A final few ideas for sticking a middle finger up in the direction of Canberra in response to Australia's plain tobacco packaging law. Back in post #1 of these George in the comments suggested this:
Seems to me the way round it is to supply the standard pack (with no nanny warnings or porno cancer pics) wrapped in a goverment approved paper sleeve. Buy the pack, rip it off and leave on the counter.I'm guessing that a simple outer wrapper might be deemed not to qualify as "the packaging" for the purposes of the law, but if the tobacco companies can swing it that's an excellent idea. If not then perhaps an inverse of that, a kind of packet within a packet. Perhaps some kind of light weight card carton with the foil containing the cigarettes, and more importantly on which designs and logos can be printed, and which can be slid out from the main package which is chucked in the bin on the way out.
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| I'd expect it to look much better than this quick pshop but you get the idea |
Three downsides occur to me right away. First is cost - it will make packaging a little more expensive and therefore the cost per pack will rise. However, that might be offset by a lowering in cost of the outer packet as there should be no money being spent on pack design, Canberra having taken over the job in order to inflict plain packs on the industry. The second is that the light weight inner "packet" won't do a very good job at protecting the cigarettes, but that might be useful as the nannies will fart sparks if people throw away their plain outer packs and wave around something with those hated logos and branding on - the response is that it's just an inner sleeve and you can't stop people throwing away the real packaging. The third downside is that even if this idea is legal you can be damn sure the liberty loathing, bansturbating nannies will have it banned as well before long. It might be good for a year or two but there will be a new law and that will be that. In the meantime though it might be a possibility.
The other suggestion in the first post's comments was from Marcy, who said:
There should be a good market starting up for fancy reusable cig packs, including those supplied by manufacturers with their proprietary labels, given away for free of course to anyone who wants them, made out of tin maybe and bound to become a collector's item in the future.Tins and cases I've already covered, and I don't see any reason why Marcy's suggestion of branded accessories, tins and cases included, couldn't be made by the baccy companies. Sure, there may already be a law against it, and if there isn't then eventually there will be even if any other bugger can make them, but it's about not giving in and again it'll buy time and annoy the nannies. But it also reminded me of fakefags.co.uk and their joke health warning labels that stick on over the originals. Joke horror pictures and stick on branding could be next.
About the only thing I don't think it's worth Ausssie smokers doing is hanging on to their existing packets since the horror pictures now are large enough that the packs are semi-debranded already. If I still smoked I'd lean towards a case that fitted the normal length of a hand made cigarette or a nice leather pouch for the loose tobacco and a pocket for the papers, but if I smoked pre-mades I'd probably get some card and use a template in post #3 to make my own packets. Ehow have more detailed instructions on this here and links to a couple of videos on origami ciggie pack making, as well as instructions on how to make a very nice looking wooden cigarette case.
The long and short of it is that foiling the Australian Baccy Nannies is restricted only by imagination and the amount of effort smokers are prepared to put in to avoid carting around drab packs with the colour provided only by the horror pictures and shouty warnings. And even though I've not smoked for a few years I may make up some cigarette packets in advance of the plain pack law coming into effect... you know, just so I've got one or two handy in case I see a smoker with a boring nannied pack. The fun begins soon, and I don't see the fact that I'm a non-smoker as a reason I can't join in.