There’s no other way to say it. Smoking is dangerous to your health.  This warning is written in every cigarette pack every smoker consumes but, over time, has lost its effect and value.
According to QuitsmokingHub, about 1.35 billion people worldwide are smokers. In Asia alone, 9.6% are smokers. And five million deaths recorded around the world yearly are caused by smoking.
Composition of a cigarette
Aside from nicotine, which is an addictive drug found in cigarettes, there are many more cigarette ingredients that even smokers do not know about.
QuitsmokingHub has named seven human carcinogens found in cigarettes. Carcinogens are substances known to cause cancer in humans and animals. These carcinogens include Aminobiphenyl, 2-Naphthylamine, Chromium, N-Nitrosodiethylamine, N-Nitrosopyrrolidine, N-Nitrosodiethanolamine and Cadmium.
But the list doesn’t end there. Aside from these carcinogens, cigarettes are composed of different ingredients like lead, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide and ammonia that aside from respiratory problems, may also cause weakness in the fingers, wrists and ankles, negatively affect memory, disrupt blood cell production and the male reproductive system, cause hearing and color vision loss and many other negative effects that one body cannot take all in.
Why it’s harder to stop smoking now than ten years ago
The Massachusetts Department of Health released a report in 2007 that the level of nicotine found in U.S. cigarettes has risen since 2001, making it harder to quit and easier to get hooked, as reported by the Associated Press.
The study shows a steady climb in the amount of nicotine delivered to the lungs of smokers regardless of brand, with overall nicotine yields increasing by about 10 percent.
The study found the three most popular cigarette brands — Marlboro, Newport and Camel — delivered significantly more nicotine than they did years ago.
Smokers who choose “light” brands hoping to reduce their nicotine intake are out of luck, according to the report that found for all brands tested in 1998 and 2004, there was no significant difference in the total nicotine content between “full flavor,” “medium,” “light,” or “ultra-light” cigarettes.
With all the statistics of smokers and the ill-effects of smoking listed over the years, it is obvious that smoking is a very hard habit to break. But knowing all the ill-effects of smoking to a smoker’s body can at least make one fall into a deep thought and take a second look before puffing his/er next cigarette.

Tobacco advertising is heavily regulated on TV, and there are movements to cut the amount of smoking out of movies. So what is Big Tobacco going to do to sell cigarettes to kids? Go on YouTube, of course.

Researchers from New Zealand discovered that 163 of the most popular and relevant YouTube videos linked to five big cigarette brands’ websites — Marlboro, L&M, Benson and Hedges, Winston, and Mild Seven. 71% of those were pro-tobacco, compared with the 4% that were anti-tobacco (the rest were neutral).

Tobacco makers “vehemently deny advertising on the internet,” naturally. And unfortunately, there’s no way to verify whether they are directly responsible. But Joe Camel was designed specifically to attract kids to cigarettes, so I’m not holding my breath.

A day at the beach in New Baltimore camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes left Councilman Dave Duffy pondering a question.

“Can we take smoking out of the park?” Duffy asked other members of council at their Aug. 9 session.

Duffy had been enjoying a day at the beach at Walter and Mary Burke Park with his kids the weekend prior.

“Everything was great, but I was there with my kids and there was someone near us with a cigarette,” he explained to council.

Councilman Carlos Aprea said discussion of a smoking ban had come up previously at parks and rec board meetings.

“I questioned whether we can make the park a no smoking zone,” he said when reached by telephone last week. “I don’t know if we can legally do it, but personally I would like to see it as a no smoking zone.”

The city is now looking into whether they can legally enforce a smoking ban in city parks.

“How do you enforce it, it’s not like police man the park 24 hours a day,” Aprea, who also co-owns Moon River Soap Company in downtown New Baltimore, said. “It’s one of these things that has to be implemented and people will slowly adhere to it – I say start posting some signs around.”

The Parks and Recreation Department recently purchased and installed cigarette receptacles around the city’s parks, where smokers can deposit their cigarette butts. Aprea sees this as a step backwards in preventing smoking in the parks.

“By providing those (receptacles), it kind of encourages people to smoke,” he said.

The online sales boost on SmokePower.com and that is due to the amazing products and promotions like free shipping and high quality products. They also have 5 STAR feedback from many of its customers on its products and service. Which is probably the most important thing to a companies longevity.
SmokePower.com seems to be doing all the right things due to this amazing quality and value.camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes

The electronic cigarette also called the e-cigarette was designed to be a convenient and safer way to smoke. This alternative smoking idea has been perfected over recent years. The modern Smoke Power Pro electronic cigarette uses a high performance rechargeable battery, atomizer, LED tip and cartridge.

The battery is the main body of the cigarette. Batteries can measure anything in size from a traditional cigarette up to the length of a pen. Weight also varies from manufacturer, as does battery quality. The high quality performance batteries supplied by last a full day off a full charge under normal use. These are one of the longest life batteries available.

TOKYO, Aug. 19 (UPI) — Eleven out of 25 electronic cigarettes sold in Japan contain nicotine, which Japan bans in such devices, an independent administrative agency said.

The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan can therefore not affirm the safety of the 11 e-cigarette varieties and recommends consumers not use them, the agency said Wednesday.

Japan’s Health Ministry called on prefecture authorities to instruct marketers of the e-cigarettes in question to recall or refrain from selling them because the battery-powered devices now fall under the regulatory category of pharmaceuticals or medical equipment, Kyodo News reported.

The manufacturers and marketers had no immediate comment.

An e-cigarette is shaped like a cigarette and lets a user inhale steam generated with electricity from a vaporized solution inside it. Many brands of e-cigarettes sold worldwide contain nicotine.

Besides nicotine, the vapor usually also provides a flavor and physical sensation similar to that of inhaled tobacco smoke, while no smoke or combustion is actually involved in its operation.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies e-cigarettes as drug delivery devices and subject to regulation under the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes

Electronic cigarettes are banned from use anywhere indoors on Central Michigan University’s campus this fall.camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes
Shaun Holtgreive, associate director of Residence Life, said e-cigarettes “will be treated as regular cigarettes.”
After studying e-cigarettes, which use a reservoir of nicotine laced water and a vaporizer to administer the substance, he said the university decided to ban their use within campus buildings because research has shown they give off noxious chemicals in the vapor expelled when smoked.
Because they are being treated the same as tobacco cigarettes, they too cannot be smoked within 25 feet of all campus buildings.
“Until the issue of e-cigarettes is resolved by the FDA,” Holtgreive said, “we will not be allowing them in the residence halls.”
He said these regulations are to keep a safe environment for students and those around them.
According to the Michigan Department of Community Health website, electronic cigarettes are “battery-powered devices that provide inhaled doses of nicotine by way of a vaporized solution.”
Throughout the state there are no formal laws regulating the use of e-cigarettes in public places, but the MDCH strongly recommends business owners should limit their use because they are “not a proven safe alternative” to real cigarettes.
Importation of e-cigarettes into the U.S. is currently banned as a result of an ongoing FDA investigation, according to the MDCH website.
Iron Mountain senior Andrew Casanova agrees with the new regulations put in place.
The Calkins Hall resident assistant said the Office of Residence Life made the right decision because not only are they still harmful to those around them, but also to the smoker himself.
“I feel that they were created to be a safe alternative,” Casanova said. “But they are not safe, the only safe alternative is to not smoke at all.”

Conservative political radio personality Rush Limbaugh recently married his longtime girlfriend Kathryn Rogers and made the decision to stop smoking tobacco products, aside from the occasional cigar due to recent health scare reports.camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes
Rush recently announced on his syndicated radio show his switch to an electronic cigarette made by Volcano Ecigs, and has reported his positive results in his fight to kick his smoking habit.
During his radio show on 8/18, Rush received an email from a listener who was viewing his Dittocam during the broadcast. The fan said that he could see Rush puffing away and the smoke was evident on the video. Limbaugh responded that he was not smoking cigarettes, but vaping a Magma electronic cigarette made by the Hawaii based company Volcano.
“No, there’s nicotine, there’s no tar. There’s no tobacco; there’s no flame. You light nothing. It’s no different than Nicorette gum except it actually looks like a cigarette and you get the oral, uh, gratification and so forth, but there’s no carcinogen here… Well, there’s a bunch of brands. Volcano. There’s a great brand, Volcano, out of Hawaii.”
Rush Limbaugh is a wonderful ally for the e-cigarette community to have and could prove to be a great advocate in the ongoing fight against the FDA, Big Pharma and Big Tobacco, and Anti-Smoking groups such as Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) headed by John F. Banzhaf III, a widely known critic of the burgeoning industry.
The popularity of e-cigarettes has grown exponentially since it’s introduction here in the US 3 years ago and is projected to top 100 million dollars of gross revenues this year. Supporters of the electronic cigarette have reported similar results to Rush’s in forums, community blogs, and social networking sites like vapersplace.com and vaportalk.com. These communities have struggled to find a voice in recent fights with the aforementioned government and special interest agencies and Rush certainly brings a bully pulpit from which to voice their concerns and support.

A study of how genes control cell function in 1,240 people identified more than 300 genes influenced by smoking.camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes And they aren’t the happy-go-lucky genes that make you look younger and sexier.
About 70 of the genes were cancer-related.
(At right: Screen legend Humphrey Bogart, seen here at age 23*, getting his smoke on. *An alert reader pointed out that Bogart isn’t really 23 in this picture. We (meaning Barbee) were making a lame joke about smoking making you look older.)
“The simple message is that exposure to cigarette smoke isn’t simply bad for your health. It’s changing the way your whole body behaves at the fundamental level of your genes,” Jac Charlesworth of Australia’s Menzies Research Institute told the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Ira Dreyfuss.
Other genes influenced by smoking were associated with the body’s immune response system.

A new intelligence-led campaign is clamping down on underage sales of alcohol and cigarettes in Durham.
The new approach by Durham County Council’s trading standards officers has seen a marked increase in the percentage of failed test purchases.

Officers have carried out 38 alcohol and 30 tobacco test purchases in recent months using police intelligence to target likely problem premises.

Six alcohol sales and five cigarette sales were made to under age volunteers, who now include 15 to 17-year-olds, resulting in a string of fixed penalty notices, written warnings and potential prosecutions.

The campaign is designed to raise awareness as well as identify those who are breaking the law.

camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes Businesses with failed test purchases have been encouraged to improve their procedures.

That’s according to a mutual fund manager who’s finding plenty of investment opportunities in companies profiting from vices like smoking, drinking and gambling.camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettes
Jeff Middleswart’s aptly named Vice Fund is beating the house in a down market. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 1.9 percent this year. Yet stocks of cigarette makers are up an average 12 percent.
The Vice Fund’s three biggest holdings are cigarette stocks: Philip Morris International Inc., Lorillard Inc. and Altria Group Inc. That explains why the fund is up 4.5 percent this year, ranking in the top 3 percent of its large-blend fund peers according to Morningstar.
Defense contractors — another fund mainstay — are up an average 12 percent. Some group contractors in this category because their profits are tied to the escalation of conflicts. Alcoholic beverages? Up 6 percent.
Vice is the lifeblood of a fund that’s a counterpoint to investment products touting themselves as socially responsible because they favor companies ostensibly benefiting society. This year, those stocks aren’t doing anything special. An index of socially responsible stocks, the MSCI USA Large Cap ESG, is down 1.7 percent.
Vice Fund (VICEX) is rebounding from lagging returns in 2008 and 2009. Its turnaround would be even bigger if not for the average 30 percent decline for stocks of gaming companies. They’re struggling to cut hefty debt loads, a legacy from years of casino-building.
Vice is the only fund explicitly focusing on sin stocks. Its portfolio of about 30 stocks is divided almost equally among cigarettes, alcohol, gaming and casinos, and defense — industries that typically hold up well in tough times. Although such a small portfolio can lead to volatility, the Vice Fund offsets that risk by emphasizing steady dividend-paying stocks.
Middleswart replaced previous manager Charles Norton in February, after more than two decades as an investment analyst. The 40-year-old Dallas resident manages the eight-year-old fund for USA Mutual Funds, along with the smaller Generation Wave Growth Fund (GWGFX), which invests in stocks expected to profit from spending by baby boomers. Both were founded by Dan Ahrens, who left in 2005 after writing a book that explained his investment thesis. Its title: “Investing in Vice: The Recession-Proof Portfolio of Booze, Bets, Bombs, and Butts.”
Here are excerpts from a recent interview with Middleswart about the Vice fund, and this year’s standout performance for many sin stocks:
Q: Were you at all reluctant to manage the fund because of its focus on sin stocks?
A: Not at all. I’ve always been a contrarian, and I’ve always looked for deep value stocks. If you listed everything you look for in a stock — companies with growing cash flow, that pay dividends and buy back shares and have clean balance sheets — you’d find a huge list of sin stocks.
Yet people look at them and say, “I don’t want to own that, it’s tobacco, it’s an industry that’s going out of business.” Or they say, “I don’t want to own an alcohol stock.”
These are stocks with the (financial) characteristics everybody says they want, and we’re getting them at a discount. That’s because certain people don’t want to own them.
Q: Is there anything unique about the types of investors drawn to the Vice fund?
A: For the most part, they’re individual investors. We have a higher-than-average percentage of people in the military who own the fund.
Q: Your top holding, at about 12 percent of the fund’s assets, is Philip Morris. What do you find attractive about one of the world’s largest tobacco companies?
A: Philip Morris has international tobacco exposure, which is still growing. In emerging markets, people are smoking more, and they’re going for brand name cigarettes. With this stock, you’re getting a dividend yield of nearly 5 percent, and they also have enough cash flow to buy back shares.
You’ve got a company that doesn’t have to spend a fortune every year remaking itself, in terms of research and development, and signing new distribution agreements.
Q: Another one of your favorites is Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, the product of a 2008 deal pairing U.S. and Belgian brewers. What do you like about the stock?
A: The company is paying down debt rapidly, and it has solid cash flow growth. The way they’re going, they’ll eventually start rewarding shareholders with a bigger dividend, perhaps in the 5 to 6 percent range. It’s also got a big presence in growing markets like Brazil. I think the stock will have a decent pop over the next year and a half, and at that point it will become a cash machine for shareholders.
Q: Why have you cut back on gaming stocks?
A: Because gaming companies hold so much debt, and their U.S. growth prospects are limited. You’ve got lots of city and state governments saying they want to get into gaming in a bigger way. So they’re authorizing new casinos. But that’s essentially dividing up the same dollars. As you divide the pot among more players, you will see a lower return.
Q: Your fund owns stocks in two makers of game terminals: Bally Technologies Inc. and International Game Technology. Why do you prefer these to casino stocks?
A: As long as casinos expand, they’ll have to buy new slot machines and video lottery terminals. These companies will benefit. They don’t have a ton of debt the way many casinos do.
Also, the casinos in Las Vegas used to be on a 4- to 5-year replacement cycle for new machines. But because of all the debt troubles they had in 2008 and 2009, a lot of those replacements have been postponed. There’s a lot of pent-up demand.
Q: Do you spend your free time buying the stuff sin stocks peddle?
A: I will have a glass of wine or drink a beer, but my gambling mostly consists of a couple days a year at the horse track. I’m more likely to go hiking or run on the treadmill than anything else.

Fund manager finds plenty of virtue in sin stocks

That’s according to a mutual fund manager who’s finding plenty of investment opportunities in companies profiting from vices like smoking, drinking and gambling.camel cigarettes news Camel cigarettesJeff Middleswart’s aptly named Vice Fund is beating the house in a down market. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 1.9 percent this year. Yet stocks of cigarette makers are up an average 12 percent.The Vice Fund’s three biggest holdings are cigarette stocks: Philip Morris International Inc., Lorillard Inc. and Altria Group Inc. That explains why the fund is up 4.5 percent this year, ranking in the top 3 percent of its large-blend fund peers according to Morningstar.Defense contractors — another fund mainstay — are up an average 12 percent. Some group contractors in this category because their profits are tied to the escalation of conflicts. Alcoholic beverages? Up 6 percent.Vice is the lifeblood of a fund that’s a counterpoint to investment products touting themselves as socially responsible because they favor companies ostensibly benefiting society. This year, those stocks aren’t doing anything special. An index of socially responsible stocks, the MSCI USA Large Cap ESG, is down 1.7 percent.Vice Fund (VICEX) is rebounding from lagging returns in 2008 and 2009. Its turnaround would be even bigger if not for the average 30 percent decline for stocks of gaming companies. They’re struggling to cut hefty debt loads, a legacy from years of casino-building.Vice is the only fund explicitly focusing on sin stocks. Its portfolio of about 30 stocks is divided almost equally among cigarettes, alcohol, gaming and casinos, and defense — industries that typically hold up well in tough times. Although such a small portfolio can lead to volatility, the Vice Fund offsets that risk by emphasizing steady dividend-paying stocks.Middleswart replaced previous manager Charles Norton in February, after more than two decades as an investment analyst. The 40-year-old Dallas resident manages the eight-year-old fund for USA Mutual Funds, along with the smaller Generation Wave Growth Fund (GWGFX), which invests in stocks expected to profit from spending by baby boomers. Both were founded by Dan Ahrens, who left in 2005 after writing a book that explained his investment thesis. Its title: “Investing in Vice: The Recession-Proof Portfolio of Booze, Bets, Bombs, and Butts.”Here are excerpts from a recent interview with Middleswart about the Vice fund, and this year’s standout performance for many sin stocks:Q: Were you at all reluctant to manage the fund because of its focus on sin stocks?A: Not at all. I’ve always been a contrarian, and I’ve always looked for deep value stocks. If you listed everything you look for in a stock — companies with growing cash flow, that pay dividends and buy back shares and have clean balance sheets — you’d find a huge list of sin stocks.Yet people look at them and say, “I don’t want to own that, it’s tobacco, it’s an industry that’s going out of business.” Or they say, “I don’t want to own an alcohol stock.”These are stocks with the (financial) characteristics everybody says they want, and we’re getting them at a discount. That’s because certain people don’t want to own them.Q: Is there anything unique about the types of investors drawn to the Vice fund?A: For the most part, they’re individual investors. We have a higher-than-average percentage of people in the military who own the fund.Q: Your top holding, at about 12 percent of the fund’s assets, is Philip Morris. What do you find attractive about one of the world’s largest tobacco companies?A: Philip Morris has international tobacco exposure, which is still growing. In emerging markets, people are smoking more, and they’re going for brand name cigarettes. With this stock, you’re getting a dividend yield of nearly 5 percent, and they also have enough cash flow to buy back shares.You’ve got a company that doesn’t have to spend a fortune every year remaking itself, in terms of research and development, and signing new distribution agreements.Q: Another one of your favorites is Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, the product of a 2008 deal pairing U.S. and Belgian brewers. What do you like about the stock?A: The company is paying down debt rapidly, and it has solid cash flow growth. The way they’re going, they’ll eventually start rewarding shareholders with a bigger dividend, perhaps in the 5 to 6 percent range. It’s also got a big presence in growing markets like Brazil. I think the stock will have a decent pop over the next year and a half, and at that point it will become a cash machine for shareholders.Q: Why have you cut back on gaming stocks?A: Because gaming companies hold so much debt, and their U.S. growth prospects are limited. You’ve got lots of city and state governments saying they want to get into gaming in a bigger way. So they’re authorizing new casinos. But that’s essentially dividing up the same dollars. As you divide the pot among more players, you will see a lower return.Q: Your fund owns stocks in two makers of game terminals: Bally Technologies Inc. and International Game Technology. Why do you prefer these to casino stocks?A: As long as casinos expand, they’ll have to buy new slot machines and video lottery terminals. These companies will benefit. They don’t have a ton of debt the way many casinos do.Also, the casinos in Las Vegas used to be on a 4- to 5-year replacement cycle for new machines. But because of all the debt troubles they had in 2008 and 2009, a lot of those replacements have been postponed. There’s a lot of pent-up demand.Q: Do you spend your free time buying the stuff sin stocks peddle?A: I will have a glass of wine or drink a beer, but my gambling mostly consists of a couple days a year at the horse track. I’m more likely to go hiking or run on the treadmill than anything else.