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Article posted: 12/16/2012 7:00 AM

Booze, smokes on agenda for quirky government group

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Dr. Abdul Mabud, director of the scientific services division of the U.S. Department of Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, holds up a bottle of snake liquor from east Asia at a laboratory, in Beltsville, Md. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which collects taxes on booze and smokes and tells the companies that produce them how to do business, is one example of the specialized government offices threatened by Washingtonís current zeal for cost-cutting.

Associated Press/April 2012

A cigarette is positioned in a mainstream linear 20-port smoking machine at the U.S. Department of Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau laboratory, in Beltsville, Md. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, which collects taxes on booze and smokes and tells the companies that produce them how to do business, is one example of the specialized government offices threatened by Washingtonís current zeal for cost-cutting.

Associated Press/April 2012

Bottles of whiskey submitted for testing sit at a laboratory operated by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, in Beltsville, Md. The bureau, which collects taxes on booze and smokes and tells the companies that produce them how to do business, is one example of the specialized government offices threatened by Washingtonís current zeal for cost-cutting.

Associated Press/April 2012

About this Article

A chemist tests shiny flecks from a bottle of Goldschlager, the spicy cinnamon schnapps, to make sure they're real gold. Back at headquarters in downtown Washington, a staffer prepares for a meeting of the Tequila Working Group. These are the proud scientists, rule-makers and trade ambassadors of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, one of the federal government's least-known and most peculiar corners.