alfredo_buscatti":9xmjn412 said:
I know this is not a popular view on a pipe forum, but I do believe statistics and health studies finally prevailed after studying the maladies and causes of death for smokers from the last two or three generations, everywhere.
Yeah, the problem with something like the Harvard symposium is the conflation of Big Tobacco with All Tobacco, and the assumption that anyone who would smoke the demon weed in this enlightened century is a dupe of nefarious tobacco lobbyists. Is it highly problematic that massive cigarette companies are peddling their product in the third world and not informing their consumers of the obvious and universally recognized danger? Absolutely. But this is a problem of unfettered corporations, not a plant which, without the aid of expensive advertising campaigns, production factories, and massive exportation, would never find its way into the lungs of people halfway around the world.
To me this is a problem of giant corporations exploiting the ignorance of their consumers...whereas many--if not most--of the pipe tobacco blenders most popular with myself and hereon the BoB are not subsidiaries of Phillip Morris or whoever, they're (comparatively) small businesses in North America, the UK, or the EU. Who do these blenders sell to? Again, North America, the UK, and the EU...Look at Sam Gawaith, just to pull a name out of my cellar--an outfit that's been around for over two hundred years yet has a tiny staff and still uses the same machinery they did generations previous. These are not the people with multi-million dollar ad campaigns directed to the third world, but by the same coin, they aren't the sort of outfit to be able to afford to pay off lobbyists to support their cause...(and yeah yeah yeah, SG is British, vs my example refers to US lobbyists, but hopefully you get the point...and if not, sub in Pease or whatever small US blender you please.)
So yes, to me it's pretty straightforward: as an educated individual fully aware of the risks of tobacco, however it's consumed, I wish the crusaders would focus their attention on those conglomerates who are actually exploiting loopholes, instead of lumping everything under the same Jolly Roger flag. Red meat is bad for us, too, but even the most ardent experts talk about reducing the amount we intake and trying to source it from small, scrupulous farms which we can hold accountable, rather than outright cessation. But as plenty others on here have already remarked, right now tobacco is an easy target because it's not consumed by the majority, vs red meat or whatever. Think about it: we have to pay extra for health insurance if we're smokers, but not if we're morbidly obese, despise the latter being an equal-if-not-worse factor in health costs...how does that make any sense? Because far more people are obese, and it's hard for the political creatures to gain traction when you're talking about a harmful indulgence that a majority favors, vs. a minority.
And meanwhile the lobbyists and giant corporations laugh all the way to the bank.
They won't go out of business if Black and Milds are taxed more heavily, whereas many legit, smaller blenders might...and then the big companies get to fill the vacuum, recouping any losses the increased taxes cost them. A well-meaning but ultimately misguided and futile quest--the issue isn't black and white. None of them are.
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Anyone else want this soapbox? My throat's gettin soar...