TI EDITORIAL
PUBLISHER & PRESIDENT
Robert M. Lockwood EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Fair is Fair, says Senator, Even When We’re Talking About Menthol
Christopher Bickers
Most individuals in the tobacco states who have expressed an opinion on the legalization of hemp production expressed a favorable one. But the senior Senator from North Carolina, Richard Burr, who in November had bitterly opposed the proposal of the Food and Drug Administration to ban the use of menthol in cigarettes, took the opportunity last month to point out that menthol might well be less damaging than cannabis. “Understand that if you begin to loosen up the legal use of cannabis, then we’re going to hold you to the same standards you’ve displayed for everything else,” he said on the floor of the Senate, addressing the FDA. “Everything that you hold a drug manufacturer to, that you hold a drug device manufacturer…and, quite honestly, that you hold the tobacco industry to.” “If you’re worried about burning a product and inhaling it into your lungs, you better be just as concerned about it as it relates to marijuana,” Burr added. Burr suggested that there might be an analogy between Canada’s 2017 ban on menthol products to its legalization of recreational marijuana last year. The same thing could happen in the U.S., Burr said. “This is eerily similar to Canada a few years ago, when they banned menthol products,” Burr explained. “How did they follow that up? This year, they legalized cannabis. Maybe that’s the route we’re on.” For the short term, said Burr, the marijuana industry should be regulated just as tightly as the tobacco industry. Speaking of North Carolina, quite a bit of this issue is centered on developments there and more particularly in the Eastern N.C. town of Wilson. On page 24, I report on the success enjoyed so far by Evans MacTavish Agricraft in designing and manufacturing machinery to process cannabis. You will be intrigued at what they are doing. And on page 16, we present an update on Global Labs, the internationally renowned pesticide residue and tobacco constituent testing facility. You will be surprised to learn—or maybe you won’t--about some of the new programs that could be coming up. In other articles, regular TI contributor Iqbal Lambat outlines the current “Macro” trends in the tobacco industry, and the noted flavorist Roger Penn addresses the place of flavorings in the current tobacco climate. And check out our short item pages TI Digest and Leaf News for timely reporting on the latest events, including how hemp is becoming a reality in U.S. agriculture (page 32) and why the decision on how much tobacco to plant is especially critical for farmers this year (page 32).
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TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE
— Chris Bickers, Editor-In-Chief
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Volume 19, No. 1 TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL (ISSN 0049-3945 print; ISSN 2331-8481 online), established in 1886, is published six times a year, with two monthly issues (September & December) and four combined issues (Jan/Feb/Mar, April/May/June, DECEMBER, Oct/Nov) plus a directory issue published in January of each year by Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc., 3743 Crescent Street, Second Floor, Long Island City, NY 11101, USA. Officers: Robert M. Lockwood, president and treasurer. Subscription rates: USA—US$49 per year, US$74 for two years; US$109 for three years. Canada—US$59 per year, US$89 for two years, US$134 for three years. All other countries: International Surface Mail—US$89 per year; US$139 for two years; US$199 for three years. International AirMail—US$129 per year; US$199 for two years; US$289 for three years. Single copy price: US$15. Annual Buyers’ Guide & Directory: US$45, plus shipping. Copyright ©2019 by Lockwood Publications, Inc. The contents of TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL may not be reprinted except by permission. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL, P.O. Box 424, Congers, NY 10920-0430, USA.
8 TOBACCO INTERNATIONAL JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
