As you guys probably know there are some onerous new EU regulations coming into force on November 19th.
How does that affect us?
Well, I just got off the phone with Dave at Sharrow Mills (Wilsons) and they will be discontinuing 70 of their 97 flavors. You read that correctly.
Worse: ALL the F&T tubes, both the 25g and the 50g, will disappear and the flavors offered in the rinky dink little tins will be reduced to a couple of the best sellers.
According to Dave it will be a very similar story with SG and GH snuffs, though I have yet to confirm. I will let you know.
I spent a long time trying to convince him that he could keep selling to me "for export only" which means that I would at least be able to continue selling outside the EU, but he did not seemed convinced. I do have another evil plan up my sleeve which I will share at a later date if I can pull it off.
However for now we have to assume the worst.
I am waiting for a list of the discontinued snuffs which I will post here. We have a very small window of opportunity to stock up on soon to be non-existent snuffs. He will no longer be able to ship them to me after the 19th and they all have to be sold by May17th of next year.
I would greatly appreciate your input as to what you are interested in (when I post the list) so I can put in a sensible last order. Should I get any discount, I will pass it along to you guys. I consider it 'our' discount for being stand up folks who are helping Wilsons' out with their problem of having redundant barrels of snuff sitting in their warehouse.
The only bright side of this is that Roderick (Toque) and I have had several lengthy conversations about this and he will have no problem continuing to supply me for export.We will do this until they tell us we can't.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Trust me though, I will find a way round this if there is one.
Dave
Comments
Damn.
I'm not gonna be in position to stock-up until January at the soonest.
Damn small minded politicians and their paternalistic views. In a world ripped with war, famine, and even slavery still existing in places, how did a legal agricultural crop get demonized and have such a focus of prohibitory law?
Why must tobacco loving ADULTS be treated like criminals?
Are the mills hoping to return to snuff manufacture once England exits the EU?
mills in Germany and other EU nations will be equally impacted?
Also, could someone describe the most important specifics of the new law?
Thank you for updating us on all this Dave. I hope that there will eventually be a "reawakening" once we finally manage to sack the bastards in Brussels.
The original post is dated 11th November, is this 2016 or an old post?
Can someone tell me what are the proposed changes, as this is the first that I have heard of anything so drastic as discontinuing so many products?
I know that my tins of F&T and S.G. have no weights, volumes or lists of ingredients or "E numbers" printed on them .
Could this be the problem. If it is, when do we stop. I can't remember the last time I bought a bag of fish and chips with the weight, volume of gravy, E numbers in the mushy peas and UK Government Health Warning telling you Fatty Foods kill stamped on the chip wrappers.
Can anyone tell me what is happening please ?
"I wish to bring to your attention a situation I have become aware of regarding the EU Tobacco Products Directive. It seems this Directive in it's current form is all set to destroy the UK snuff industry.
Nasal snuff seems antiquated to many, and indeed is the oldest form of consuming tobacco, but it is also the least harmful. As far as I am aware, there have been no fatalities attributed to snuff in it's 400+ year history. Many people are moving to ecigarettes for harm reduction and support in quitting smoking, but I managed to quit earlier this year with the help of snuff. I had tried by using ecigs and failed. Snuff was a huge support for me to break my addiction, and is still part of keeping me off cigarettes. Speaking to other snuff users, it is clear that I am not alone, and others too have moved from the unknown health aspects of vape, to the more certain harm reduction of snuff.
Snuff is mainly produced by SMEs, from the worlds oldest working snuff mill in Sheffield (established 1737), and the old Gawith mills in Kendal, to the newer companies like McCrystals in the Midlands and Toque in Berwick. There are other brands and artisan makers too, all striving for high quality product, keeping the old industry alive, and providing an alternative to smoking since the first British smoking ban in the House of Commons in 1693.
The EU's TPD looks set to destroy this. After talking to manufacturers, it seems that the registration costs for these products, which are based around Big Tobacco operating systems, could be upwards of 10x the entire turnover of these small businesses. Even if they cut their wide range of harm reduction products down to a bare minimum, there is only a very slim chance that the industry could survive. This would not just be a disaster for the businesses themselves, but for all the "forgotten" snuff users who enjoy their products. Remember, the snuff users are forgotten, because we're NOT getting ill with cancers, emphysema, and a whole range of other smoking related illnesses.
One Dutch snuff mill has already hung up their overalls, and closed the doors. We need your intervention to prevent all the UK mills following suit. We must preserve this industry, not just for those who profit, or all the employees who are set to lose their jobs, but for all those whose health is greatly improved by this important alternative to combustible tobacco products. We need this quickly too. It had been generally understood that snuff was not going to be one of the products affected, but this not looks like it is not the case.
Please respond immediately in whatever way is appropriate, to protect these businesses, and to protect us users from falling back into the clutches of more harmful products."
Sarah Champion MP
Mike Hookem MEP
Richard Corbett MEP
Amjad Bashir MEP
Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate MEP
Linda McAvan MEP
Jane Collins MEP