Discount Cigarettes and Interdiction

Discount cigarettes make big time news every time there is talk of interdiction till the time the actual interdiction fades away from public memory. The hype and hoopla, the flying noises and ruckus created during that what in future appears to be a short time period looses potential and when everything returns to normal, cheap cigarettes of every name and brand, worth its salt, begin their brisk business. And you have more smokers than before.

Recently 45 million cigarettes were destroyed in Ryazan, a city southeast of Moscow. Yes, this made headlines for reasons such as destruction was requested by manufacturers of some of the largest selling brands as the sticks were proven to be counterfeits. Then there are news cropping up every now and then about a city or a state interdicting smoking. What happened in Saint Petersburg and then in London recently are just the two points in the case.

Now, get back to the fundamentally flawed reasoning behind this drastic, rather jingoistic, show of mistaken convictions. Cigarette market and the industry is entirely driven by the demand and supply and any administrative interferences, till date, have been limited at taxation and publicity while all the while it was touted as having been working towards improving community health. The might of governments is mocked and bungled in totality when every opportunity to stop tobacco consumption is allowed to slip through.

Increase of tax, including upon cigarette sales, has always been the favored budgetary tool of finance ministers to makeup for deficits. Historic facts and statistics have only proven that tobacco consumption has increased and cigarette sales have jumped faster than other forms of tobacco despite similar efforts at intermittent intervals. If the explosion of internet and ease of ecommerce is ignored in the same fashion, cheap cigarettes for sale online will find every bed and drawing rooms at every click of mouse.

Get back to that destruction of 45 million cigarettes in Ryazan. Philip Morris International, the owner of famed Marlboro cigarettes could pin the fake manufacturers on charges of infringement of Intellectual Property Rights. However, these cigarettes were being sold and exported as cheap Marlboro cigarettes to Europe and US. Ironically, genuine Marlboro cigarettes for sale, either made under license or by the brand owner, are languishing in all resplendent legality which is reflective of administrations’ hypocrisy.

Strong and established brands like Virginia Slims, Camel, Winston, Davidoff, LM, Marlboro, 555 and Dunhill have diverse manufacturing bases spread across geographies which facilitates cross supply and revenue balancing in cases of interdiction or tax hikes in some geographies thus maintaining their regular growth rates unhindered. Cheap cigarettes for sale all over the net and in some Red Indian settlements in USA are results of this kind of balancing act.

Enacting outdoor smoking bans or restricting indoor smoking are always half measures that establish mediocrity of intentions and achieved results. Continuance of industrial status being accorded to cigarette manufacturing and the absence of structured plans for complete elimination of smoking, albeit in phases, speaks a lot about this.

As long as there are smokers and there are established cigarette makers there is going to be continuation of smoking and internet will only reinvigorate the export and import of cheap cigarettes and discount cigarettes will continue to either save or make money for everyone concerned.