Menthol Cigarette Ban and COVID-19

originally posted by: JIMC5499
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

but unfiltered weed is fine. Go figure.

Except for maybe Snoop Dogg, most people aren't inhaling multiple packs of weed during the course of the day.

a reply to: Blue Shift

We don't know the same people.

originally posted by: JIMC5499
a reply to: Blue Shift

We don't know the same people.

Well, I haven't been in college in a long time, that's for sure.

Glad I quit smoking. Twice lol

Nicotiana tabacum, AKA Virginia Tobacco plant, contains a "potent anti-HIV microbicide" called "griffithsin". It works well as an anti-viral against HIV, MERS, and SARS (as in corona virus).

Griffithsin: An Antiviral Lectin with Outstanding Therapeutic Potential Abstract - Griffithsin (GRFT), an algae-derived lectin, is one of the most potent viral entry inhibitors discovered to date. It is currently being developed as a microbicide with broad-spectrum activity against several enveloped viruses. GRFT can inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection at picomolar concentrations, surpassing the ability of most anti-HIV agents. The potential to inhibit other viruses as well as parasites has also been demonstrated.

High-level expression of the HIV entry inhibitor griffithsin from the plastid genome and retention of biological activity in dried tobacco leaves Abstract - The potent anti-HIV microbicide griffithsin was expressed to high levels in tobacco chloroplasts, enabling efficient purification from both fresh and dried biomass, thus providing storable material for inexpensive production and scale-up on demand. The global HIV epidemic continues to grow, with 1.8 million new infections occurring per year. In the absence of a cure and an AIDS vaccine, there is a pressing need to prevent new infections in order to curb the disease. Topical microbicides that block viral entry into human cells can potentially prevent HIV infection. The antiviral lectin griffithsin has been identified as a highly potent inhibitor of HIV entry into human cells.

NIH Link 1
NIH Link 2

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck Nictonic acid works well for plants...But our new age health system will not admit any plant bassed readily available easy to grow remedy for anything works. Just got of cigarettes again but going to hit my vape and keep my nicotine levels up just incase lol.

I recall sometime in the 1980's when menthol cigarettes were advertised as "soap for your throat".
I suppose a witty pun for that other great invention (or marketing re-issue at the time): "soap on a rope".
Although at least in South Africa at the time, menthol cigarettes and "slims" were marketed almost exclusively to females.

However, tobacco before 1993 was largely and deliberately spread amongst men, particularly during military conscription faced by white males. (And although they weren't conscripted, there were also significant but separate female and black/colored volunteers and battalions.)

Cigarettes were used as punishment and reward in the army (although they denied this), but if you wouldn't take a smoke break in the army you had to do extra exercises and unpleasant tasks. So if you weren't a smoker going in; you'd probably be one coming out after two years. There were also cases where entire sections were forced to puff cigarettes without using their hands, which was actually regarded as a more "amusing" form of torture.

As Lesley Lawson notes:

Tobacco giant Anton Rupert had provided massive financial and political support to the National Party, and in exchange there had been almost no control over the tobacco industry until 1993. Under the old dispensation, taxes and cigarette prices had fallen, and cigarettes consumption had increased steadily for three decades.

(Lesley Lawson: Side Effects: The Story of AIDS in South Africa. Double Storey: 2008. Page 90.)

a reply to: halfoldman

When I was in the US Navy, I was stationed in Florida. When I was working the Line crew we would have to go out at various times to launch and recover our helicopters. Some time it was 90-100 degrees F. out. When our LPO would call for people to go out there was a few who said "I just lit up." and someone else would go. Finally I said the hell with it and bought a pack of cigarettes. When they called for a launch or recovery I said that I had just lit up. At 80 cents a pack it was worth it. I never did smoke the things I just lit them. A few months later I was the LPO and I put names on the flight schedule for each launch and recovery and posted it. The first time someone said I just lit up, I said put the damn thing out and get out there.

Conversely, and more recently, United States Lt. Col. Dave Grossman wrote in On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace (2004) that while tobacco is a stimulant, it's also a blowtorch between your fingers, and thus unwanted in the field.
His only recommended use there-of is to stick some in your eye to stop you from falling asleep in an emergency.
(I know his book has raised controversy recently, and don't have the page number at present, but more details here:
en.wikipedia.org...(author).)

My trainer used cigarettes as an alarm-clock in the army.
Lie under your bunk-bed and snooze with a lit cigarette between your fingers, and when the coal burnt your skin it was time to wake-up!
No wonder the fire- bucket always had to be full and close at hand.

Ironically Hitler despised tobacco, and Nazi Germany made some of the first modern-type public non-smoking laws, although apparently his generals convinced him not to ban military smoking until after the war.

a reply to: Nyiah

I feel the same way about all te crap the TPTB want us deal with cause people are stupid for the kids sake I can strugle with opening my medications because of childproof lids. I raised my without them. I'm old and I've smoked for 30 years. Just do not care how I die. I've had a god long life, so I'm ready when my savior calls me home.

a reply to: justdust

"just do not care how I die. I've had a god long life, so I'm ready when my savior calls me home."

I agree with you there. The thing is that Liberal Socialists want to control your life. They have made people believe that you would be a drain on Society. That you would use up precious medical resources. That your medical expensed would burden the rest of us.

These same Liberal Socialists have put themselves between a rock and a hard place. One of the pushes against the Tobacco Industry was that they primarily supported Republicans. That's why they became a target. Do cigarettes cause Cancer? Who knows? I'm not saying that they don't, I'm not saying that they do, because Scientists don't know what causes Cancer. All they are doing is following trends.

Now they forced the Tobacco Industry in to a Settlement several years ago. It's on a payment plan. The Settlement is supposed to be used for medical care for people harmed by smoking. Yeah! Right! Some States have borrowed against those payments and what happened, tobacco use and sales have declined. They are not getting the money they thought they would.

Menthol cigarettes are a cover. Notice the war on vaping. Vapes are not covered under the Settlement. The States get no money from them. So what do they do, they attack vapes using the FDA and throw in Menthol cigarettes so they can say "it's to protect the children".

Mccarthyism disguised as healthcare; Spectacular!

originally posted by: Crowfoot
Mccarthyism disguised as healthcare; Spectacular!

With the way things are going these days McCarthy has to be laughing his a$$ off.

i hate menthols.


they will have to pry my boros from my cold dead hands.

i smoked reds for a couple yrs maybe then went to lights for the last 50 or so.

it pisses me off they are so expensive..