DOT ruling: DIY Cigarette Revenue Goes up in Smoke

Traveling on route two, from the Marblehead Peninsula to Sandusky takes five dollars worth of gas. Hopefully making more than one stop while there justifies five dollars cost for a thirty two mile round trip. 

While cutting through Sandusky, Bruce Springsteen’s, “My Home Town” plays on the radio. The minor keyed tune portrays a factory town he remembers as thriving in a by gone day. Similar memories linger throughout my hometown not too far away. Sandusky is kind of like this, too.  Streets form diagonal routes past and around factories splayed throughout a warehouse district all but abandoned.  Little shops and cafes that resemble cottages are dotted throughout.  Learning the different routes of this lake's edge town is how I found the "Cheap Tobacco Store."  It's the best place around to buy incense.

Situated next to one of those instant money places; next door is an auto parts dealership and sprawling parking lot. Upon entering the variety cigarette store called “Cheap Tobacco,” I hear a rhythmic muffled clatter.  I see a big wooden box that’s thundering with the sounds of industry. A viewing window in the big box reveals a nebulous ball of tobacco whirling and transforming into the end product – cigarettes.  The operator is a customer.

The store owner is always friendly and conversational.  Giving the scoop on roll-your-own cigarettes, she was pleased by the extra revenue it brought her. More than being cheaper, this kind of tobacco lacks the addictive chemicals that are in ready made ordinary smokes.  Commercial companies deny adding extra substances, though.

In Florida I’d seen another store like this with a picture window view and three roll-your-own machines inside.  Whenever I’d go shopping at Beall’s outlet, I could see the cigarette place was quite busy.

The next trip to Sandusky, I made the stop at “Cheap Tobacco.” The silence was too tranquil.  The wooden cigarette machine shoved next to the wall bore a sign written with big magic marker letterin. The memo registered as non sequitur:

“Sorry for the inconvenience, this machine has been closed down by the government”

What’s the government got to do with it?  I’m wondering, so I asked the proprietor.

“Obama closed it down,” she said.

“What do you mean Obama closed it?” 

“He signed a department of transportation bill declaring what we are doing here is illegal manufacturing.” 

I immediately mentioned the store in Florida that only provided tobacco and the use of the rolling machines.  This DOT ruling would put them completely out of business.

The mystery of what the transportation department has to do with manufacturing is yet unraveled.  I always wondered how government officials had the time to read all the bills that pass across their desktops.  I figured, our president hurried through the reading and signed the bill.  He wouldn’t allow democracy to be smeared like this, would he?

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