Smokeshop magazine provides a comprehensive calendar of industry events, including the upcoming TPE show this month and the IPCPR show in July. Click here for a PDF version of the calendar. We look forward to seeing you at various events throughout the year.

For questions and/or comments, please contact Bryan …

Twas four nights before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except staffers at the White House. That’s right, at 3 p.m. on Friday, December 21, 2012, the last business day before Christmas, the White House finally released its Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan, which included coal in the stocking in the form of more regulations for tobacco companies.

On December 18th, 17 states and the manufacturer-signatories to the Master Settlement Agreement announced a settlement of the manufacturers’ claims that the states failed to satisfy their obligations to “diligently enforce” non-signatories’ escrow requirements.

R.J. Reynolds recently filed a federal lawsuit accusing an e-cigarette merchant of trademark infringement. R.J. Reynolds accused the company of unfair competition and dilution under the Lanham Act based on the company’s alleged use of the Camel and Winston cigarette brand names to describe the company’s e-cigarettes. R.J. Reynolds claimed that the competitor advertised “Winston” and “Camell” flavors on its website.

In an apparent response to a recent court ruling that disapproved of FDA’s requirements for graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, FDA recently announced that it will be collecting data geared toward ascertaining the effectiveness of the warning labels, particularly on smoking cessation.

In a recent “Notice to Cigarette Distributors Selling in New Mexico,” the New Mexico Attorney General announced that “effective immediately” all distributors must stop selling any product marked as a “small” or “little” cigar unless the product listed is in the state cigarette directory. Since no little cigars are currently listed in the Attorney General’s directory, the notice is an immediate, de facto ban on the product. The notice also purports to require that all little cigars must bear state excise stamps in the same manner as cigarettes.