Thoughts on the Clove Cigarette Ban

I went to my local cigar shop, got me some Castle Bar mix for my pipe and thought... "Hey, I feel like getting a pack of Clovies."

The guy knew me and said I should consider stocking up if I enjoy them, because by September he wont carry them. Everywhere in the States, the ban on Clove cigarettes are about to take hold and be enforced by the Fed. In the meantime, progress continues in the lobbyist orgies to legalize Pot...

What the ****.

The belief behind the ban is to discontinue children interest in cigarettes with flavored ciggies such as Cloves. But the ban completely neglected Menthols, which tend to be a soggy dump load more popular among teens and certain minorities. The only Clove cig producer that's ever prominent and available to the American public is the foreign Indonesian Company Kretek.

So in a nutshell, banning Clove cigarettes is banning Kretek merchandise in the States. Which will drop the heaviest consumer for Kretek to their earnings. Kretek employs over 180,000 workers in Indonesia, not to mention the 10 million worldwide indirectly through international purchase. Banning Kretek products in the States will hurt Kretek and possibly 180,000 people in Indonesia.

Good Job America... You're in a recession and the world's economy sucks balls and you go and ban a product that effects one of Indonesia's strongest legal businesses...

(*sigh*) But btw, right? You don't smoke, maybe you do... But so I thought about it. I'm not condoning smoking or telling kids to go smoke cause it's fun. But when I asked a bunch of kids if they're actually tempted to smoke because of the all the flavored crap, they said no... except for maybe menthols, but mostly weed (in fact, most of them already smoked weed and were disgusted by the thought of smoking cigs). Then it occured to me, I went from smoke break to smoker hole and realized the only people that even smoke Cloves are old guys who like fancy cigs and college students that wear fidoras and eat a #2 w/cheese at least once a week...

Another gold star for the Senate and House to help pass a ban that doesn't even do it's job... What's new right?

My conclusion was that Kids don't want Clove cigs; they don't even really want Menthols... they want weed. Weed may not be "chemically addictive," but it can be horribly lifestyle and habbit addictive. Being relaxed is good but being lax on EVERYthing is teaching kids to smoke random things from shaddy places.

"Hey, this legal product from 7-11 is bad for you, Billy! But that weird hash from Pedro in the 11th street back alley is okay to smoke if you want a good time!"

Again... (*sigh*), I apologize... I've moved from reporting to venting. Time for a Clove smoke... Kraken, signing out.