“Shifting the stuff wasn’t any bother”: Illicit enterprise, tobacco bootlegging and deconstructing the British government’s cigarette smuggling discourse

L’Hoiry, Xavier

doi:10.1007/s12117-013-9188-2

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…When I met her, she had switched to an e-cigarette some months before and was considering upgrading to a £20 e-cigarette with a bigger battery; Barry showed her a £40 model but she said this was too much to pay. Many studies have shown that illicit tobacco and the informal economy are not seen as a moral problem in low-SES communities (Gough et al., 2013, L' Hoiry, 2013, Stead et al., 2013, Wiltshire et al., 2001); I suggest in the following sections that the sourcing of cheap tobacco and e-cigarettes was in fact a solution to the moral problems of addiction and expenditure on the self, particularly for older smokers.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Everyday tactics in local moral worlds: E-cigarette practices in a working-class area of the UK

Thirlway

2016

Social Science & Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research into e-cigarette use has largely focused on their health effects and efficacy for smoking cessation, with little attention given to their potential effect on health inequalities. Drawing on three years of ethnographic research between 2012 and 2015, I investigate the emerging e-cigarette practices of adult smokers and quitters in a working-class area of the UK. I first use de Certeau's notion of ‘tactics’ to describe the informal economy of local e-cigarette use. Low-priced products were purchased through personal networks and informal sources for financial reasons, but also as a solution to the moral problems of addiction and expenditure on the self, particularly for older smokers. E-cigarette practices were produced in local moral worlds where smoking and cessation had a complex status mediated through norms of age and gender. For younger men, smoking cessation conflicted with an ethic of working-class hedonism but e-cigarette use allowed cessation to be incorporated into male sociality. Continued addiction had moral implications which older men addressed by constructing e-cigarette use as functional rather than pleasurable, drawing on a narrative of family responsibility. The low priority which older women with a relational sense of identity gave to their own health led to a lower tolerance for e-cigarette unreliability. I draw on Kleinman's local moral worlds to make sense of these findings, arguing that smoking cessation can be a risk to moral identity in violating local norms of age and gender performance. I conclude that e-cigarettes did have some potential to overcome normative barriers to smoking cessation and therefore to reduce health inequalities, at least in relation to male smoking. Further research which attends to local meanings of cessation in relation to age and gender will establish whether e-cigarettes have similar potential elsewhere.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Everyday tactics in local moral worlds: E-cigarette practices in a working-class area of the UK

Thirlway

2016

Social Science & Medicine

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Illegal tobacco entrepreneurs are often 'unusual suspects' who do not fit the profile of an archetypal 'smuggler'. The composition of a typical group of tobacco smugglers is better understood in the context of varied and networked relationships of individuals keen on securing a share of the market (L'Hoiry, 2013). Generally, these individuals do not form structured 'organisations' characterised by a sophisticated division of labour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In these instances, the individual members ('runners') visit neighbouring countries (e.g. France) to buy a permitted quantity of cigarettes that they declare for personal consumption 3 and, once in the UK, the investor collects the merchandise (see Hornsby and Hobbs, 2007;L'Hoiry, 2013). Groups trading in illicit tobacco are sometimes clustered around a small core of individuals who retain an ongoing presence, around whom more transitional individuals become involved as and when opportunities arise.…”

Section: Market Characteristics and Actorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second section offers a general yet concise overview of the illicit tobacco trade, including a discussion of the characteristics and key actors of the market in the UK. This overview is based on our own research and that of others (see von Lampe, 2006;Hornsby and Hobbs, 2007;L'Hoiry, 2013). The third focuses on the financial aspects of the market in terms of sources of financing, settlement of payments, costs of doing business, profits and investment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Financial Management of the Illicit Tobacco Trade in the United Kingdom

Antonopoulos¹,

Hall²

2015

CRIMIN

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…To investigate anticipated reactions by DTOs and other TCOs and identify profitable trafficking routes and business models likely to be employed, the literature and available data on DTOs can be reviewed. These range from comprehensive analyses (Lyman, 2015) to case studies and ethnographic work (Natarajan, 2000(Natarajan, , 2006L'Hoiry, 2013). The data sources and methods of analysis employed for the research described in sections A.3 and B.2 are relevant here as well.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Countervailing Effects: What the FDA Would Have to Know to Evaluate Tobacco Regulations

Kleiman

Prieger

Kulick³

2015

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act [P.L. 111-31] gives the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to regulate tobacco products, including placing restrictions on product composition, sale, and distribution. A complete accounting of the costs and benefits of any tobacco regulation includes harms from possible illicit trade in tobacco products (ITTP): costs of enforcement, violence, incarceration, etc. Indeed, the law instructs the FDA to take into account the "countervailing effects" of regulation on public health, "such as the creation of a significant demand for contraband or other tobacco products that do not meet the requirements." While the law's narrow focus on public health may limit the scope of an inquiry by the FDA compared to a full benefit-cost analysis, aspects of ITTP such as violence and incarceration have substantial health impacts. Illicit markets in drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, not to mention the grand experiment of alcohol Prohibition in the early 20 th century, illustrate the substantial risks of unwanted side effects of drug prohibition. But taxes, product limitations, access restrictions, and narrowly defined product bans constitute

show abstract

“Shifting the stuff wasn’t any bother”: Illicit enterprise, tobacco bootlegging and deconstructing the British government’s cigarette smuggling discourse

Cited by 10 publications

References 13 publications

Everyday tactics in local moral worlds: E-cigarette practices in a working-class area of the UK

Everyday tactics in local moral worlds: E-cigarette practices in a working-class area of the UK

The Financial Management of the Illicit Tobacco Trade in the United Kingdom

Countervailing Effects: What the FDA Would Have to Know to Evaluate Tobacco Regulations

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About