City Cigar reports (with source document) on the Canadian Government’s white paper “Potential measures for regulating the appearance, shape and size of tobacco packages and of tobacco products.” (Can you imagine a box of Behike 52s in plain wrapping? — it’s absolute fucking nonsense). While I’m no fan of ubiquitous marketing and branding tripe, these proposed measures are unduly irrelevant and consequently oppressive. This is yet another instantiation of regressive rationalistic bureaucratic overreach fuckwittery, a clear cut case of bad faith. Just because cigar smokers are, in the scheme of things, a small constituency and are typically of a docile and contemplative disposition, the bureaucraps are going after this soft target. Of course, this absolves them from dealing with more serious (actual and pressing) problems. Next thing ya know scotch (and other spirits) will be generically packaged a la Soviet style. Let’s face it, the booze (and especially the cigar) stores themselves in Canada are pretty much faceless entities now anyway. As a state monopoly the government liquor stores have no incentive to stock a decent range of single malts, bourbons and rums. Moreover, one of my cigar dealers has a poster of Churchill in classic cigar pose — except the cigar has been airbrushed out — and this is in the friggin shop.
manwithoutqualities 