Startin' a Tweeter Thing

Yee Haw Y'all.

It's been 4 years since my last post. Been busy helping do things like eliminate tobacco control programs in New Jersey and cripple programs in New York. Next big project will be to help out some good ole boys in their fight against the Revenue men. Heck we're just like the Dukes of Hazzard, only instead of the General Lee, we drive lung cancer rates. Yeeee Ha! Good times.

Anywho, figured I'd jump back into the world of Interwebs and start one of them Tweeter accounts everybody is so keen on.

Y'all can follow me at @BigTobaccoFan01

RJ Reynold Christmas Playboy Promotion

In the imortal words of Andy Williams, "it's the holiday season, so So hoopdidoo and dickoreedock." Fortunately the good folks at RJ Reynolds haven't forgotten with their brand spankin' new (emphasis on spankin') Holiday-time promotion.


Got this in the ol' inbox just in time for Christmas!

This year you can get that special someone a free subscription to Playboy. Camel is puttin' the ho back in holidays as part of the effort to get y'all hooked ...uh...enjoyin' new Camel Wides.

After all is there any better way to honor the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem or the birth of Jesus than kickin' back with a Camel Wide, thumbin' through a nudie mag and reading about how Ms. December likes sea turtles and long walks on the beach?

To me, that sums up the Holiday season. The heck with yer bell ringin' Santas, and yer family get togethers and the like.

Skin rags and smokes. That's a holday fer me! Yeeee haaaaawwww!

Clubbin' Camels: AG Suit Hits RJR for Rolling Stone spread

Poor ol' Joe Camel can't get a break.

Today, a total of eight busy-body attorneys general have filed lawsuits claimin' Reynold and Camel violated the Master's Settlement Agreement with a big ad campaign in Rollin' Stone magazine. It's all the usual suspects of California, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Maine and Washington.

Y'all can read about it here, here, and here as well as about a zillion other places on the web.

So what's all the hub bub about? Camel has already pulled the ads down but thanks to the health nuts over at the Campaign fer Tobacco Free Kids we can still check them out.

Personally I don't see a thing wrong with them, but then again I still can't abide that them government folks made Reynolds drop a perfectly good spokescamel like Joe.

But here's the argument the government types and the health nuts are makin'. It all revolved around that big Master's Settlement Agreement.

Fer them folks that don't remember that's the big lawsuit that allowed local governments to sue the tobacco companies so they could fund important projects like buyin' golf carts fer local courses and government subsidies of tobacco producers.

See the problem is this. Accordin' to that agreement Reynolds sent Joe Camel packin' and vowed never to use cartoons in their advertisin' again.

Well shoot, there may be a couple of cartoons in those ads but it ain't like they got Shrek and Donkey sharin' a pipe or somethin'. Perspective people. That's all I'm askin' fer.

People are losin' focus in this whole debate. Y'all need to ask what these ads are really about.

Music, my friends, music. Independent grassroots honest to goodness music.

Clearly Reynolds has shown they're a company with a big heart and - I'm sorry maybe I just ain't cynical enough - but to me the only thing Camel wants to do is support the arts.

I mean it's in Rollin' Stone. Ain't that one of them newspaper magazines fer music types? Why else in the world would a company like Reynolds possibly want to advertise in a magazine that caters to a musically inclined hip crowd between the ages of 18 and 24 with a modest disposable income?

It's all about the music.

And, I'll be frank, I'm not sure I like the idea of a bunch of city slicker attorneys general tryin' to deprive kids of music.

Did we learn nothin' from Mr. Holland's Opus!?!

America the time has come to put the breaks on these music hatin' health zealots. Like it or not, kids are gonna smoke.

And do you really want them kids to smoke while they're listenin' to corporate bubble gum pop?

Camel is providin' our youth with a choice. Givin' our kids the opportunity to smoke while listenin' to their favorite undiscovered new rock alternative.

And choice is what America is about my friend.

Kudos to Camel. Yer talkin' a beatin' but yer doin' right by our future customers...uh...I mean...kids.

iPhone offered as prize by Cancer Society in YouTube Contest

Well don't this just beat all.

Hot off the heels of last month's encouragin' article about YouTube bein' a safe haven fer tobacco companies lookin' to get the word out, we get this from the mamby pambies at the American Cancer Society and their Great American Smokeout video contest.



Personally I find it a might disgraceful that them American Cancer folks are buttin' in on the party over at YouTube. It's been said that "www" means "wild wild west" that means we got us a a safe place to spread the word without hassles like this from health nuts. Oh and there weren't no iPhones nor Cancer Societies nor Smokeyouts in the wild wild west. So what the heck is they doin' on my YouTubey.

And the fact they're usin' an iPhone as first prize stinks three ways to Sunday as well. I guess the deal is, they want ya'll to post a short video - under a minute long - tellin' folks why they shouldn't smoke. In the words of a slack jawed Gen-Xer, whatever. They got all their rules and such posted here at their new antismokin' site.

Sounds like an easy way to get one of them iPhones or an iPod but I won't be enterin'. I ain't sellin' out. My integrity and my retirement package from Liardare are worth 10 times one of them iPhones.

So y'all can enter, an win yer iPhone or yer iPods but I'm stickin' to my principles. Stick that in yer pipe and...well....do whatever you non-smokin' types do with pipes.

Trade Secrets: Don't watch this

Caught this on the boob tube the other night and now its up on the Internet. Just disgraceful the amount of stuff that's on line nowadays.

The information in this video is about what's in a cigarette. It's trade secrets folks and ya shouldn't be watchin' it. I'm postin' it here just to highlight how out of control health types are by exposin' the time held traditions of my industry.

So don't watch it.

And if ya do, lemme tell y'all somethin' before ya get worked up. This IS NOT another good example of why the FDA needs to regulate cigarette makers. We use only the cleanest brooms when we sweep tobacco dust off the floor and reconstitute it into new fresh smooth Liardare Carolina 100's.

It's all very safe and wholesome, take my word fer it.





As a former tobacco executive, you might think I'd feel an affinity to a fellow former leader in big tobacco. Fer the most part that's true but not when it comes to turncoat Jeffery Wigand. Y'all can read more about him here.

Couple years back Wigand became a famous whistle blower by exposin' trade secrets like the ones in that terrible video above. That's like givin' up the Masons secret handshake. Omerta my friend. Ya just don't do stuff like that.

Anywho, his story got made into a movie called the Insider. I didn't see it. What is that gonna tell me that I don't already know?

So don't watch the video and remember we can police ourselves just fine. We don't need no FDA pointy headed jerks tellin' us our business. Trust us, we don't!

I Hate Disney and the answer to smokin' in the youth market

Lemme tell y'all somethin'.

Dinsey ain't nothin' but a bunch of yellow-bellied cowards. How dare they smite the artistic creativity of creative types by not allowin' smokin' in their kiddie cartoons!?! This is just a complete outrage. And lemme tell y'all somethin' else, I ain't takin' this lyin' down.

In case y'all hadn't heard, the House of Mouse made the big announcement that smokin' will be outlawed in all their family type features. Plus, as if that ain't enough, smokin' will be discouraged in all their films from the Touchstone and Miramax brands. Still worse, they'll be featurin' anti-smokin' PSAs on all movies and DVDs where the characters light up. Ya can read the full article here.

The words beyond the pale seem to fit nicely.

Worth notin' that about 10 years ago Disney digitally removed smokin' from some of their old cartoons includin' the Pecos Bill segment in Melody Time. Ya'll can see the before and after photos to the left.

I stole that image off a really good article on the cartoon at 2719 Hyperion. Y'all can view the original post here.

Disney may think they're doin' the right thing but this is actually the complete wrong approach if they want to discourage the youth market...I mean....kids (sorry, old habits die hard) from lightin' up. And, in all sincerity the smokin' version of Pecos Bill is much more appropriate fer today's kids fer two reasons.

First, Pecos Bill is a cowboy. Look at a calendar people, its 2007! What kid wants to be a cowboy today? Maybe some looser kids in Oklahoma or somethin', but cowboys have no Ipods, no Nintendo WII, no Facebook, no MySpace, they work fer a livin' doin' manual labor all day long, and they spend lots of time outdoors.

Name two kids who'd want to be like that guy. I betcha can't.

So if smokin' is sooooo evil, then - by yer logic - ain't havin' a looser like Pecos Bill, puffin' away, a good thing? I mean, kids don't want to be Pecos Bill and Pecos Bill smokes. Logic people, if P then Q.

My second reason is part of a much larger argument.

Hey people, kids smoke. Kids have always smoked, kids are always gonna smoke. The more we try to prevent kids from smokin', the more we try to take it out of the social mainstream, the more attractive we actually make smokin' fer kids. Think about that one health types.

If ya truly want to make smokin' not cool, or hip, or groovy, or whatever they say nowadays, here's the one thing that sure to work.

Teach it in the schools.

I mean it. Its a radical idea but very progressive if y'all think about it. Mandate that kids must spend no less than 45 minutes a day smokin'. Ya can talk about the history of tobacco in the USA so there's social studies, economics and marketin' lessons. There's the chemistry curriculum in teachin' kids all the natural goodness that goes into makin' a smooth tastin' unfiltered product. Ya can replace gym, savin' school districts money(because after smokin' fer 45 minutes the kids won't be able to run anyway). Also, smokin' helps ya keep the weight off, so yer combatin' childhood obesity and reducin' kids risk of many chonic diseases.

This plan would teach kids valuable lessons and improve their long term health.

And fer ya anti-smokin' types, if ya tell kids they have to do somethin' they'll develop a negative attitude toward it right? Well, there y'all go. After being told to smoke in the schools fer say 12 years or so, I'm sure a certain portion of the market...uh....kids will opt not to continue smokin'. This just seems like the more natural way to do things.

Heck, I'm sure my ol' buddies at Liardare would be willin' to make special brands just fer the kiddies like tooty fruity or chocolate or...oh wait that's been done...we'll we'd figure somethin' out fer y'all.

Anyway, that's the best answer I've heard and trust me, after workin' at a tobacco company all those years we spent a lot of time talkin' about kids.

Tobacco Taxes Kill People: Bipartisan Agreement in Congress Calls for More Gang Activity, Increased Attacks on Truckers

In a stunnin' development a bipartisan (that means both Republicans and Democrats) bunch of kooks in Washington, called fer more crime, specifically gang activity and increased attacks on truckers throughout the United States!!!


When will this madness end!?! Ya see, accordin' to the New York Times, theses government lunatics are callin' fer higher tobacco taxes. And I've been doin' some research on tobacco taxes at RJ Reynold's new corporately organized, grassroots movement website called NoCigTax.

Lemme tell ya somethin' boys and girls if you ain't been to nocigtax.com yer missin' some important knowledge. This grassroots effort of well paid volunteers, has put together pack and a half of info on why cigarette taxes are the worst thing since Ebola.

My favorite part is this page which shows y'all in simple terms the top 10 reasons why it's clear tobacco taxes are an idea spawned in hell. Numbers 3 and 8 on the top 10 deal with how cigarette taxes increase crime at home.

Accordin' to the irrefutable suppositions of Reynolds American's marketin' department, there will be more cigarette truck hijackins if tobacco taxes go up. No indication of how much they'll go up, fer example the ratio of holdups per ten cent increase. But, over the years, tobacco company have shown their honesty and I think we can all just take 'em at their word.

Number 8 on the list is basically the same as number 3 - hey cut 'em some slack, it ain't easy comin' up with 10 whole reasons. That one basically says the higher the tobacco taxes ya got the more organized crime ya got.

Taxes make cigarettes more valuable and criminals will want to sell more of them, earnin' them more money. Earnin' more money makes it easier fer them to kill people and steal your car.

Well it doesn't actually say that last part but ya'll can fill in the blanks the same as I can. And again, there's no actual stats listed linkin' crime increases to tobacco taxes but really, who ever heard of a dishonest tobacco company? Joe Camel don't lie.

Ya see people, cigarettes don't kill people. Tobacco taxes do. Why on earth would the government would come out in favor of truck robberies, the mafia, along with the Bloods and the Crypts is beyond me. Haven't these folks seen Goodfellas, or Colors, or Breakin' 2 the Electronic Boogaloo? Crime is bad and it ain't the Government's job to be promotin' it through tobacco taxes. Where's Homeland Security when ya'll need 'em?

One final note. Fortunately, I ain't the only one who musta read Reynolds top 10 list. President Bush has seen the light and accorin' to today's Times will veto the tobacco tax bill. Well thank goodness fer small miracles. Hang tough George, hang tough. And take comfort in knowin' the bigtobaccoblog is 100% behin' ya'll.

Silly Ol' Camel: Cigs Are Fer Docs!

Y'all know somethin'.

It just makes me ill to see how the good folks at Camel are havin' their name dragged through the mud right know about them flavored cigarettes ....uh... I mean.... Signature Blends. Accusations are a flyin', states are talkin' about bannin' certain types of smokes and the Feds in Washington might start regulatin' us.

Just terrible and so completely unnecessary.

Fer example, Camel is takin' a beatin' right now, but they have a long history of bein' completely honest with the public about their products and their marketin'. I mean just take a look at this little gem from the good ol' days, before all the doctors in the world got so uppity about stuff like health.

How can anyone look at that ad and say the Feds ought to be buttin' in. I don't get it!?!

Flavored Cigs: Goin'...goin'...

The country's first ever ban on flavored cigarettes includin' Camel Signature Blends is on the verge of bein' passed in - where else - New York State.

The story is makin' the rounds and appears on the Capital Confidential Blog which is run by one of them newspaper fellers up there. Word is a ban could come next week.

For shame New York! Now how are the 6% of regular smokers who've tried flavored cigarettes going to get their fix of rooty tooty fruity apple smokes!?! It just ain't fair.

I mean, don't I, as a maker of fine tobacco products, have a constitutional right to make money?

It ain't Camel's fault that kids like fruit.

You know who's really to blame, is them fellers who make Juicy Juice and the like. They're the ones fixin' it so kids like fruit flavors. If they made that juice out of thyme or wheat germ instead of apples and bananas then nobody would be givin' the good ol' boys at Reynolds a hard time.

Them busy body New Yorkers ought to go pick on big-juice, they're the real culprit here. Camel is the victim. All any tobacco company wants to do is create a wholesome product, that is not addictive, not filled with toxic chemicals and not linked to cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, asthma, emphysema or any other disease, syndrome or condition. We do what we do out of love and a desire to satisfy our customers, not out of a blind desire for billions and billions of dollars in profits. Hopefully that clears things up.

Remember Philip Morris motto: "You almost can't say altruistic without Altria."

A Lowe's is a Loews...not really

Howdy y'all.

Did ya ever read somethin', take action, and then find out you read the dad blamed thing wrong. I stumbled across this story today about Loews makin' big profits on tobacco. And y'all know me, profits and tobacco are my two favorite words.

Now I see Loews commercials on TV all the time. Think they got Gene Hackman doin' their announcin'. Nice feller, made a better Lex Luther than the guy from Seven. But I'm gettin' off track.

I read the story and got all excited about Loews investin' in cigarettes. Sure I bought the occasional shovel from 'em or here and there some pete moss, but I never knew they was one of the good guys. Who knew Loews made cigarettes? I mean it ain't in their fliers or nothin'.

So I hoped in my nicotine scented white and gold SUV and hauled my way over to the local home improvement big box store to pick up somethin'...anythin' just to show my support for another big tobacco company.

Make a short story long, I mosey up to the counter with a trowel, two piece of ceramic tile, and a roll of plumbers tape. The checkout gal asks me if there's anythin' else I need.

"Yes mam," I replied. "I just want to say that I am proud that yer company is makin' and sellin' cigarettes, and I support yer efforts 100 percent."

The little lady looked at me kind of funny and stated "I'm sorry sir we don't sell cigarettes."

To which I responded, "You don't!?! Well hell's bells chicky you oughter, accordin' to the story I just read Loews profits just rose 26 percent off its cigarette lines. You should be sellin' cigarettes from floor to ceilin', you should be givin' 'em away with the power tools."

I continued on with my strong business argument on why Loews should embrace their tobacco heritage and sell, sell, sell, 'till the cows come home. After about 5 minutes or so the people behind me started fussin' so I figured it was time to move on.

Everyone was lookin' at me like I grew a third eye er somethin'. Well it wasn't until I got home that I figured out why. Apparently there's two Loews. There's Loews the owner of Lorillard tobacco company and then there's Lowe's the home improvement store. Much to my chagrin they're two different companies all together.

Wish I'd read that article more closely before I got to the store. Anybody need a trowel, two piece of ceramic tile, or a roll of plumbers tape?

I Miss the Good Old Days

I miss the good old days.

Days when men were men and you could smoke in places like airplanes, restaurants and child daycare centers. When real guys like John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Yul Brenner could light up without fear of anything bad happenin' to em.

I am so sick of hearin' piddly complaints and whinin'. Seems like a feller can't light up anymore without some do gooder violatin' my constitutional right to enjoy a smooth, refreshing, rich Lairdare Carolina Leaf 100(now with 10% less dioxin, visit your local grocery store for more information).

Why just the other day, I was sittin' there mindin' my own business enjoyin' a smoke and some crazy woman comes up and starts yellin' at me.

"Excuse me sir," she said with a false air of politeness. "Would you mind not smoking in here?"

"Why yes I would ma'am," I replied with all the niceatudes I could muster.

"But sir," she droned on. "My baby shouldn't be breathin' in that smoke."

That was the last straw for me. I said "look lady, the Maternity Ward is a public place. If you don't want your baby around smoke go somewhere else. There's plenty of other hospitals in town. That's your right as a consumer!"

Then she screamed somethin' about water breakin' or whatever. I don't know, I stopped listenin'. Made a whole scene over my one, almost harmless, little ol' Carolina 100.

And lemme tell ya somethin' else. Those hospital security fellas, ain't nice.

Yee haw y'all and welcome!

Yee haw y’all!

Welcome to the Big Tobacco Blog. I’m Rufus T. Baccey a former executive for Lairdare Tobacco Company. Although I should be careful mentionin' the name of the company. Don't want to get accused of offerin' free advertisin'. You saw what they did to those NASCAR fellers. Nextel Cup my foot. Winston Cup forever baby!

My goal here at the Big Tobacco Blog is to give you the news you need to know about smoking…unfiltered. Because we all know filters are for wimps. Yup just the honest to goodness, pure as Carolina leaf truth. None of that mamby pamby nonsense you see from oddball wacko fringe publications like the New York Times...or the Washington Post...or the New England Journal of Medicine.

So sit back, relax, take a deep breath (well, as deep as you can we all know that can be difficult sometimes) and light ‘em up baby! And remember, a cough isn't a warnin' sign. Its a badge of honor!