But it's Miami, with its large Cuban expatriate population, that controls about 90 percent of the $300-million premium cigar industry most threatened by the tax. Florida's first-term Republican senator has been nudged front and center in a debate that hit the national stage last week: The proposed federal cigar tax that could raise the price of a premium smoke by as much as $10. The Democratic-controlled Congress wants an extra $35-billion to reauthorize the state children's health...

But Van Houten, a member of an IBM sports marketing team, believes this haven will quickly disappear if Congress passes a sharp increase in the excise tax on cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products. Cigar folks say the tax would double or triple the cost of a hand-rolled cigar and crush retail operators such as Lee, whose store is tucked in a shopping center on the northwest corner of Old Apex Road and Cary Parkway. Two or three times a week, John Van Houten lugs his laptop and mini...

Participants were divided into four groups - cannabis smokers, combined cannabis and tobacco smokers, tobacco smokers, and non-smokers, and gave them a questionnaire on their smoking habits. A single cannabis joint could damage the lungs as much as smoking up to five tobacco cigarettes one after another, scientists in New Zealand have said. Cannabis smokers were included if they had smoked at least one joint per day for at least five years, while tobacco smokers had to have smoked 20...

Attention: Health/Medical Editor, News Editor OTTAWA--(Marketwire - July 31, 2007) - Responding to the way in which tobacco companies have implemented a voluntary agreement to ban misleading words on cigarette packages, a group of Canadian doctors is calling for tougher measures based in law. Attention: Health/Medical Editor, News Editor OTTAWA--(Marketwire - July 31, 2007) - Responding to the way in which tobacco companies have implemented a voluntary agreement to ban misleading words on...

This year s bumper maize harvest has significantly improved household food security, and most households are now relying on their own production from the current harvest. Production of other crops, except tobacco, is estimated to have increased as well. Both tobacco and cotton, two major income sources for farmers, are fetching good prices, and this might act as an incentive for farmers to produce more of these crops in the next growing season. According to the recent Malawi Vulnerability...