How is whole leaf tobacco classified, tobacco product or agricultural commodity?

[LostInTheDesert]

Title says it all, how is whole leaf tobacco classified, tobacco product or agricultural commodity?

My understanding is that it is an ag commodity because it still has mid-rib, but legally could it be considered a 'tobacco product'?

 

[winston-smoker]

My understanding is also that it is an agricultural product, because it's unprocessed.

 

[FmGrowit]

This topic has been discussed before. Here's a link.

http://fairtradetobacco.com/showthread.php?45-Whole-leaf-law

The only thing I can add to this is some states think they have the right to regulate unprocessed tobacco. It will likely take a law suite to settle the matter.

 

[LostInTheDesert]

Thanks for the link, I did a search before opening a new thread but it didn't come up.

 

[FmGrowit]

No problem. Please feel free to continue the discussion here or in the older thread.

 

[LostInTheDesert]

My question comes from the lack of specifics in my states newest law restricting tobacco. It allows for pipe tobacco and cigar online purchases. It is allegedly aimed at stopping cigarette sales to minors.

It doesn't say anything about whole leaf and just says all other 'Tobacco products must be sold in a face to face transaction'. I would like to call but have no idea who to talk to about it, being familiar with bureaucracy, could speak with 10 people and get 10 different answers on how they interpret the law, biased by their personal view of smoking.

I don't have an attorney to refer this to and even if I did, the ambiguity in the text makes me think it would be left unanswered.

Don, I'm sending you an I.M.

 

[Knucklehead]

My question comes from the lack of specifics in my states newest law restricting tobacco. It allows for pipe tobacco and cigar online purchases. It is allegedly aimed at stopping cigarette sales to minors.

It doesn't say anything about whole leaf and just says all other 'Tobacco products must be sold in a face to face transaction'. I would like to call but have no idea who to talk to about it, being familiar with bureaucracy, could speak with 10 people and get 10 different answers on how they interpret the law, biased by their personal view of smoking.

I don't have an attorney to refer this to and even if I did, the ambiguity in the text makes me think it would be left unanswered.

Don, I'm sending you an I.M.

Tobacco products is processed tobacco. Once the midrib is removed, the leaf becomes a tobacco product and subject to the laws governing them. Shredded tobacco is a tobacco product. Etc. The laws have separated agricultural and manufacturing since forever for tax purposes.

 

[DonH]

Tobacco products is processed tobacco. Once the midrib is removed, the leaf becomes a tobacco product and subject to the laws governing them. Shredded tobacco is a tobacco product. Etc. The laws have separated agricultural and manufacturing since forever for tax purposes.

Yes, and it makes sense if you think about it. If whole leaf were a product, then the tobacco companies who buy it from farmers would have to pay tax on their raw materials.

 

[Knucklehead]

Yes, and it makes sense if you think about it. If whole leaf were a product, then the tobacco companies who buy it from farmers would have to pay tax on their raw materials.

The book "Making Tobacco Bright" goes into the details very well. The firm separation into agricultural and manufacturing came about as a response to all the changes that occurred to the industry after the Civil War. Mechanization, labor shift from slaves to tenant farmers and sharecroppers, a one year "agricultural calendar", how things were paid for, the relationship between buyers and sellers, etc. Before the war, there was a lot of overlap between growing and manufacturing. Some growers would derib, make twists, etc. I recommend the book if you can overlook the authors ignorance in regards to the science. The history parts are worth the reading.