RSS Feed
July 7th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda 
A tiny amendment buried in the federal transportation bill to be
signed today by President Barack Obama will put operators of
roll-your-own cigarette operations in Las Vegas and nationwide out of
business at midnight. ~ Beth Karuschak
Robert Weissen, with his brothers and other partners, own nine Sin
City Cigarette Factory locations in Southern Nevada, including six in
Las Vegas, and one in Hawaii. He said when the bill is signed their only
choice is to turn off their 20 RYO Filling Station machines and lay off
more than 40 employees.
“We’ll stay open for about another week to sell tubes and tobacco
just to get through our inventory, but without the use of the RYO
machines, we won’t be staying open,” he said.
The machines are used by customers who buy loose tobacco and paper
tubes from the shop and then turn out a carton of finished cigarettes in
as little as 10 minutes, often varying the blend to suit their taste.
Savings are substantial – at $23 per carton, half the cost of a
name-brand smoke – in part because loose tobacco is taxed at a lower
rate.
“These cigarettes are different because there are benefits in saving
money and in how they make you feel,” said Amy Hinds, a partner who
operates the Sin City Cigarette Factory at Craig and Decatur.
“These cigarettes don’t have any of the chemicals in them, and the
papers are chemical-free, unlike the cartons people buy from Philip
Morris.”
But a few paragraphs added to the transportation bill changed the
definition of a cigarette manufacturer to cover thousands of
roll-your-own operations nationwide. The move, backed by major tobacco
companies, is aimed at boosting tax revenues.
Faced with regulation costs that could run to hundreds of thousands
of dollars, RYO machine owners nationwide are shutting down more than
1,000 of the $36,000 machines.
“I feel it’s kind of shaky,” Wiessen said. “The man who pushed for
this bill is Sen. (Max) Baucus from Montana, and he received donations
from Altria, a parent company of Philip Morris. Interestingly enough,
there are also no RYO machines in the state of Montana. It really makes
me question the morals and values of our elected speakers.”
Sierra Bawden, a single mom with two kids who started rolling her own
smokes at Hind’s shop three months ago, said cost is only one factor.
“It saves me time and money, and in the end I feel better because I
don’t get all of the chemicals that the other cigarettes have,” Bawden
said. “With the brand-name cigarettes, we pay for the chemicals and the
name, and I don’t want any of that, so I don’t even know what I’ll do
when the shop closes down.”
In Southern Nevada, there are two basic RYO business models:
traditional smoke shops that also sell brand-name cigarettes, hookah and
smoking paraphernalia, and RYO lounges that sell only loose tobacco and
materials.
“Our stores are like lounges where our customers can buy the pieces
for the product then roll them by hand or use the machine to make their
cigarettes,” Wiessen said. “It’s a relaxed environment. Rolling a carton
of cigarettes by hand can take one person up to three hours.”
Even before the bill is signed, Hinds’ location on Craig Road was
already feeling the pinch. They were to close Thursday because suppliers
stopped delivering needed materials last week.
Wiessen and others are attempting to mount a petition drive asking
for relief from the new regulations and are talking to lawyers now to
explore their options.
“As it stands right now, we’ll have no choice but to shut down at
midnight on Friday, but we’re not giving up,” Wiessen said. “We have to
see what our lawyers tell us and go from there.”
Beth Karuschak – July 6, 2012 – posted at LasVegasReviewJournal
Contact researcher Beth Karuschak at ekaruschak@ lvbusinesspress.com or 702-383-0456.
digg
muti
del.icio.us
google
reddit
facebook
Related posts:
Views: 0
Posted in 
Tags: 
