Good Ol' Days Cigars

DOWNTOWN WAYNESVILLE Labor Day weekend. Saturday night, Sept. 3, 7-10pm.

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 21:43:12 +0000

Seven years later & stronger than ever, the popular Block Party continues to draw a large crowd of locals & tourist visiting our area Labor Day weekend. Saturday night, Sept. 3, 7-10pm. Main Street closes at 5pm for set-up. All vehicles must be removed before that time. Restaurants will remain open, many with outdoor seating. The famous Nico’s will come up to Main Street, a Kettlecorn vendor and delicious homemade baked goods will be offered by the Waynesville Police Department as a fundraiser for their SRT training. Mr. Tom, the balloon man returns to the Children’s area in front of Fun Things. Three bands will entertain us! In front of Pheasant Hill, The 96.5 House Band has a playlist that spans nearly four decades of hits, Main Street is a popular dance floor when 96.5 comes to town. If you’re not dancing, you’ll be singing along! The Josh Fields Band, a mixture of Southern Rock, Classic & Contemporary Country, and Bluegrass for a blend that will please every listener, is back after a great performance at our Memorial Day Block Party. They will be located in front of Tipping Point Tavern. Known for their high-octane live shows, Rafe Hollister is back with their own unique style of Mountain Rock describing their use of traditional bluegrass instruments to create Rafe’s brand of roots music with a seasoned and authentic sound. RH will be located on the south end of Main Street in front of Earthwork’s &T. Pennington Galleries. Many shops & galleries will remain open. Porta jons will be in the UCBank upper parking lot. Sorry, no animals allowed at downtown events.+

Don’t forget to come visit us, Good Ol’ Days Cigars.

www.goodoldayscigars.com

Cigar night

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 02:19:35 +0000

PRESENTS

CIGAR NIGHT IN THE SMOKIES

LOCATION - The Moonshine Grill

US Hwy 19, Maggie Valley, NC

DATE - September 15, 2011(THURSDAY)

TIME - 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm

TICKETS - $10

INCLUDES

1 – Montecristo 75^th Anniv. Cigar.

1 – Mixed drink, Beer or Wine.

1 – 101 Cigar lesson with Brad from Altadis USA.

1 – Ticket for door prizes.

we will be offering great deals on

Montecristo, H. Upmann and Romeo y Julieta

Reserve Real.

Purchase your tickets at:

Good Ol’ Days Cigars – 46 N. Main St. – Waynesville

Moonshine Grill – US Hwy 19 – Maggie Valley

See You There!!! Food available for purchase!!!

COMMITTEE SNUFFS OUT TOBACCO TAX HIKE

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:20:49 +0000

March 3, 2011

Committee snuffs out tobacco tax hike

By Mannix Porterfield Register-Herald Reporter The Register-Herald Thu Mar 03, 2011, 12:03 AM EST

CHARLESTON — Smokers can relax and light up without fear of digging into their wallets to cough up an extra $1 per pack of cigarettes.

An lack of interest from the House Finance Committee led to the demise of a proposed hike in the tobacco tax, leaving in the lurch an anticipated $60 million for cessation programs and money to treat addicts.

A disappointed House Health and Human Resources Chairman Don Perdue, D-Wayne, lamented the demise of the bill and spoke of a “silent epidemic” that is being virtually ignored.

The failure of the tobacco tax, however, didn’t prevent the resurrection in the Senate of a bill aimed at resolving the staggering debt in the other post-employment benefits, or OPEB.

Rather than specify a funding stream, Sen. Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha, said lawmakers would need to search for one in a year-long study on coping with the $8 billion liability.

McCabe had wanted to link the OPEB resolution with the $1 per pack hike in cigarettes, along with the proposed tax increase in spit tobacco from 7 percent of the wholesale price to 50 percent.

The idea was to take $50 million annually from that increased revenue and apply it to the red ink in OPEB.

When that fell through, McCabe suggested Plan B, which called for a 45-cent per pack increase on cigarettes, but that, likewise, drew the cold shoulder of the finance panel.

His revised bill also means the state will absorb the liability for school boards whose employees fall within the school aid formula.

“Any time you raise the issue of a tax, it creates a kind of negative atmosphere when you’re having an election,” Perdue said.

“It’s very difficult to cut through that.”

Perdue said lawmakers cannot stop the search for money to finance drug addiction treatment.

“If we continue to do nothing, something bad is going to happen,” he said.

“We’ve got to recognize how serious the problem is. We don’t see things that are going on around us, and we’re not responding in a timely way.”

Almost every day, he said, at least one resident gets hooked on some type of narcotic.

“Children are becoming fatherless and motherless,” he said.

“People are overdosing and dying. Daughters are becoming prostitutes. Men are becoming thieves and robbers. Those things happen every day. It’s a vicious cycle that’s moving faster and faster.”

Perdue views the drug problem as an epidemic.

“We refuse to see it as an epidemic that can be silent. It’s far more deadly than the ones we choose to recognize.”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

NEW OWNERS FOR GOOD OL’ DAYS CIGARS

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:06:50 +0000

As of March 1, 2011 Good Ol’ Days Cigars has new owners, Chris and Vera. Please be sure to stop in and say hello… and, of course, buy a few cigars

HOW TO SMOKE A PIPE

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 16:45:47 +0000

HOW TO SMOKE A PIPE …posted by Wonder How To, Inc.

The art of pipe smoking is the oldest form of tobacco use, and the one most often overlooked by the modern smoker. In this day and age of instant gratification and fast-paced living, replete with instant coffee and five-minute cigarettes, the pipe remains a comforting bulwark again the general flow. Pipe smoking is a remarkably challenging, yet extremely rewarding hobby for those with patience, and can easily be regarded as the most sophisticated form of smoking.

Step 1

Find a pipe that suits you. Tobacconists are more than happy to help you find your perfect pipe. Prices can vary from cheap to a small fortune.

Step 2

Experiment with different tobaccos in order to find a preference. There are many varieties of pipe tobacco, including Aromatics, American blends, English blends, Virginias, Burleys, amongst others. A tobacconist will be able to help advise you on their individual characteristics. People completely new to smoking may enjoy an aromatic or lighter tobacco, while on the other hand a habitual cigarette or cigar smoker might prefer a heavier blend. Buy small amounts representing several different styles.

Step 3

Pack the pipe. Fill the pipe loosely with tobacco and compress it lightly. Compressed halfway from the bottom of the bowl to the top. Fill again to the top and compress with a little more force. This time halfway from the top of the previous packing to the top. Now top it off and compress a bit harder. Again half way from the last point to the top. It must not be so dense as to prevent air from being drawn through the pipe; you should be able to draw air through with little or no resistance. The tobacco should be springy to the touch. It’s best to have your tobacconist or an experienced pipe smoker demonstrate. Correct packing takes practice, and has a major impact on how enjoyable your experience will be.

Step 4

Light the pipe with a wooden match or a butane pipe lighter. If using a match, let the sulfur burn off for a few seconds. Move the flame around the surface of the tobacco while drawing gently until evenly lit, then tamp it gently with a tamper. Let it go out, then relight the same way.

Step 5

Puff slowly and rhythmically. Patience is rewarded with aroma and a cool smoke. Puffing too fast will result in tongue bite – a burning sensation on the tongue.

Step 6

Tamp the tobacco gently and periodically throughout the smoke to ensure the bowl remains correctly packed while smoking. Don’t worry if the pipe goes out from time to time. Simply relight, after the pipe has cooled.

Step 7

Make sure you smoke your pipe to the end to create a nice ‘cake’ (layer of carbon deposits) at the bottom and side of your pipe bowl.

Step 8

Relax and enjoy. Pipe smoking is the quintessential art of smoking.

Tips

Get support and advice. There many great forums out there and great people to help you discover this wonderful hobby and pastime. Many give up from lack of answers to some of the simplest questions. We are out there and we love to help.
Above all, be patient, and take things slowly. For most part, the pipe smoking experience isn’t pleasant until one is fully proficient in packing, lighting, tamping and smoking cadence. It takes time to discover favourite tobacco blends and pipes that suit your tastes. Novice smokers often struggle with tongue bite. If you don’t like it at first, keep experimenting, and discuss your new hobby with experienced smokers.
Keep a pipe cleaner handy. At the first sign of moisture coming through the stem of the pipe, stick the pipe cleaner into the stem and let it absorb any condensation in order to ensure that the pipe does not sour.
If the pipe gets hot, let it go out and cool down. Smoking a pipe too hot won’t taste good, and it may damage your pipe or your tongue. A good rule-of-thumb, is to hold your bowl against your cheek.
Allow briar pipes time to rest between smokes – common knowledge dictates at least a day. Consider adding some corn cob pipes to your rotation while you build your collection of briar pipes. A meerschaum pipe is a great investment due to their smoking quality and the fact that they don’t need to rest between smokes.
Avoid buying the cheap “basket” or department store briar pipes. A corn cob pipe will smoke much better than a cheap briar, and cost much less if finances are a problem.
Never buy a metal (brass or silver) pipe. They look very unusual and striking but remember – metal conducts heat. These are for show. You may burn yourself with these.
Allow a nice ‘cake’ (layer of carbon deposits) to grow in the bowl of the pipe. This protects the bowl from cracking. After a while, it will become necessary to scrape some of the cake off, but you may want to consult your tobacconist for advice on how to do this.
Whenever you are finished with a pipe, allow it to cool and then polish it using pipe polish and a clean, lint free cloth. This helps to preserve the shine and appearance, as well as protecting the bowl from heat, dirt, and corrosion.

Warnings

Observe local smoking legislation
Pipe smoking carries a risk of oral and throat cancers that is similar to smoking cigarettes. When inhaled, it also carries a risk of lung cancer. Moderation (1-3 bowls a day) and not inhaling can help to decrease these risks.

Things You’ll Need

A pipe
Pipe tamper or tool
Tobacco
For cleaning:
Pipe reamer
Pipe cleaners
Pipe polish
Clean, lint free cloth

See more: How To Smoke a Tobacco Pipe | Guide (8 Steps) « Wonder How To http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-smoke-tobacco-pipe-096628/#ixzz1D6U9KYzF

SOUTH CAROLINA JOURNALIST ON OUR SIDE

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 16:41:34 +0000

EDITORIAL: Smoking ban should be in hands of business owners

By MORNING NEWS
Published: January 27, 2011

An updated smoking ban proposal is set to go before Florence City Council next month. It is more lenient than its predecessor, which council rejected last year. That’s good news. We think restaurants and other businesses shouldn’t receive severe penalties for violating this kind of ordinance.

It is not good news enough, however. We think the decision on whether to go smoke-free doesn’t belong in the hands of government at all.

We don’t take this position lightly. As city councilwoman Octavia Williams-Blake, the primary force behind the proposed ban, has noted, there are 28 other cities or counties in the state with smoke-free ordinances, and such regulations have been upheld twice by the state Supreme Court. That suggests that the no-smoking movement is gaining momentum, even here in tobacco and individual rights country.

And to be honest, we think it should. Although we believe government shouldn’t be interfering with private business in this manner, we are no fan of the toxic effects of cigarette smoke and acknowledge that smoking in restaurants is unhealthy. It is our experience that secondhand smoke doesn’t know that it’s supposed to remain in the no smoking section, and it inevitably will drift, unfiltered, into the respiratory system of everyone within range – including children. Nobody can really be in favor of that.

The smoke is bad enough for someone who’s exposed to it during an hour-long meal; it’s even worse for the servers and other employees who must inhale the secondhand fumes for an entire shift.

So, eliminating smoking in restaurants (and other public spaces) is a good idea. We just don’t like the usurpation of individual rights that a government-imposed ban implies.

A better solution to this situation is for restaurants to begin their own non-smoking policies. If an eatery won’t do this on its own, then its customers should ask for a smoking ban. And if that doesn’t work, they should stop spending their money with a business that’s insensitive to its customers. The restaurants and other establishments should get the hint if regulars stop showing up.

Establishments that prefer to continue smelling like a chimney – and some will – can continue to do so. They will run the risk of driving away business, but in some cases – we’re thinking of establishments that mostly serve as bars – that may not happen.

Several Florence restaurants already have gone smoke-free on their own. No data is available other than the powers of observation. What we observe is that they are maintaining a steady flow of customers.

The new Florence city ordinance, which hasn’t been finalized, should include revisions to allow smoking on patios, decks and other outdoor locations at restaurants and bars. That will help to mitigate the ban, even though, as noted, we don’t like the intrusive nature of any kind of regulation.

There is reason for concern about the public’s health, and government must be willing and able to take actions to protect it – up to point. Making the decision to ban restaurant smoking for restaurant owners crosses that line in our opinion. Consequently, we cannot endorse the proposed ban.

We can endorse ending smoking in restaurants, however.

We just want the restaurant owners to bring the practice to an end on their own.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial board members are: Tucker Mitchell (regional editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (content manager), Jackie Torok (content supervisor), Naeem McFadden (editor, Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise), John Sweeney (editor, The (Hemingway) Weekly Observer), Bob Sloan (editor, The Hartsville Messenger), Charles Tomlinson (editor, Lake City News & Post) and David Johnson (regional circulation director).

Effort to Overturn St. Louis Smoking Ban

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:13:14 +0000

Smoking Bans

Effort to Overturn St. Louis Smoking Ban Would Focus on Casino Exemption

By Chad Garrison, Thursday, Nov. 19 2009 @ 3:53PM

Photo: Jenn Silverberg

Hannegan lighting up at one of his favorite haunts, Herbies’ Vintage ’72.

St. Louis’ most tireless smoking-ban opponent Bill Hannegan stopped by the Riverfront Times the other day. In so doing, Hannegan hinted how his Keep St. Louis Free plans to topple the ban in the city that is slated to go into effect January 2011.

The strategy, says Hannegan, would be to challenge the ban’s exemption that allows for smoking to continue unabated in St. Louis casinos.

A quick refresher for those of you not caught up on the issue: On November 3, voters in St. Louis County overwhelmingly voted in a smoking ban that also triggered a somewhat similar ban for the city of St. Louis.

Both the city and county laws exempt casinos from the smoking bans. In the county, so-called “drinking bars” whose alcohol sales outweigh food sales by a margin of 3 to 1 will be exempted from the ban indefinitely. In the city, bars of a certain size (less than 2,000 square feet) are also exempted from the ban but only for a period of five years. After that, all bars will be smoke free.

The sunset provision of the city’s ban particularly irks Hannegan. “This is going to hurt bar owners in the city a lot more than in the county,” he says.

So, if Hannegan is so concerned about how the ban will impact bar owners, why is he now targeting the casinos?

Because he views the casino exemption as an unfair legal loophole that could kill the smoking ban all together. And there’s legal precedent elsewhere to believe such a challenge would work.

In 2007, a court in Kentucky struck down a smoking ban in Louisville that banned smoking in all public businesses except famed horse track Churchill Downs. In that case, a judge ruled it unconstitutional that the smoking ban affected every business but one special interest.

The Missouri Constitution has a similar statute prohibiting “special laws” that only favor one specific entity. Hannegan believes the exemption for casinos falls under that category. So, too, does Kansas City attorney Jonathan Sternberg.

sternberg-law.com

Jonathan Sternberg

Sternberg is the lawyer who represented a consortium of businesses that challenged Kansas City’s smoking ban last year. That lawsuit argued that Missouri’s 1992 Indoor Clean Air Act explicitly excluded bars and restaurants from smoking regulations and that municipal laws could not trump state law.

Sternberg’s case lost an appeal earlier this year and the Missouri Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Yet, Sternberg believes the same argument could win the support of appeal judges in eastern Missouri and eventually bring the issue before the state’s highest court.

He is even more convinced that judges would disagree with the casino exemption.

“I’d like to hear a convincing argument as to why casinos have such a special relationship to smoking — unlike any other business — that they should be allowed to be exempted given the purpose of the law,” says Sternberg. “And what is the purpose of the law? It’s to protect people’s health right? Well how are casinos different?”

Sternberg adds that since the number of casinos in Missouri is limited to 13, they could be viewed as a closed-class receiving special treatment under the St. Louis smoking ban.

As you might have guessed, Hannegan and Sternberg have been in discussion about a St. Louis challenge to the smoking ban.

But before any legal paperwork is filed, Hannegan says he needs some financial support from bar owners.

“I’ve already contributed about $30,000 to fighting these bans,” says Hannegan, a painter by trade who considers himself only a social smoker. “It’s time for the people who would be most impacted to take ownership.”

Hannegan speculates that it would cost between $30,000 and $40,000 to fund a lawsuit against the St. Louis ban, which he sees as easier to overturn than the county law that permanently exempts both casinos and bars.

“That’s a relatively small sum of money, especially considering how much St. Louis bars stand to lose economically,” he says.

Spike in Cuban cigar seizures at O’Hare Airport

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:53:09 +0000

Chicago Customs and Border Protection officers have been under siege lately with a record number of illegal Cuban cigar shipments arriving from Switzerland at the O’Hare Airport International Mail Facility.

Over the last two weeks, CBP officers in Chicago have already seized over 30,000 Cuban cigars with over 70,000 more of the popular contraband already detained, the CBP said in a statement released on Monday. CBP officers seize imported Cuban cigars or anything of Cuban origin because of the United States’ embargo against Cuba.

The Cuban Assets Control Regulations were issued by the U.S. government in 1963 under the Trading with the Enemy Act in response to hostile actions by the Cuban government. The regulations state that no goods or services of Cuban origin may be imported into the U.S. either directly or through third countries. It is currently illegal to import Cuban cigars or anything else of Cuban origin into the U.S. without an official license from the Office of Foreign Assets Control under the U.S. Department of Treasury.

In a Nov. 8 statement on increased security measures by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, DHS placed a ban on small parcels over 16 ounces flown on passenger aircraft. The result has been an increase in European mail arriving inbound on cargo aircraft to Chicago. Upon investigation, CBP located several on-line retailers in Switzerland who sell genuine Cuban cigars and are shipping orders to the United States despite the current embargo.

“Everyone wants to know what happens to the cigars that are seized,” said David Murphy, Chicago CBP Director of Field Operations.

“According to OFAC regulations, CBP officers are required to seize, forfeit, and destroy all Cuban cigars and all other Cuban imported products. Our officers stationed at CBP mail facilities routinely discover and seize a variety of contraband arriving from all over the world, but this is the first time in Chicago we have seen this level of activity involving illegal cigars.”

Taken from the Chesterton Tribune — Posted 12/7/2010

Black-market cigarettes costing NY $20M a month

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:59:41 +0000

Black-market cigarettes costing NY $20M a month

By DOUGLAS MONTERO, KEVIN FASICK and CHUCK BENNETT

Last Updated: 8:38 AM, November 26, 2010

Posted: 2:43 AM, November 26, 2010

The underground tobacco market is spreading like a fast-growing cancer in the wake of tax hikes that make New York cigarettes the most expensive in the nation — and it’s costing the state tens of millions a month in lost tax revenue, a Post analysis has found.

Illegal cigarettes are pouring into neighborhood bodegas by the truckload from neighboring Indian reservations, lower-tax states in the South and even as far away as China, authorities say.

Government data show that New York state is being smoked out of as much as $20 million a month from all these illegal cigarette purchases — an estimated 7.3 million packs a month sold off the state tax radar.

IT PAYS TO CHEAT

“It’s an unfortunate side effect of the taxes, creating this black market,” said Ron Turk, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ New York field office.

Sales of taxed cigarettes have plummeted 27 percent since July, when state lawmakers raised the excise tax to $4.35 a pack on top of the city’s tax of $1.50, making the average price of Marlboros here $11.60, with some shops charging as much as $14.

About 30 million packs are being sold legally each month — down from 41 million packs a month before July.

The plunge far exceeds tobacco-control experts’ predictions that sales would fall 8 to 10 percent, indicating that smokers are finding other means to get their nicotine fix.

In fact, the New York Association of Convenience Store Owners estimates that as many as half of all cigarettes consumed in the state lack proper tax stamps.

And law enforcement is also worried that the easy cash will spark rivalries among criminal gangs, just as drugs have.

“We see lots of [rip-offs] and violence with drug trafficking, and you will see a rise of that in tobacco, too. As volume and money go up, the stakes get higher. And certainly, a concern of ours is violence will spill out of this,” Turk said.

Alleged gun-running and terrorist-loving ex-Stuyvesant HS teacher Theo Burroughs, busted in a sting two months ago, was trafficking in untaxed cigarettes along with assault rifles and handcuffs, authorities said.

Still, state officials maintain the tax is worth it as an incentive for people to quit — and the higher tariff makes up for the bootleg losses. Cigarette taxes brought the state $139 million in October of this year compared with $108 million in October 2009.

While some smokers take advantage of tax havens on Indian reservations or cheaper-tax states like New Jersey or Pennsylvania, plenty of New Yorkers just need to go to their corner deli.

The Post bought an $8 pack of Marlboros on Tuesday from Top Tobacco Shop at 107 Clinton St. on the Lower East Side. The store already has a case pending before the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office after being busted with two cartons of untaxed cigs on Oct. 27, and its license to sell tobacco was yanked.

A reporter handed over a $10 bill, and the clerk reached his hand through a window near his counter and grabbed a pack stored outside.

The clerk handed over the contraband cigarettes, along with $2 change. The Marlboros lacked any kind of tax stamp, indicating they came from either overseas or an Indian reservation.

The clerk, Mohamed Ould Lemrabott, declined to comment when asked how he could sell them so cheap.

“It appears some small retailers found it impossible to compete with tax-free competitors because of their reliance on cigarettes to drive retail traffic,” one tax-policy observer said. “They’ve created a climate of desperation. Five years ago, 10 years ago, they wouldn’t think of underhanded dealing.”

In addition to buying the contraband cigarettes out of state or on reservations, authorities are reporting a troubling rise in counterfeit cigarettes being imported from overseas, especially China.

Another growing trend is forging tax stamps to make the contraband smokes appear legal.

One of the ATF’s largest local busts occurred in southern Brooklyn in 2007, when it arrested eight men for importing Chinese-made knockoff cigarettes and seized 500,000 cases of smokes and $500,000 in cash.

The ATF, which has 10 officers in the New York City region — and just three to four officers at any given time working on tobacco cases — is retooling to address the expected spike.

“We are talking with state and local partners now of doing partnerships we haven’t done in years,” he said.

On the state level, about 50 peace officers assigned to the New York State Department of Taxation continue to do buy-busts of local bodega owners.

But the officers gripe that offenders often get off with little more than a wrist slip.

For instance, Jiang Ailiang was busted for selling cigarettes with Virginia tax stamps at a deli at 67 Eldridge St. for just $5 earlier this year.

But he was able to plead down to disorderly conduct in September and received just four days of community service.

When The Post visited the store earlier this week, a reporter was told to “come back tomorrow” for discounted cigarettes.

chuck.bennett@nypost.com

How Far Will We Go To Balance Freedom, Security?

Good Ol' Days Cigars — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:53:02 +0000

How far will we go to balance freedom, security?

5:42 PM, Nov 26, 2010 |

To feel safe, or to protect us from ourselves, people in the United States have enthusiastically been tossing away their freedoms. It started with helmet and seat-belt laws and then morphed into smoking bans, which then led to dictating what property and business owners can do with their own establishments. Soon there were security cameras in nearly every store and throughout the cities, as well as government and corporate monitoring of Internet and phone traffic.

Now we have late-night road blocks and the wonderful Transportation Security Admininistration. These last two examples of unreasonable search and seizure (my keychain was confiscated because of manicure scissors) finally are starting to wake people up from their risk adverse slumber. Obviously, if you remove everyone’s expectation of privacy and institute a police state, your chances of an incident are reduced, but how far will we go?

The terrorists have no boundaries and the fanatical suicide bombers only wish to meet their makers, so when a mass of plastic explosive is finally discovered inside a body cavity, will everyone then be forced to either endure an even higher dose of radiation or go to a private room with an agent for a more intimate inspection?

Bill Browning , IndyStar.com

Carmel