco products, with a consultation on the proposal set to start later this month, according to today’s Independent Retail News.

Smokers’ group Forest kicked off its Hands Off Our Packs campaign last week, with many lobbyists expecting the three-month consultation to be unveiled on national No Smoking Day on 14 March.

 

Cigarettes dispaly in a tobacco store

Health campaigners around the world are pressing governments to introduce plain packs, with Australia set to be the first country to adopt the measure later this year.

Simon Clark, director of Forest, told Independent Retail News: “We hope to get as many retailers on board as possible because it’s an issue that’s going to have a big impact on small retailers and village stores.”

He claimed that as the ban on smoking in public places had contributed to the closure of pubs around the country, so plain packs could lead to small retailers shutting up shop.

Store owners should raise the issue with their MPs, Clark said. “If just half a dozen retailers in a constituency write to their MPs, the politicians will take that issue seriously. We would simply urge retailers to write to their MPs and contact us as well. We can provide them with campaign tools, leaflets to hand out to their customers, window stickers, anything they need to get the message across.”

He added: “The concern we have is this won’t stop with tobacco. The next logical step would be to put alcohol in some form of plain packaging. We would find a situation in 20 years’ time when a significant number of products that small retailers rely on for their regular income are supplied in plain packs.”

At the launch of Hands Off Our Packs, Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank, said: “There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that banning the branding of cigarettes will reduce the number of children or adults taking up smoking.”

Chris Snowdon, author of a report about plain packaging published last month, said the measure “seems to be aimed at inconveniencing retailers, stigmatising consumers and helping counterfeiters.”

But anti-smoking group Ash said there was “a growing body of evidence” supporting the idea that plain packaging will help prevent young people from taking up smoking.

 

Yanukovych signs law to ban tobacco advertising

In what public health activists are hailing as a big victory for the nation, President Viktor Yanukovych on March 13 signed into law a national ban on all forms of advertising, sponsorship and promotion by the tobacco industry.

Gauloises cigarettes advertising in Ukraine

The law, which will take effect in six months, prohibits all forms of advertising in print and also at the point-of-sale, such as street kiosks, where most customers buy their cigarettes. Moreover, the tobacco industry would be prohibited from employing people to work the streets and give away packs of cigarettes as promotions. It would also ban industry-sponsored nightclub parties that attracted young people. The law also forbids advertising on cigarette packs just as another law requiring stronger, graphic warnings on packs takes effect.

The measure strengthens previous bans on tobacco advertising on TV, billboards, radio and most print publications.

“This is a big victory for public health,” said Konstantin Krasovsky, one of Ukraine’s leading public health activists. “The experience of other countries shows that a comprehensive ad ban will lead to a decline in smoking, not as fast as with tax increases. The advertising ban will have more influence not on current smokers, but on deterring future smokers. Advertising is meant more to attract new customers.”

Krasovsky, who has been pushing for such an ad ban for more than 15 years, said the politics of public health have changed for the better in Ukraine.

During President Leonid Kuchma’s tenure from 1994-2005, Krasovsky said that tobacco-control activists had no allies in the administration and the tobacco industry had tremendous clout. Kuchma twice vetoed tobacco ad bans passed by parliament with support from all political forces, Krasovsky said. No ad ban was put into place under President Viktor Yushchenko’s term from 2005-2010 either.

While the tobacco industry in Ukraine remains strong, Krasovsky said, more people are realizing the harmful effects of smoking, which causes more than 100,000 premature deaths in Ukraine every year.

As a consequence, not only did members of all political parties support a tobacco ad ban, Krasovsky said that several influential members of Yanukovych’s administration and inner circle supported the legislation.

Among them, Krasovsky cited: presidential aide Hanna Herman; the president’s representative in parliament, Yuriy Miroshnychenko; and the president’s younger son, Viktor Jr., a member of parliament who forcefully and publicly came out in support of the advertising ban on March 5.

Unlike many other laws in Ukraine that get passed but remain unenforced, Krasovsky believes the advertising ban will work better than the laws requiring restaurants and bars to set aside areas for non-smokers.

“For advertising, it’s easier to enforce,” Krasovsky said. “It’s difficult to control 100,000 restaurants, but much easier to control 100 advertising agencies. We also expect the tobacco industry will find loopholes, but we will try to close these as much as we can.”

Combined with other public-health measures, Krasovsky said that Ukraine is already seeing a decline in mortality among middle-aged people due to changes in lifestyle. Statistics show that people are smoking less and drinking less alcohol, he said. While some 11 million Ukrainians, or 29 percent of the population, still smoke, that’s four million fewer than in 2005, Krasovsky said.

More progress can be made, Krasovsky said, if parliament adopts legislation that imposes a 100 percent ban on indoor smoking in all public places, including restaurants and bars. Moreover, he said, government should hike cigarette taxes more – both to raise revenue and because it is the most effective way to reduce smoking.

Ukrainian cigarettes remain among the cheapest in the world. Consequently, the tobacco industry makes more than are consumed in the nation. Many of the rest end up smuggled illegally to the West.

 

A Boost for Keeping Menthol Cigarettes Legal

A Food and Drug Administration scientist has found a lower risk of dying from lung cancer among menthol smokers compared to non-menthol smokers at ages 50 and over, according to a report in the Winston-Salem Journal.

Glamour Menthol Aroma cigarettes

The scientist, Brian Rostron of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, studied data of 6,074 smokers from 1987 to 2006, including 1,417 who smoked only menthol cigarettes.

The lower risk of dying from lung cancer was found in all age groups, in men and women, and with black smokers compared with white smokers.

“These results agree with expectations that any association between lung cancer and menthol smoking would be greatest at ages in which smokers have smoked longer and accumulated more pack-years of smoking,” Rostron said in a study published in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research .

The report adds another layer of complexity to the public-health debate over menthol cigarettes, which are mint-flavored and one of the few growth sectors of the shrinking cigarette business, according to the newspaper report.

The FDA in June began an independent review of research following a report from its Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory committee that recommends a ban of menthol cigarettes.

The committee said the flavoring has led to an increase in smokers–particularly among teens, African-Americans and those with low incomes. It also said menthol flavoring makes it harder for them to quit.

A menthol ban or other restrictions on the cigarettes would fall heavily on Lorillard Inc., whose Newport brand is the top-selling US menthol cigarette at 35% of the market.

“The public-health implications of any decreased lung cancer risk of menthol smoking compared with non-menthol smoking, if ever conclusively demonstrated, are inevitably problematic,” Rostron said. “Smoking of any kind of cigarette is known to profoundly harm individual and population health.

“Further study is needed into possible explanations for the observed association and the public-health impact of potential reasons for it. This research could potentially identify ways to decrease the individual risk of cigarettes.”