Feel good factor for Finnish smokers

A company in Finland that sells fine-cut tobacco and filter tubes is offering its customers the opportunity of putting those items through a machine that can produce 190-200 cigarettes from 200 g of tobacco in eight minutes.

According to an Esmerk Finnish News story, Feel, has started to offer this service from a tobacco shop in the center ofHelsinki.

A carton of cigarettes made in this way costs under €30 in the Feel shop, which is about €10 less than a smoker would usually pay for a carton of factory-made cigarettes.

Such services started to become big business in theUSuntil the courts recently decided that retailers offering the use of such machines were tobacco manufacturers subjected to all of the regulations and obligations of such manufacturers.

And the same seems to be about to happen inFinland. According to the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health, Valvira, Feel is a producer of cigarettes. The company should therefore put warning labels on its cartons, ensure that the harmful components of the cigarettes did not exceed certain limits, and ensure that the cigarettes were fire-safe, it said.

Feel has replied that its aim was to start the business as soon as possible and that the company will comply with Valvira’s requirements.