Tulsa World: Older smokes still on shelves

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Older smokes still on shelves
Cigarettes without the new fire-safety paper have to be gone by Jan. 1, 2010.

TOM GILBERT / Tulsa World

By OMER GILLHAM & DEON J. HAMPTON World Staff Writers
Published: 10/25/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 10/25/2009 3:52 AM

Several area Indian smoke shops are selling cigarettes without a new kind of fire-safety paper required by legislation enacted last year, a Tulsa World investigation shows.

The World bought several packs of discount-brand cigarettes at smoke shops in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Sapulpa and Beggs. A new state law requires cigarettes to be wrapped in fire-safe paper, beginning Jan. 1, 2009, said Paula Ross, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

To delay the law's effect, several area smoke shops appear to be selling old inventory bought before the law took effect about 10 months ago. The law allows retailers to sell old inventory until Jan. 1, 2010.

"Our plan for after January 1, 2010, is to contact the fire marshal's office if nonfire-safe cigarettes are found during a routine compliance check," Ross said.

Fire-safe paper is designed to extinguish a lit cigarette that is not being smoked, fire officials said.

Meanwhile, acting Tulsa Fire Marshal Mike Bailey said that cigarettes were the No. 1 heat source for fatality fires in Tulsa during the past seven years.

Between 2001 and 2008, 59 people lost their lives to fires caused by cigarettes or smoking material, Bailey said.

"Fire-safe paper is a step in the right direction, but there are no totally safe cigarettes," Bailey said.

The World purchased cigarettes without the fire-safe paper at five area smoke shops. They include: Riverside Indian Smoke Shop and Mingo Tobacco Outlet in Tulsa; BA Tobacco Outlet in Broken Arrow; White Feather Smoke Shop in Sapulpa; and Duck Creek Smoke Shop near Beggs.

The cigarettes being sold without fire-safe paper are Seneca and King Mountain brand cigarettes. The smoke shops are affiliated with the Muskogee (Creek) Nation.

Creek Nation spokesman Thompson Gouge said that some tribal-affiliated stores are selling cigarette inventory purchased before the new law took effect. He said that smoke shops would begin pulling the cigarettes from their shelves Jan. 1, 2010.

Karen Goodson, manager of Riverside Indian Smoke Shop, said the World must have purchased cigarettes from previous shipments. She said her store has begun selling Seneca and King Mountain with fire-safe paper.

"You must have bought some of the only ones that I have in stock," Goodson said. "We will be compliant as of Jan. 1, 2010. We are not here to break the law."

When asked if she was selling old inventory, Goodson said: "You would have to ask the wholesaler about that. I have no idea."

State Fire Marshal Robert Doke said his office has contacted the state attorney general's office, trying to determine if the fire marshal has jurisdiction on Indian land.

"Typically we don't have jurisdiction on Indian land," Doke said.

Most of the Creek-affiliated stores within the Tulsa area refuse to sell the cigarettes, saying they are "illegal" when asked why they don't sell them.

Seneca and King Mountain cigarettes also are part of a tax controversy between the state and the Creek Nation. The cigarettes are considered contraband by the Oklahoma Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement Complementary Act.

The act requires that tobacco manufacturers and their brand families be listed on the Directory of Compliant Tobacco Manufacturers maintained by the attorney general's office. The cigarettes are not on the approved state list.

In a lawsuit against 14 Creek-affiliated stores, the state alleges the owners or managers are selling the cigarettes in violation of the Federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act, the State Complementary Act and State Cigarette Tax Act, according to a lawsuit filed in February.

In addition to not having the fire-safe paper, the cigarettes are being sold without an Oklahoma tax stamp, which means no taxes are going to the state for programs to decrease the smoking rate or to help fund health initiatives.

All of the stores visited by the World, except White Feather, are named in the lawsuit, records show.

The Creek Nation has justified selling the cigarettes by claiming that the product involves a business transaction between sovereign tribes not subject to Oklahoma taxation.

Seneca brand cigarettes are manufactured by Grand River Enterprises Six Nations Ltd., a Canadian limited liability corporation. King Mountain is manufactured by King Mountain Tobacco Company Inc., an Indian-owned tobacco manufacturer located within the boundaries of the Yakima Nation in Washington state.

What are fire-safe cigarettes?

David Sutton, spokesman for Phillip Morris USa, said fire-safe cigarettes use a new method of paper wrapping to help extinguish a cigarette more quickly. The method is known as Reduced Cigarette Ignition Propensity. RCIP involves using banded paper, or thin layers of bands, which are attached to a cigarette rod. The paper bands act as “speed bumps” allowing the lit end of the cigarette to burn slowly.

“They extinguish more quickly than cigarettes that don’t have banded paper,” Sutton said.

Omer Gillham 581-8301
omer.gillham@tulsaworld.com

Deon J. Hampton 581-8413
Deon.Hampton@tulsaworld.com

By OMER GILLHAM & DEON J. HAMPTON World Staff Writers

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Sunday: Smoke shops sell cigarettes without fire-safe paper," which was published on 10/24/2009.

	Report Comment TLFKRF, Tulsa (10/24/2009 3:19:26 PM) If they have until Jan 1 how is this news on Oct 24? Why would you "investigate" something they are legally doing? This headline is grossly misleading.
	Report Comment FS, Broken Arrow (10/24/2009 3:44:28 PM) ... it must be a slow day at the TW offices ...
	Report Comment olderthandirt, (10/24/2009 5:08:31 PM) I wish the lawmakers would light up one of these cigarettes in the fireproof paper.
	Report Comment olderthandirt, (10/24/2009 5:14:59 PM) Has anyone else had trouble with the whole end falling completely off the new cigarettes? I now have a quarter size hole, an inch deep in my sofa. Another time the fire fell completely out and burned a whole through my jeans. These are very dangerous.
	Report Comment GretaSue, (10/24/2009 5:41:55 PM) Yes (olderthandirt) the new papers may supposedly be safer ( why? they still burn ) but the lighted end seems to just fall off... I have a few new burns on jeans an truck floor that shouldn't be there...
	Report Comment ranay22, Ponca City (10/24/2009 5:46:30 PM) I hate when you ARE smoking and it goes out.
	Report Comment getreal, (10/24/2009 6:01:08 PM) "These are very dangerous" This statement was suppose to be a joke, right?
	Report Comment Libs-R-Us, (10/24/2009 6:22:09 PM) ...not to mention the dry, hacking cough from smoking the "fireproof" cigarettes. I switched this summer to the Smokeshop cigarettes, and haven't coughed since - except when I run out and have to buy a pack of the "safe" cigarettes. Then I cough until I finish the pack. I think they need to do a little more testing on those "safe" cigarettes.
	Report Comment Terree, Tulsa (10/24/2009 6:58:33 PM) as for me, im a smoker but i dont know what brand is the ones ur talking about, but i know that some of the cigs the smoke shops sale stink to high heaven...i just wish i could quit.
	Report Comment olderthandirt, (10/24/2009 6:59:06 PM) "This statement was suppose to be a joke, right?" I can see your ironey. Just like a food prepared using charcoal briquets absorbs the equivalent of 10 cigarettes. Have you ever had a charcoal steak? So before righteous takes over, let's get back to the subject.
	Report Comment olderthandirt, (10/24/2009 7:05:15 PM) Echo 100's menthol from the smoke shops is the one I have trouble with the fire breaking away.
	Report Comment Centrist, the burbs (10/24/2009 7:05:46 PM) The new cigarettes do not stay lit and I agree something they are putting in this paper is not good and is making people cough.
	Report Comment Centrist, the burbs (10/24/2009 7:06:32 PM) I also noticed that the ashes fall off easy on these new cigs, feel like Richard Pryor on fire half the time.
	Report Comment TulsaTulsa, Tulsa (10/24/2009 7:23:11 PM) the last thing smokers should be worried about...
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (10/24/2009 7:30:08 PM) Thry also might want to check QT and neighborhood stores. Mine burn like torches. Still having a red glow in the smoldering ashes after they've been put out. But I never empty an ashtry in the trash until serveral hours have passed. I use a larger glass container that I empty the ashtry into first. Then later I empty the glass butt container into the trash. Like I said mine burn like torches.
	Report Comment TonyQ, Tulsa (10/24/2009 7:37:58 PM) I agree, I don't understand what's fire safe about them when the whole end falls off so frequently. It also makes you have to smoke quickly unless you want to keep relighting. Sometimes you prefer to take your time and stretch out your break from the desk, ya know.
	Report Comment okie ridgerunner, Small Country Town State Line (10/24/2009 8:16:32 PM) I have that trouble to with the end falling off and having to smoke faster.and having to cough now when i didn`t befor. I thought it was because i started useing a filter that removes the tar and nicotine without changing the taste of the cig.and i wasnt use to it. At the smoke shop in joplin i started buying these boxes of 30 filters you can use on your cig they are clear plastic. they catch the tar and nicotine and you can see the clear filter get dark and black with it. each one can be used with 5 to 6 cigs.name is Tarblock.it is scarry to think all that has been going into our lungs.it was a little hard to get use to but every time i look at what that filter has in it i keep it up since i can not seem to stop smoking.any way it makes me feel better and i am sure it is helping.
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (10/24/2009 8:22:11 PM) Good job okie ridgerunner. I'm havin gtrouble quitting to. Thanks for the tarblocker info. This is a great opportunity for us smokers to come together as a group and have some healing time. LOL
	Report Comment oldrustytulsa, Tulsa (10/24/2009 8:55:42 PM) Just quite buying those Charcoal cooked steaks, maybe the Oklahoma legislature will pass a bill outlawing them, Not...but the smoking thing is the politically correct thing to do, if your into Correct politics that is. And What about all those Smoked meat contest?Where is it all going to end, just wait a FAT people tax is about to come.
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (10/24/2009 9:07:25 PM) Check the airlines. They already force overweight people to buy tweo seats.
	Report Comment okie ridgerunner, Small Country Town State Line (10/24/2009 9:42:51 PM) Future World I understand some truck stops sell them to. I am paying 1.99 a box for them. some places are higher.
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (10/24/2009 9:45:26 PM) OK thanks.
	Report Comment Libs-R-Us, (10/24/2009 9:54:50 PM) Seneca at any smokeshop: $2.40/pack Smoke just like Marlboro's.
	Report Comment Thunder196, Tulsa (10/24/2009 9:58:23 PM) Libs-R-Us Seneca is what my sister smoked. She said the same thing. Couldn't tell the difference from Marlboro.
	Report Comment PAN, (10/24/2009 11:02:43 PM) Fire-safe paper is useless anyway. My brother-in-law smokes and many times the fire just FALLS OUT of the fire-safe paper and it does not go out when it lands wherever it's going to land. It just falls out and keeps on burning. I thought the fire-safe paper was suppose to keep people from getting burned up or at least from their homes getting burned up. This paper is as dangerous, and maybe more dangerous, than the regular paper was.

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