Electronic Cigarettes

Not so long ago I was an enthusiastic smoker of tobacco based cigarette products.  Marlboro Lights were my preferred brand and you can rest assured that I though having to pay about $2.00 (that same pack is now over 5 bucks) a pack was a huge injustice placed upon the average smoker; after all, most of the price was and I’m sure still is nothing more than taxes, Right?

OK, so it turns out that is NOT right. You see, taxes on a pack of 20 cigarettes are typically collected and charged by all of the state governments (excise taxes) on the one hand and the federal government on the other.  The state tax rate varies considerably from state to state; that’s why, in most cases, you pay more for the same product in some states and less in others.  There are a very few places (such as New York City) in which the local metropolis actually charges an additional tax as well.

The current excise tax rate in Kentucky is $0.60 per pack; in Alaska, Arizona, Maryland, and Maine the tax equals $2.00; New York State is the highest at $4.35 a pack and Virginia is lowest with only a $0.30 excise tax charged.    I guess that means the “Marlboro Man”  must live in Virginia.

Beginning on February 4, 2009, the Children’s Health Insurance Program Re-authorization Act of 2009 was made the law of the land, which raised the federal tax rate for cigarettes from $0.39 to $1.01 per pack.   Even though this bill taxed smokers in order to fund a children’s health program, President Obama received both criticism and support for signing this act into law.

So, in Kentucky at least, the total tax is a Buck Sixty-one.  So who do you suppose is making all the money?

Proof showing that the tax has been paid is provided through the purchase of stamps from the Department of Revenue.  You may have noticed these little stamps affixed to each cigarette package which is evidence that the tax was paid.

A lot of us believe that such taxes constitute an unfair percentage of the sales price for cigarettes; however, existing data proves that although prices have continuously increased since 1965; the percentage of that price going towards taxes is now half of what it was in’65.

You probably already know that the major U S manufactures of tobacco based cigarettes include: Philip Morris who markets brands such as Marlboro, Virginia Slims, and Basic; Reynolds America’s best sellers include Camel, Pall Mall, Winston, Salem and Kool and the number 3 producer Lorillard enters the marker place with such brands as New Port, Kent, and Maverick.

In the event that you require occasional “nicotine fixes” on a regular basis, now is your chance to try the latest delivery system that’s available.  This alternative is the electronic cigarette or the “e-cig”; however there is no tobacco consumed. E-cigarette products are powered by a small battery device that ultimately delivers nicotine by way of a vaporized solution; and guess what?  To date there are no taxes (state or federal) to inflate the price and neither of the “big 3” tobacco companies are players either.  In short, they’re cheaper.

The e-cigarette was not invented by one of the big American tobacco companies as you might expect but by a Chinese pharmacist who worked for a tobacco company there called “Golden Dragon Holdings”.  They began exporting the product some time between 2005 and 2006 and obtained a patent  in 2007.

According to most studies, it appears that nicotine is really no more harmful to your body than caffeine. In fact, it’s all the other stuff in cigarettes that causes cancer; nicotine is pretty much all you’re getting with electronic cigarettes / e devices because they vaporize liquid nicotine to satisfy your craving or habit . This gives rise to a harmless water vapor which generally smells amazing; it also comes in about any flavor you may think of.  It’s kind of like the complete opposite of a tobacco based cigarette.  The e-cigarette not only tastes great, it may even make you smell better.

A survey taken as recently as 2000, determined that smoking was practiced by about 1.22 billion (not million) people; this popular activity has been around (by most accounts) since sometime between 5000 and 3000 BC.  That no doubt includes a bunch of folks who slowly killed themselves one puff at a time.

You might say the alternative to traditional smoking and slow death is the e-cigarette, because it has all of the benefits of tobacco smoking, such as increasing the heart rate, improving your memory, alertness, and reaction time; with a primary purpose of delivering nicotine to satisfy your cravings, it shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to see the advantage of  an e device.   

The leading “stated” use of the electronic cigarette is or has been said to be a smoking cessation device (a quit smoking tool), since it delivers the experience of smoking without the adverse health effects that are usually associated with tobacco smoke, perhaps the Nicotine delivery e-devices (E Cigarettes, E Cigars, Electronic Pipes) should be described as a sensible alternative to all tobacco products.

The possible benefits and or adverse effects of the electronic cigarette’s use constitute a topic of disagreement among the various health organizations and investigators. Studies in regard to electronic cigarettes are ongoing but few and far between. This is the case because they have only recently been invented but the consequential rapid growth of there popularity is stimulating further research.

Sources …                                                                                                                        http://ecigarsupply.com/                                                          
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cigarette                                              http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread694362/pg1                                               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_smoking                                                       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigarette_taxes_in_the_United_States http://revenue.ky.gov/business/tobaccotax.htm


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