“Northwest News: DIY tobacco lets smokers save money, afford more smokes; Idaho considers ban on 'bath salts used a ...”

Northwest News: DIY tobacco lets smokers save money, afford more smokes; Idaho considers ban on 'bath salts used a ...

Posted: 07 Feb 2011 09:20 AM PST

Published: Monday, February 07, 2011, 9:20 AM Updated: Monday, February 07, 2011, 10:18 AM

Welcome to the work week.

We here at Pacific Northwest News feel exactly as you do about Mondays, so let's get right down to business. First, though, you know how things work here, right?

We scour newspapers, television networks, and online magazines for articles of interest to folks around the Pacific Northwest. Then we collect snippets of articles (below in italics) from our fellow reporters for you to enjoy. So read up, click over and then come back and share your thoughts with your peeps on OregonLive. And it probably bears mentioning that we prefer comments that wouldn't lead to the kind of mea culpa delivered last week when a local paper outed a nasty commenter as Portland real estate broker Brian Owendoff. Let's kindly treat each other with respect here.

Our first news item comes from Idaho, where lawmakers are considering a ban on a synthetic cocaine marketed at local paraphernalia shops and online as "bath salts." The Idaho Statesman reports on the phenom:

Idaho lawmakers Monday will look at legislation banning the drug sometimes called "synthetic cocaine" and sold at local paraphernalia shops and over the Internet.

The drug is manufactured using a variety of chemicals that haven't had FDA or other testing because it is marketed as bath salts, potpourri or plant fertilizer. But the canisters — which sell for roughly $30 for the equivalent of two sugar packets — are used for a dangerous legal high.

The next newsclip comes to us from The Kitsap Sun, which tells readers about a do-it-yourself cigarette shop in Port Orchard. That's right: shoppers buy the loose tobacco, pour it into a machine and wait while their smokes are rolled.

And by doing-it-themselves, smokers bypass costly premiums and taxes on store-bought packs of cigarettes to save a lot:

Kathryn Davis, 78, lives on a fixed income, and has at times passed up grocery items to buy cigarettes.

On Thursday, Davis made her first visit to DIY Tobacco in downtown Port Orchard, where customers purchase loose tobacco and roll their own smokes at a deep discount.

With help from her granddaughter, Davis inserted a tray of paper tubes with filters into a large machine, dumped the tobacco in the top and waited. The contraption hissed and banged methodically, churning out the equivalent of a carton of smokes in about eight minutes.

How much do buyers like Davis save? The Sun reports she paid about $33 for 200 smokes -- a savings of at least 30 percent.

Check out more news with a Northwest focus:

» Front pages from 18 newspapers in Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Washington and British Columbia.

» Stories from today's edition of The Oregonian.

» More of our headline picks from Northwest news sources.

-- Kimberly A.C. Wilson

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Monday, February 7, 2011