ROP foils smuggling of banned cigarettes

In the second operation of its kind this month, the Customs Department in Al Dhahirah foiled the smuggling of cigarettes hidden in a water tanker. The smuggler, who tried to import the cigarettes via Wadi Al Jizzi border checkpoint, used a similar technique as the earlier one.He was found to have divided his 600-gallon tanker by a metal partition behind which he kept some 700 cartons of cigarettes that is an imitation which is banned to enter the Sultanate.The earlier operation took place at Wadi Saa’ border checkpoint when a man was arrested smuggling banned cigarettes. The two instances of smuggling were in violation of the unified GCC...

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Internet and Mail-Order Cigar Sales Banned in Maryland

Buying cigars over the Internet or by mail order is now against the law in Maryland. State lawmakers prohibited that form of sale for all tobacco products in a move intended to more effectively collect tobacco taxes in the state.The law, called HB 88, went into effect on May 1. It was passed by the State House and Senate last year before being signed off by Governor Martin O’Malley. A bulletin from the Maryland comptroller’s office summarized the law, defining premium cigars as part of the larger “OTP” category (Other Tobacco Products), clearly stating: “The purchase and sale of OTP by mail or over the Internet is prohibited.”The move has been...

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Kingston’s Edie Adams made smoking sexy and fashionable in the ’50s and ’60s

For more than a decade, Edie Adams appeared in magazine ads and television commercials as the pitch-lady for Muriel cigars. Clad in a sequined, low-cut dress, the blonde temptress taunted men with her scintillating come-on line, “Why don’t you pick one up and smoke it sometime?” More popular was the commercial in which Adams pitched the 10-cent cigars by breathily singing, “Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me.” At a time when consumerism was booming across the nation, the advertising industry persuaded Americans to purchase new products as a sign of status. Smoking was considered “sexy” and “fashionable,” and the sensual Adams...

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