IMPORTANT !!! - Ban on mail order cigar shipments

[indulgecigar]

This is a cut and paste from another site. Please double check to make sure you get the right Congresman for your district:

YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ORDER CIGARS BY MAIL IN THE NEAR FUTURE!

As early as tomorrow, the House Judiciary committee will be considering House Bill HR2824. In fact, this bill is listed to be considered for mark up tomorrow, Wednesday, January 21, 2004 at 10AM on their website at:

http://www.house.gov/judiciary

Why is this important? Because its sister bill, S1177, which has already passed in the Senate eliminates your right to order cigars by mail!

The House Bill #HR2824 does NOT presently contain the "cigar" and "all tobacco products" language as contained within the Senate bill. Neither the Senate bill, nor the House bill have anything to do with cigars, it is all about combating cigarette counterfieting, but that didn't stop someone in the Senate from sneaking in the cigar related references that were added at the very last moment. If it could happen in the Senate, it definitely could happen again in the House...

So it is critical that we let the House Judiciary Committee know to NOT add "cigars” and “all other tobacco products” provisions to their House Bill HR2824 as were added to the Senate Bill at the last moment. Because if they do, "our goose is cooked”, and mail order cigars will become illegal!

Below is a list of the Congressmen on the House Judiciary Committee who should understand our plea to keep cigars and non-specific "tobacco product" references out of HR2824.

They are scheduled to consider this bill tomorrow, so we are asking everyone that does not want their right to receive cigars via mail order to contact the House Judiciary Members listed below immediately.

It is critical that all cigar smokers e-mail, phone, or fax these representatives and request that "cigars" and "all other tobacco products" NOT BE ADDED TO HR2824.

House Judiciary Committee

Spencer Bachus, Alabama
http://www.house.gov/bachus

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
http://www.house.gov/blackburn

Rick Boucher, Virginia
ninthnetmail.house.gov
http://www.house.gov/boucher

John Carter, Texas
http://www.house.gov/carter

Steve Chabot, Ohio
http://www.house.gov/chabot

Howard Coble, North Carolina
http://www.house.gov/coble
howard.coblemail.house.gov

Tom Feeney, Florida
http://www.house.gov/feeney
tom.feeneymail.house.gov

Jeff Flake, Arizona
http://www.house.gov/flake
jeff.flakemail.house.gov

J. Randy Forbes, Virginia
http://www.house.gov/forbes

Bob Goodlatte, Virginia
http://www.house.gov/goodlatte
talk2bobmail.house.gov

Mark Green, Wisconsin
http://www.house.gov/markgreen
mark.greenmail.house.gov

Melissa Hart, Pennsylvania
http://www.house.gov/hart

John Hostettler, Indiana
http://www.house.gov/hostettler/
john.hostettlermail.house.gov

Henry Hyde, Illinois
http://www.house.gov/hyde

William L. Jenkins, Tennessee
http://www.house.gov/jenkins

Ric Keller, Florida
http://keller.house.gov

Steve King, Iowa
http://www.house.gov/steveking

Mike Pence, Indiana
http://mikepence.house.gov
mike.pencemail.house.gov

Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Virginia
http://www.house.gov/scott
bobby.scottmail.house.gov

F. James Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin
http://www.house.gov/sensenbrenner
sensenbrennermail.house.gov

Lamar Smith, Texas
http://lamarsmith.house.gov
lamar.smithmail.house.gov

Melvin L. Watt, North Carolina
http://www.house.gov/watt
nc12.publicmail.house.gov


Below is a form message you may want to copy and send. Please feel free to write your own, we just wanted to make this as simple as possible. Whatever you do, please make it fast! We cigar smokers are running out of time and we need to make our voices heard!!!


======================

The Honorable _________________
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515


Dear Congressman:

On December 9, 2003, the U.S. Senate cut a last minute deal to ban all sales of cigars through the U.S. mail. This provision was quietly slipped into the cigarette anti-counterfeiting bill (S.1177), even though the rest of the bill had nothing to do with cigars. The House Judiciary Committee will soon consider its version (H.R.2824) of the same bill.

I need you to keep cigars out of this bill! There is not a counterfeit cigar problem in this country. There is not a youth cigar smoking problem in this country. This is another example of a big government solution in search of a problem that does not exist. Please do the right thing and don’t let the federal government tamper with my right to receive legal cigars through the mail.



Sincerely,

=====================

Thank You,

[LSUTIGER]

Done.

[IHT]

who the hell should i email? none of those guys are from my state!!

hell, i'll try to email them all!!

[IHT]

mark green from wisconsin is the founder of this, so i'm emailing him.

[IHT]

reading this guys speeches..
makes it sound like all they're worried about are teenagers getting tax free cigarettes off the net.
A) too young to smoke
B) circumventing the local/state taxes that bring in revenue

it would seem like a very broad blanketed bill if it were to include Cigars in there.

while it doesn't look like they're trying to totally stop the selling of cigarettes/cigars on the 'net,t hey're just trying to make sure they get their tobacco taxes and keep UNDERAGE smoking from happening.
what effect it will have on cigar sales, i don't know. i think it's aimed more at the VENDOR side, forcing them to pay the taxes on all cigarettes sold, etc.

anyway, keeping CIGARS out of the bill would make sure we didn't get hosed.

[LSUTIGER]

You got that right! I e-mailed the guy from my state, he is not on there, but hopefully he likes cigars and can lay the smack down

[mrs bi-polar]

stupid stupid legislation proposal...sent my rep an email, hope all others do too!!

[indulgecigar]

Because only about half the proposed bills were addressed during the session, the remaining (that includes HR2824) were postponed until Wednesday. I watched the House session via their webcast this afternoon, and the last thing the Chairman said before ending the day was a little scary.

He said (not verbatim), "unlike today, the remaining bills seem far less disputable, so we should be able to wrap them up by lunchtime".

Let's make sure they know this isn't a cut and dry issue. The inclusion of "all tobacco products" into this bill is an act of piracy.

[drc]

Sent my note off to my congressman this morning. Hope it wasn't too late.

[IHT]

i got this as an email from JRs Cigars. luckily i read it here first or i probably wouldn't have done a thing...

[hot4stogies]

Hey all, I'm back. Long time no talk and I am sorry. Rough times lately (divorce pending, Phillys and Colts both lost again, on a friggin diet, etc). But hey, on the bright side, my brother hooked me up with an Opus X XXX for Christmas.

As to this cigar ban: I wrote every one of these guys and I wrote my own Congressman even tho he is not listed. I sure hope this thing dosen't fly. What a crock. I wonder how many of these fat beltway wind-bags get their stogies handed to them on a silver platter?

Please, one of you in-the-know LLGs post info here when ya hear of the outcome of this rediculous proposal! Should be today I think.

BTW, good to be back guys. I plan on hanging around here again if you'll have this wayward LLG back....

[OnePyroTec]

if it passes, call me......"A LAW BREAKER"

[Eichen]

According to Steve Saka at ASC under the thread "UPDATE: Mail Order Cigar Ban - 01/21/04 ", this bit of legislation has been delayed to 28 January 2004!

We've got a little more time to write in, call in ... whatever it takes!

Let's make our voices heard!

-E

[Lord Hammer]

It passed!!! Our only hope is to "amend" the bill before it's too late by keeping the pressure on. Sounds like it's time to call Govenor Ahrnold, ya? .I want your boots, your clothes und your cigar bill terminated .

[Eichen]

Yes it passed in the Senate but not yet in the House. The mark up for HR 2824 was held back until 28 January 2004.

We still have some time to contact our representatives.

-E