No more mail order cigars!

[SewerRanger]

The title pretty much sums this one up. The Maryland Legislature passed a bill at the end of last years session that just went into effect the other day. Among various cigar tax legislation (which I agree with) was this gem:

Persons in the business of selling or distributing OTPs [Other Tobacco Products - cigars] may not sell or ship any OTP that is ordered or purchased by mail, over the telephone, Internet, or other electronic network to unlicensed recipients. Persons that sell or distribute OTPs in this manner are guilty of a felony, may be fined up to $50 per package of OTPs illegally sold, and/or imprisoned for up to two years.

You can read the full bill here: http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/fnote...008/hb0088.pdf

Needless to say, I'm slightly angry about this and will be contacting my local state AG and comptroller. Since when did Maryland decided to going back to a pre-internet retail model become a good idea? I can't think of a dumber idea then to pass a law that restricts your choices as a consumer. If you live in Maryland and are as pissed about this as I am, then you need to contact your local rep and complain. You can find who to contact at this site: http://mdelect.net/electedofficials. It also wouldn't hurt to complain to Attorney General Douglas Gansler. His office number is 410-576-6300. Just give him a call and (politely) tell him you oppose HB 88.

[KevKaos]

Not a cigar (or cigarette) smoker, but I agree with you. Where does this madness end. Maryland appears to be moving backwards rather than forward. What next, a return of the Sunday blue laws? Or maybe they decide that you shouldn't be able to order anything over the Internet any longer. Face it, it's all about the taxes that Maryland isn't getting when things are mail/phone/Internet ordered. I'm sure some fatcat (who probably only smokes illegal Cuban cigars) thought this was a great idea.

[blucher]

PA taxes were so high I bought my cigs from a NY Indian tribe for a year but the gubmint began cracking down.

[SewerRanger]

I don't know what caused this. They're not even predicting much in the way of revenue from it - $17,000/year with an upfront cost of $72,000. That means they're not even going to see any money from it for about half a decade. There's been such an uproar over this that the comptroller is already talking about introducing a measure to exempt premium cigars (hand rolled). Apparently the bill was aimed at the "black market" for machine rolled (dutch master, swisher sweets, etc) cigars and chewing tobacco. I didn't even know that such a thing existed, but apparently it does.