Cigar Lovers Keep on Signing and Fighting! by Tommy Zman
Cigar Rights of America is fighting the good fight for us cigar smokers every single day, and today I’m proud to announce that the good people at the CRA achieved a goal that is an important step in keeping the government and the FDA’s nose FAR AWAY from the cigar industry.
The CRA has been doing some amazing work getting members of Congress and the Senate on board in supporting HR 1639, a bill whose purpose is to prevent the Food & Drug Administration from having control over the cigar industry, like they do over the cigarette industry. As you all know by now, FDA jurisdiction would be detrimental to all of us who enjoy our leafy treasures – and that is a tremendous understatement. Well, now the CRA has teamed up with the IPCPR – International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association, and the duo has drafted a petition to be placed before the Obama White House Administration. Quite simply, they are asking the government to support our effort in assuring that the FDA leaves us all the hell alone! Here, here!
The one catch is that we needed 25,000 signatures on this petition within a month in order for Washington to even look at it. But in typical fashion of all tried and true cigar smokers, we hit the minimum 25,000 needed signatures on Wednesday night – in just five whole days! Woo-hoo, I say, as lovers of the leaf everywhere have come through like the troopers we truly are! But in reality, our work has just begun. I say let’s send 100,000 signatures to the politicos in the White House, letting them know deafeningly loud, and undeniably clear that we love our cigars and no one, and I mean NO ONE is going to take them away from us!
Just to let you guys know, I personally spoke with CRA executive director, Glynn Loope this past week and he and his dedicated staff are working overtime in the fight for the product and industry we all love. The man is traveling all over creation, meeting, greeting, and speaking to people in government, in all 50 states, trying to get them to understand exactly what is at stake here if the FDA gets their mitts on our leaf. It’s a damned tough job, if you ask me – while a good number of people do understand the ramifications of an FDA takeover, a good number don’t – and worse yet, many don’t care because smoking is evil in their eyes and there’s little that can be done to have things seen with an open mind. So I applaud Mr. Loope and everyone at the CRA who are giving their all, trying to protect our premium hand rolled cigars.
In closing, we ALL need to do our part – spread the word, FaceBook and Tweet this stuff to death, and let all your friends, not just the smokers, know how important this situation is and how many people’s livelihoods depend on it (85,000 here in the United States alone and hundreds of thousands more in Latin American countries whose entire economies depend on the sale and exportation of cigars.)
Okay, I’m out of words and out of breath (a rare occurrence indeed.) It’s up to everyone who smokes cigars to make some noise. My job is done here for today.
Smoke ‘em cuz ya gottem,
JR Cigars Blog with the Zman
