ASPipes

This is a critical time for the hobby of pipe smoking in the USA. H.R. 4439 (The Tobacco Tax Parity Act of 2010) will not only impose a serious tax on pipe tobacco, to match the crippling tax already imposed on RYO tobacco, but will likely drive a good percentage of US pipe shops and blenders out of business. This bill was introduced into the House to combat the practice that many RYO blenders have been driven to out of desperation, of labeling RYO tobacco as pipe tobacco. It actually has nothing at all to do with pipes! Please write to your representative to state your feelings on this bill. There is also an online petition that you can sign, which already has around 18,000 signatures. We're looking at the extinction of a culture that stretches back to the time of Shakespeare. (Yes, Shakespeare smoked VA in a clay.) You might want to remind them that, even before this nation was built on the automobile, it was built on tobacco. This is not a partisan issue, people. This is a bill that all pipe smokers in the US should be concerned with.