Chris Traczek |
[ EDITOR’S NOTE ]
Mothers of invention
When you stop to think about it, smokers – and the people that create the products that consumers smoke – are a pretty resilient and creative lot.
This realization came crashing down on me when I was editing a news item that appears later in these pages. It seems that a German company called Nautilus has created a beer that has the capability to help smokers kick the habit because the beer is infused with nicotine. The beer, called NicoShot, also has a two-birds-with-one-stone element in that smokers can now get their nicotine fix "without having to walk out of the bar for a quick smoke to deal with sudden withdrawal symptoms."
So, there you have it: a product that can purportedly wean you off of cigarettes and, at the same time, help you circumvent the rash of new laws that have banned smoking in many restaurants and bars.
The NicoShot item also reminded me of something I read about restaurants in New York City, where smoking has been banned for several summers now, offering items on the menu that feature tobacco as a main ingredient, such as tobacco-leaf salads.
Of course, as we've seen, with all of the new laws, regulations and bans that have targeted the tobacco industry over the past five years if those in the industry weren't able to use some way, way, way outside-of-the-box thinking, the industry would've gone belly up. It's also shown that no idea, no matter how goofy it sounds at first, has the chance to be the "next big thing."
- We would be remiss if we did not send our condolences to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that battered the Gulf Coast in August and September. There are several companies located in the Gulf Coast Region that serve the tobacco industry and our thoughts and prayers go out to them, as well as anyone that was displaced or lost loved ones during the storms.
As I've written in these pages before, nothing brings the people of this country and our world together faster than a disaster, when we can all work with each other on a common cause. The response to the hurricanes, both monetarily and in the donation of goods, time and services, has been nothing short of astronomical and if that will is any indication, all of the affected areas will be rebuilt and repopulated sooner rather than later. |
