Stubbed out - world’s oldest tobacco trade magazine to close

I was disappointed to hear that Tobacco Reporter magazine is to close.

The December 2024 issue is the last, bringing to an end a publication whose lineage can be traced back 150 years, to 1874, before the invention of the mass manufactured cigarette.

If I have a vested interest it’s because I have been interviewed twice for the magazine - in 2017 (Rebel With a Cause), and again this year (Unfinished Business).

In 2019 Forest’s 40th anniversary dinner also featured in the magazine (Celebrating Choice), likewise our parliamentary reception in February 2024 (Defending Liberty) and our Beat the Ban lunch in May (Food for Thought).

The final print edition also includes a report inspired by our recent boat party (An Outbreak of Sanity).

These and other articles about Forest were written by the magazine's European editor George Gay. Over the years George has attended many of our events, and I’m grateful to him - and long-serving editor Taco Tuinstra - for continuing to take an interest in our work when it may have been easier, or politically more astute, to quietly consign Forest, and our message about smokers’ rights, to history.

In a leading article that accompanied that 2017 interview, Taco wrote:

Many parties have weighed in on the current discussions about a smoke-free future. Industry representatives, regulators and public health advocates have all aired their views, some more vocally than others. Notably absent from the talks, however, have been the subjects of these ambitious plans—the smokers. What do they think?

Attend any debate on the future of tobacco and one insight will sooner or later pop up: the fact that seven out of 10 smokers would like to quit their habit. That is a compelling number, and the various stakeholders are right in wanting to help these people achieve their objective, either by supporting cessation or by offering products that deliver nicotine in a less hazardous manner. But it still leaves three smokers who presumably are happy to keep puffing.

Three out of 10 may seem like a trivial figure, but it is not. Based on the frequently cited statistic of one billion smokers worldwide, it amounts to 300 million people. If these smokers all lived in one nation, their country would be the world’s fourth-most populous.

These devoted smokers deserve respect, even if their choices are not the healthiest. Like other adults, they cast ballots, pay taxes and serve in their countries’ armed forces—at significantly higher rates than their nonsmoking compatriots in the case of the latter two activities. They are, in short, full-fledged citizens, entitled to make their own decisions and in no need of patronizing.

Unfortunately, that is not how smokers are typically treated. Around the world, governments have enacted restrictions beyond those required to protect nonsmokers. Instead of mandating smoking and nonsmoking areas in bars, for example, authorities in many countries have simply kicked smokers to the curb. Through graphic health warnings, smokers have been subjected to gruesome imagery, even though they are well-aware of the risks already. Some workplaces offer smokers fewer holidays than they do to their nonsmoking colleagues.

At a time when even tobacco companies seem to be turning against cigarettes, few people are willing to speak up for smokers. Fortunately, there are organizations, such as Forest in the UK, who continue to stand up on their behalf, even when it is increasingly unpopular to do so (see “Rebel with a cause,” page 38).

The example set by Forest is inspiring. So, as we move into 2018, let’s spare a thought for beleaguered smokers everywhere. Not only do they deserve respect as fellow citizens; they also continue to generate the bulk of our business.

I thought it was brave of Taco to stick his neck out and support us like that because it was clear, even then, that defending the rights of adults who enjoy smoking was no longer a priority for most people in the tobacco industry.

Even an event like the Global Tobacco Network Forum (which changed its name to the Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum ten years ago to accommodate e-cigarettes and other nicotine products) is now dominated by speakers whose goal is seemingly a smoke free world, with campaigners like me now excluded from the ‘conversation’.

Reflecting the tobacco industry’s transformation, Tobacco Reporter has changed too (and I have no problem with that). To their credit, though, Taco and George never lost sight of the fact that, even when offered a choice of smokeless products, there are still consumers who don’t want to switch or quit.

In hindsight we could perhaps have predicted the closure of the magazine but the news was still a surprise.

To recap: from 1980 to 2019 the magazine was owned by SpecComm International, a North Carolina-based publisher and conference organiser. It was then announced that SpecComm, and all its assets, had been purchased by the US-based Tobacco Merchants Association.

Founded in 1915, the TMA (not to be confused with the Tobacco Manufacturers Association, the UK trade body) describes itself as a ‘member-driven non-profit source of information, a convener of stakeholders, and a thought leader dedicated to providing our members and subscribers with a complete understanding of tobacco and nicotine issues’.

Through our conferences, webinars, meetings, website, data products, and publications, TMA takes a holistic approach to tobacco and nicotine …

Whatever.

Assets purchased from SpecComm included the GTNF conference, TabExpo, Tobacco Reporter, Vapor Voice, Tobacco Farm Quarterly, Tobacconist, Pipes & Tobacco, and Cigars & Leisure magazines.

TabExpo was subsequently sold to UK-based Quartz Business Media and over the next two years, to the best of my knowledge, Tobacco Farm Quarterly, Tobacconist, Pipes & Tobacco, and Cigars & Leisure magazine all ceased publication.

A new division, the GTNF Trust, managed the GTNF conference, Tobacco Reporter and Vapor Voice magazines, but I understand the decision to close Tobacco Reporter and Vapor Voice (founded in 2014) was taken by the TMA board which includes representatives of two tobacco companies, Altria and British American Tobacco.

I appreciate the decision may have been driven by commercial considerations, but I do think it’s short-sighted and a false saving because the tobacco industry needs every platform available to it if it is to communicate with the wider world.

The closure of Tobacco Reporter means the tobacco lobby will lose a valuable communication tool.

The TMA will no doubt continue with its conferences, webinars, meetings, data products, and so on, but I’m old school and I believe that a good magazine is an asset, and print still has the potential to be far more impactful than digital, although there is clearly a need for both.

The TMA board won’t have taken this decision lightly but it’s a sad end to a long and historic journey.

PS. The cover of the December 2017 issue of Tobacco Reporter featured one of my favourite photographs. It was taken by Dan Donovan and I used it as part of my presentation at the GTNF in New York in September that year.

GTNF 2017 was notable because it coincided with the launch of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World funded by Philip Morris International. Pointing to the image on screen, I said:

This picture was taken at an annual Forest event called Smoke On The Water. Each year we hire a Mississippi-style paddle steamer and cruise down the Thames under Tower Bridge and past many of London’s iconic buildings including the Houses of Parliament. Guests include politicians, parliamentary researchers, political activists but, most important, ordinary consumers – smokers and vapers.

I love this photo because it illustrates the type of person Forest represents – a gloriously unashamed smoker who enjoys smoking and doesn’t wish to quit or conceal his habit. Smokers, especially cigarette smokers, are invariably portrayed as victims of a terrible addiction. Does this man look like a victim to you? Of course not. Nor is he alone. There are many, many smokers just like him.

I can't tell you how satisfying it was to see that photo on the cover of the world’s oldest tobacco trade magazine. We even reprinted it, combining it with Taco’s leading article and the interview with me, and sent it to MPs and journalists.

What a pity similar opportunities will no longer be available to us.

PS. Thanks too to Elise Rasmussen, publisher of Tobacco Reporter, who has been a friend and ally since we met in 2008.