Rihanna lights up: Singer snaps another photo of herself smoking

It's becoming increasingly evident that Rihanna doesn't want to be anyone's role model, just as she's said.
The "Diamonds" singer shared a photo of herself smoking what appeared to be a hand-rolled cigarette, along with a tweet that read: "You a real n----, then phuck wit me!"

No more cigarettes means 10 more years for women

A massive new study about smoking from the University of Oxford in the U.K. has reported breathtaking results. Doctors and researchers found the nasty effects associated with cigarettes years ago, but this study focused on the harms of smoking as well as the benefits of quitting. Putting aside the knowledge society has about cigarettes already, the findings of this study could serve as yet another motivation for smokers to quit.

One of the largest studies ever done on the subject, Sir Richard Peto - a professor at the University of Oxford - and his colleagues recruited 1.3 million women between 1996 and 2001, all of whom were born around the 1940s and had been smoking regularly throughout their lives. The participants were all between the ages of 50 and 65, and they each filled out questionnaires about their lifestyles, medical status, and sociodemographic factors. The researchers did follow-ups and resurveyed the participants three and eight years later.

At the beginning of the study, 20 percent of the women were smokers, while 28 percent had stop smoking and 52 percent never smoked. 66,000 of the participants had passed away by 2011. The study showed that the smokers who continued three years into the study were three times more likely to pass away in comparison to non-smokers and women that had quit before middle age. According to the researchers, this means that two-thirds of the deaths of female smokers in their 50s, 60s, and 70s are related to smoking.

The researchers also noted that while the death risk in smokers is elevated by the amount smoked, light smokers (one to nine cigarettes per day) were still twice as likely to pass away as nonsmokers, reports Natural News.

Cigarette prices up four percent Jan. 7

Massalin Particulares, the firm that sells Marlboro, Philip Morris and Benson and Hedges among others in the country, will implement a four percent increase in its cigarette prices today, so as to meet with its revenue targets for 2013.

Smokers are failing to quit within first 24 hours

Almost one in five smokers who have tried to kick the habit failed within 24 hours and more than half lasted less than a week, according to a poll of 6,200 current or former smokers.

The average smoker tried to quit four times, and one in 10 unsuccessfully tried 10 times.

But despite the repeated failures, 45% of smokers think about giving up smoking every day.

Three in five (60%) plan to stub out their last cigarette in January, according to the survey on behalf of Pfizer's Don't Go Cold Turkey campaign.

The campaign aims to encourage smokers to talk to healthcare workers about how they plan to quit.

London-based GP Dr Sarah Jarvis said: "As a GP, my main aim is to get people to look at leading healthier lifestyles and one of the most important of these is stopping smoking, according to The Independent.

"I'm aware that the vast majority of people who do smoke are either desperate to quit or have tried and failed in the past.

"I want those who are motivated to quit to consider that there is support available and that even a brief conversation with their healthcare professional or local stop smoking service can increase their chances of success by up to four times, compared to going cold turkey."

JTI Supporting La Scala in Italy

La Scala Opera House in Milan has both a global cultural reputation for ballet as well as opera, and a rich,
colourful history.

It first opened its doors in 1778 with a work by Salieri. It has survived, among other things, the hazards of candle and oil lighting, artistic differences (most famously with another composer, Verdi) and even bombing during the Second World War.

In 2010 the museum began a program of expansion for which JTI is providing long-term support. This is part of the company’s commitment to forming and sustaining cultural partnerships, with particular emphasis on exceptional museum and musical programs.

"JTI’s relationship with La Scala began in September 2009, when we helped organize a tour of the Orchestra of La Scala in Japan, and continues today with support of both the Museum and the main events of the Theatre’s opera season".

JTI has already been involved in various exhibitions at the museum. Looking forward, 2013 marks the museum’s centenary, as well as the bicentenary of Verdi’s birth. The opera house resolved its artistic dispute with Verdi during the composer’s lifetime and is looking forward to creating a special celebration around his work, according to Japan Tobacco International.

Are electronic cigarettes actually bad for you?

A new study from Germany suggest that eCigarettes often thought to be a healthier alternative to tobacco ones may not be safe after all.  Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research WKI, in Braunschweig, conducted a study to find out whether e-cigarettes polluted the surrounding air. The results of the study pointed to discharged solid particles remaining in the surrounding air for a considerable time.

Compared to conventional cigarettes, which constantly emit smoke as the tobacco burns, the electronic equivalent only releases volatile substances when it is turned on. But that is not the only difference between the two stimulants, as the WKI researchers observed. ‘In the e-cigarette, vaporised substances create an aerosol of ultrafine particles which become even finer when inhaled into the lungs. These tiny nanodroplets disperse over time,’ said Dr Tobias Schripp, scientist at Fraunhofer WKI and study co-author.

‘Conversely, the combustion process discharges solid particles that can remain in the surrounding air for a considerable time,’ said Schripp. An e-cigarette comprises battery, atomizer, heating coil and a reservoir for the liquids used for producing vapour. The mechanism is activated either by pressing a button or by suction. Liquids come with or without nicotine, and also contain aromas and flavours like amaretto, almond, vanilla or apple. These liquids are heated up in the atomizer and vaporized at between 65 and 120 degrees Celsius. Propylene glycol is the most usual solvent; it produces the atomized mist that resembles smoke, according to a Fraunhofer statement, Health.India.com stated. An estimated two million people in Germany have already turned to the vapour cigarette.

Framingham State University aims to be tobacco-free by 2013

Following the lead of hundreds of other campuses across the country, Framingham State University plans to be tobacco-free by next year, according to school officials.

But the details of that campus-wide ban on cigarettes, chewing tobacco and similar products are still up in the air, as an ad hoc committee responsible for developing the policy introduces its preliminary draft to students and staff.

"There's still lots of things to work out," said Vice President of Academic Affairs Linda Vaden-Goad, who presented the latest plan, based on policies at other colleges and universities, to students at a campus meeting on Monday.

Some of the concerns raised by the dozen or so students who attended that forum include the safety of smokers who would be forced to indulge their habit off-campus; how the policy would be enforced; and whether a campus-wide ban encroaches upon the civil rights of those who study and work at the university.
"I don't want a tobacco-free campus. We shouldn't be enforcing our moral values on other people," said freshman Michael Reda, who was critical of the tentative plan to prohibit use of smokeless tobacco products in particular.

Reda added it seemed "hypocritical" of the school to ban those in the name of health when it also sells caffeine-loaded energy drinks.

In response to other criticisms that the draft policy goes too far in eradicating tobacco from campus - even cigarette company apparel would be off-limits - Vaden-Goad said the committee purposely made the document broad so students and staff "could see what everybody across the country is doing," according to MetroWest Daily News.

Research looks at smoking addition among teens

Adolescents as young as 12 do smoke, and researchers have found that the sooner they do so upon waking in the morning, the more addicted they may be.

Branstetter — whose research focuses on youth tobacco use; tobacco cessation; and the influence of family, peers and social context in adolescent behavior teamed up with Joshua Muscat, professor of public health sciences at Penn State, to examine data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The team narrowed the survey participants down to 220 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 who were regular smokers. The researchers’ goal was to examine the relationship between time to first cigarette, the number of cigarettes smoked per day, and blood levels of continine, a metabolite of nicotine.

The team found that the time to first cigarette was significantly correlated with several smoking behaviors, including the number of cigarettes smoked per day, the time since the last cigarette and having a family member who smokes at home, informs Centre Daily News.

“Most importantly, we found that a shorter time between waking and having the first cigarette of the day is a strong indicator of nicotine uptake, as defined by serum continine levels, in adolescents,” said Branstetter. “In other words, adolescents who smoke sooner after waking up in the morning tend to inhale more deeply and more thoroughly, which is why they have higher levels of continine in their blood. And these kids who take in more nicotine per cigarette may be more dependent on nicotine — regardless of the number of cigarettes they smoke per day.”

According to the researchers, compared with adults, adolescent smokers tend to be lighter smokers overall, are less likely to inhale when they smoke and are less likely to smoke when they are ill. Nevertheless, even adolescent smokers who smoke less than five cigarettes a day or who are nondaily smokers experience dependence and withdrawal symptoms at very high rates.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2012/11/25/3414224/research-looks-at-smoking-addition.html#storylink=cpy

Salt Lake City airport’s smoking areas don’t protect non-smokers

 As Shane Lenz, of Tooele, puffs a cigarette before flying to New Orleans for Thanksgiving, he explains why he likes the special smoking rooms at Salt Lake City International Airport — especially since almost all other airports nationally totally ban smoking indoors.

"The findings in today’s report further confirm that ventilated smoking lounges and designated smoking areas are not effective," said Tim McAfee, director of CDC’s Office of Smoking and Health. "Prohibiting smoking in all indoor areas is the only effective way to fully eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke."

The CDC study found that at the five large hub airports in America that still allow some smoking — in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Denver, Atlanta and Washington Dulles — air pollution levels caused by secondhand smoke are five times higher than in airports that ban smoking. Inside designated smoking areas, the pollution levels average 23 times higher.

The CDC noted that while Utah law bans smoking in indoor workplaces and public areas, the law specifically exempts Salt Lake City International Airport. It even bans smoking at smaller airport terminals in the state.

Annual ‘Great American Smokeout’ is Nov. 15

Every year, on the third Thursday of November, the Great American Smokeout draws attention to the deaths and chronic diseases caused by smoking. This year, on Nov. 15, smokers nationwide are challenged to stop using tobacco for 24 hours in the hope they might make the decision to quit smoking forever and increase their chance for better health and a longer life.

The Tobacco Action Coalition of the Finger Lakes (TACFL) partners with the American Lung Association and local Public Health Departments to educate the community about the dangers of tobacco use and prevent people from ever starting to smoke, reports MPNnow.com.

Tobacco farmers expect Philip Morris to announce station closure

For decades, Greene County boasted the biggest burley hauls in the state. But by 2010, the county had slipped to sixth as fewer and fewer farms cultivated the cash crop.

The Philip Morris receiving station in Midway (also called Tennessee Valley Tobacco Services) still takes in 6,000,000 pounds of burley tobacco a year -- most of it from Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, TriCities reports.

"It will be roughly $10.5 million in sales lost if this receiving station closes," Jonathan Cavin said.

Cavin, of Cavin Farms, said 138 farmers use the station. They're worried Philip Morris -- and parent company Altria Group -- will close it and direct shipments 175 miles north to Danville, Kentucky.

"Tobacco is something that's been passed down from generation to generation through our family," he said. "My great grandfather bought the main farm that my father and grandfather live on with tobacco money from the Great Depression."

Altria called farmers last Friday and invited them to a company-hosted meeting at the General Morgan Inn in Greenville this Friday at noon.  Hotel staff said that meeting is closed to the press.

Danville Economic Development Partnership CEO Jody Lassiter said the Philip Morris receiving station there (also called Danville Tobacco Services) opened last year. He described it as one of the most efficient facilities of its kind.

"It's a 50,000 square foot warehouse, previously an industrial facility, and they've done a lot of interior work this year," Lassiter said. "Drivers drive through, unload, and drive out."

Lassiter said the Danville station could easily handle an additional 6,000,000 pounds of tobacco a year.
 

Anti tobacco case taken up for hearing

A petition filed in the Court of Appeal requesting the Health Minister or the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol to fully implement the regulations prescribed in the Tobacco products labelling and packaging gazette without prejudice to Parliament was taken up for hearing on October 22. The Bench constituting of Justice Sisira de Abrew and Justice Sunil Rajapakse issued notice to the respondents returnable on November 12.

The petitioner is Jayasuriya Hewage Sirimal Pathmasiri a resident of Polgasowita. The respondents cited are Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, The National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol and the Attorney General. The petition inter alia states that tobacco amongst other health hazards causes cancer, heart risks and impotency.

Eighty per cent of cancer patients are smokers, statistics reveal. The Mahinda Chinthanaya Mathata Thitha has referred the perils of alcohol. The relief prayed for is to grant/issue a mandate in the nature of a writ of mandamus directing the first respondent or the second respondent to fully implement the regulations without prejudice to Parliament powers.

Missouri tobacco tax gains three new supporters

cheapcigsreview.blogspot.com - cheap cigarettes online.

On November 6th Missouri voters will decide whether or not to raise the state's tobacco tax. Leaders in health, business and education in the state have joined forces to support that effort. Right now the state has the lowest tobacco tax in the country.

Attempts to raise the tax by smaller amounts in 2002 and 2006 failed. If voters approve the tax increase education officials hope to get access to close to $300 million dollars in revenue that would be used to support public schools.

Imperial Tobacco earnings rise 8 pct

Imperial Tobacco, the world's fourth largest cigarette group, reported an 8 percent rise in annual earnings, helped by strong revenue growth from its key brands. The British firm, which sells over 340 billion cigarettes annually of brands such as Davidoff, Gauloises, JPS and West, on Tuesday said adjusted earnings rose to 201.0 pence a share for the year to end-September, ahead of a company-compiled consenus of 199.6 pence.

It raised the annual dividend by 11 percent to 105.6 pence a share, boosting its payout ratio from earnings to 52.5 percent. Revenue rose 4 percent to 7.0 billion pounds, however, reflecting the group's aim to counter Europe's downturn by offering economy-brand cigarettes, such as JPS, Lambert & Butler and roll-your-own products, while also raising prices for more affluent consumers in western Europe and the United States.

We see significant growth opportunities in our rest of the world region across Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East and Asia-Pacific and we'll continue to invest to support sustainable growth, the firm said in a statement. Overall stick equivalent volumes declined 2.7 percent in the period due to tough markets in Poland, Ukraine and compliance with international trade sanctions against Syria.

Its four key brands -- upmarket Davidoff, mid-priced Gauloises Blondes and value brands West and JPS -- saw annual volumes increase 7 percent. Its Gold Leaf and Golden Virginia fine cut business volumes were stable, it added. In Spain, where high unemployment and government austerity measures have hit the market, the group said it would take a non-cash impairment charge of 1.2 billion pounds during the year due to the macro economic indicators.

UCLA first UC campus to impose smoking ban

The University of California is banning smoking on its 10 campuses in 2014, but UCLA has decided to go tobacco free this spring. Cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco will be prohibited on the UCLA campus starting April 22.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block says in a news release that his goal is to become the nation's healthiest college campus. The ban is designed to promote community well-being through research, education, nutrition and exercise, among other things. Tobacco users will have access to various resources to help them quit, including a free nicotine replacement starter kit.

UCLA campus to become tobacco-free zone

The UCLA campus will become a smoke- and tobacco- free zone beginning in April, Chancellor Gene Block announced today, following through on a request by the president of the University of California system. The policy will take effect on Earth Day, April 22, Block said. It will ban the use of all tobacco products, along with electronic cigarettes, on the UCLA campus and at any sites owned or leased by the university.

"Tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke remain the leading causes of preventable disease and death worldwide," Block wrote in a letter to the UCLA community. "A draft of the tobacco-free policy will be available for review by students, faculty and staff beginning Nov. 15. We also plan to ensure that tobacco users in our community have access to a variety of free and low- cost support services, in addition to those provided by health insurance, to help them." According to UCLA, the university is the first in the UC system to announce plans to ban tobacco products, although more than 800 colleges across the country have enacted similar policies.

UC President Mark Yudof previously requested that all campuses in the system adopt a tobacco-free policy. UCLA created a Tobacco-Free Steering Committee, which recommended the policy to Block and will develop an implementation plan, according to the university. Linda Sarna, a UCLA nursing professor and chair of the campus' Academic Senate, said tobacco bans on other university campuses have led to an increase in the number of people who quit smoking.

"The world is changing," she said. "People didn't used to wear seatbelts or bike helmets, and they used to smoke in airplanes and restaurants. But we know more than we did in the 1950s and we have to act. We have a responsibility to the health of our campus, and this is the right thing to do." She said the university will work with the county Department of Public Health to offer free two-week starter kits for smokers who want to quit.

Ark. marijuana proposal could lead to local fights

If Arkansas voters approve a ballot issue that would make the state the first in the South to legalize medical marijuana, the move could set off a new series of fights in cities and counties over how to deal with the measure's impact. The proposal on next Tuesday's ballot calls for allowing patients with qualifying conditions to buy marijuana from nonprofit dispensaries with a doctor's recommendation, but local governments also could ban the facilities. Local officials opposed to the measure are exploring that as a backup plan, but also say they're worried it could lead to a proliferation of home-grown marijuana.

That's because while the proposal allows local governments to restrict the dispensaries, they cannot prohibit another part of the measure that would allow qualifying patients to grow their own marijuana if they live more than five miles away from a dispensary. "The ability to grow six marijuana plants could make this more pervasive in our society than the dispensaries themselves. I think each jurisdiction, each county would have to look at that question," said Chris Villines, executive director of the Association of Arkansas Counties, a group opposed to the measure. "Do you want the dispensaries or do you want to have a more ubiquitous growing operation across your county?" Supporters of the medical marijuana proposal say they wanted to allow local governments to have some say over the number of dispensaries, but didn't want to render the law moot by allowing them to prohibit patients from growing themselves.

Chris Kell, campaign strategist for Arkansans for Compassionate Care, said he believes counties would rather allow the dispensaries so they could have some oversight rather than banning them outright. "It's going to be treated the same way alcohol is now," Kell said. Forty of Arkansas' 75 counties ban alcohol sales, but allow exceptions for private clubs. Kell thinks it would be counterproductive for local governments to ban the dispensaries, and said most patients would prefer going to them rather than growing their own marijuana. Health conditions that would qualify under the proposal include cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana in some way.

Arkansas' proposal faces an uphill fight in next week's election, even though backers have enjoyed a wide fundraising advantage. Many of the state's top elected officials, including Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, are opposed to the measure. More than half the voters surveyed in a University of Arkansas poll released last week said they were opposed to the proposal. The annual Arkansas Poll, taken Oct. 9-14, surveyed 800 people and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. That polling has meant many mayors and city officials aren't yet making plans to restrict or prohibit the dispensaries.

The county association and the Arkansas Municipal League say they haven't yet heard from local governments seeking guidance on what to do if the measure passes. "They haven't gone to Plan B because they don't think it will pass," said Don Zimmerman, the municipal league's executive director. The league hasn't taken a formal position on the measure, but its public safety advisory council has opposed it, Zimmerman said. Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, a former local prosecutor, is among those who are skeptical of the proposal.

He said he will look at any restrictions the city can enact if voters approve it. One of the chief opponents of the measure, Jerry Cox, said if the proposal passes, he will make it his priority to encourage the state Legislature to repeal the law. That would require a two-thirds vote in both the state House and Senate. Cox, who heads the Family Council Action Committee, said he also will likely lobby local governments to ban the dispensaries. "What you're dealing with is varying degrees of bad," he said. "Letting people grow their own and having dispensaries is worse than if we didn't have the dispensaries."

Electronic Cigarette Manufacturer KIMREE Will Hold Halloween Party

The annual Halloween is coming. KIMREE as NO.1 in electronic cigarette manufacturers will hold a Halloween party on the evening of October 31. Then all kinds of Halloween party elements will come on stage one by one, for example, masked ball, DIY pumpkin lantern and so on, which will open your scream trip in KIMREE. KIMREE has prepared 500 Halloween electronic cigarettes and 500 pumpkin lanterns for this activity.

When you take part in the KIMREE Halloween party, you will get an electronic cigarette or a small Jack-o'-lantern. First come first served. Just give until out of stock. KIMREE also prepare lovely candy for children. On the afternoon of October 31, electronic cigarette manufacturer KIMREE’S CEO, CMO and other many senior leaders will take part in DIY pumpkin carving activities with workers on the scene.

In the evening, the KIMREE Halloween party will officially start! You can invite your families or friends to enjoy this rare relaxed time after disguise yourselves, unloading the pressure or serious face, enjoying fully your scream trip. You also can change into a new Halloween modeling or add a tattoo design of playing tricks.

No smoke without fire? Tobacco lobby mystery shakes Brussels

A shady Maltese lobbyist, Sweden's substitute for snuff, robberies against anti-smoking groups: the resignation of the EU's top health official in a tobacco-linked "whodunnit" is shaking up Brussels. The EU's executive pledged Monday that a fraud probe involving the outgoing health and consumer commissioner, John Dalli -- who handed in his resignation last week -- would not slow, or kill, key tobacco legislation drafted by his services in the interests of public health. "The review of the Tobacco Products Directive is on the commission's agenda for this year," said European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly.

"As soon as we have a new commissioner he will be able to proceed." Anti-tobacco groups see Dalli's almost unprecedented resignation from the commission as the latest hitch in months of efforts to review the European Union's decade-old legislation on tobacco. "The long wait for Commission proposals on tobacco products is becoming a never-ending story," said Matthias Groote of the Smoke Free Partnership (SFP). "This important legislation has been delayed time and time again." The SFP is one of two anti-smoking groups whose Brussels offices were broken into by intruders last week. It said police were investigating the incident.

"There was relevant and sensitive information stolen concerning the tobacco directive and industry," said Javier Delgado Riviera of the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA), the other target. February proposals by ex-commissioner Dalli aimed to make cigarette packaging less attractive while tightening regulations on flavourings in cigarettes -- said to appeal to teenage girls -- as well as on smoke-free products, such as snuff and electronic cigarettes.

Dalli, who is from Malta, quit Tuesday after the EU fraud office OLAF said a Maltese entrepreneur used his contacts with the commissioner to seek a bribe from a Swedish firm in return for changes to the tobacco legislation, "in particular on the EU export ban on snus". Snus, or Swedish snuff, is a moist powder tobacco originating from dry snuff. Though its sale is illegal across the EU, it is manufactured and used in Sweden, which has an exemption, and Norway, which is not an EU member.

The European Union executive has temporarily replaced Dalli, and on Monday the president of the 27-person commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, cleared Malta's proposal to replace him with Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, the first step in a possible nomination. Meanwhile, Dalli claimed to have been framed by the tobacco industry and sacrificed by Barroso without being offered the benefit of the doubt. "I did not offer my resignation but you demanded for it," he wrote in a letter released by the New Europe website. "I did not get 24 hours to contact a lawyer or family but only 30 minutes," he said. "My right to presumption of innocence was breached."

The commission spokesman insisted however that Dalli was "presumed innocent until proved guilty" and said: "If there is a legal follow-up, that is up to the Maltese." Swedish Match, the company that tipped off Brussels over allegations of corruption, said Friday it was offered the opportunity to pay 60 million euros ($78 million) to thwart the new EU tobacco legislation. "I can say that those are the amounts we are talking about, and I'd also like to stress that for us the amount of money does not matter," company spokesman Patrik Hildingsson told AFP last week.

He said the payment to a Maltese businessman with links to Dalli would have been made in two installments, with 10 million euros due before new legislation was enacted and the remaining 50 million euros to be paid when the new rules were in place. Corruption watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory said the case should serve as a wake-up call to the commission to tighten up rules on lobbying. "The European Commission is the focus of intense lobbying, and many business lobbyists benefit from easy access and close contact," it said. "This opens the door to the potential for corruption."

Falling tobacco sales burn out BAT price hikes

PRICE rises from British American Tobacco (BAT) have failed to stem the effects of falling cigarette sales this year, as the FTSE 100 firm saw turnover fall in the last nine months. The company, which makes the Lucky Strike, Dunhill, Kent and Pall Mall brands, said tax hikes in Brazil and currency fluctuations were to blame for the one per cent fall in revenue in the year to date.

BAT also said declining sales in Japan had been a big factor. However, BAT’s four main brands continued to do very well, with Lucky Strike volume sales rising 14 per cent on the same nine-month period last year. Chief executive Nicandro Durante said: “Economic recovery remains fragile this year and difficult trading conditions persist in many parts of the world. “However, pricing remains strong, we are growing underlying market share and our global drive brands continue to perform well.”

Shares in the world’s second-largest tobacco firm stayed fairly flat yesterday, as the company’s results were largely as expected and reflected a trend seen in much of the rest of the industry. “The decline is attributable to reduced industry volumes and a tough comparative period, and the company expects a better volume performance in the next quarter,” said tobacco analyst Damian McNeela at Panmure Gordon.

BAT said it has seen the biggest growth in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan and had benefited from its $452m (£282m) purchases of Colombian cigarette maker Protabaco, but that this was offset by the falls in Japan and Brazil, as well as Italy, Turkey and Egypt. Revenue was four per cent up when currency changes were stripped out.