I have heard the the dollar figure for a new product to go through the hoops is not cheap. Like quarter-of-a-million-dollars not cheap. Don't quote me on that, but it certainly would not surprise me. That shuts out nearly any and all new blends. Most artisan blends would be lucky to have a turnover of that kind of money, let alone enough profit to justify that kind of expenditure. It's just a way to stop the progress of the industry without actually outlawing anything.

If someone like Smokingpipes got together in a duty free part of Switzerland, we would almost be able to see this through. Sure all the blenders would have to conduct business off of US soil, but that's just a hurdle...