Sneaking around the huge tobacco tax increase, relabeling

[The Straight Story]

So I was able to get a 12oz bag of tobacco (makes 2 cartons) for $20.

Before the price increase a 16oz bag was $17, is now around $63.

Guess the rich didn't want to pay more taxes so price on pipe tobacco stayed pretty cheap. A place I go to now has 'pipe' tobacco for sale in the same big bags (they only had 12oz in today). Smells the same, smokes the same, tastes the same as reg. cig tobacco.

They have a hard time keeping it in stock (I waited two weeks to get it) while the regular cig tobacco is moving real slow.

[Taverner]

1. Taxing tobacco is unintelligent taxation

It's a shrinking tax base - less people smoke every year, either due to quitting or death. As the taxes go up, more people quit.

As a health motivator, it works

But as a taxation source, it sucks

[tridim]

2. Have you found a good brand yet?

I really liked Drum, Bali Shag and the Smoker Friendly house brand, but it's too expensive now because it's "cigarette cut".

As for pipe tobacco, so far I've tried, "Four Aces" which was awful, and "Red Cap" which is decent but a little hard to roll due to the uneven cut. I'd love to find a Turkish blend pipe tobacco.

[The Straight Story]

4. Golden Harvest is what I got today

Smokes great.

[tridim]

8. Did you find it at a chain tobacco store?

[The Straight Story]

10. No, local shop, also carried at local drive thru (nt)

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. SHhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! n/t

[tridim]

6. Hehe, it's not like it's a big secret

The bags are right there where the RYO cig tobacco used to be and the clerks are very happy to explain how it works.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. I mostly smoke cigarettes, but occasionally

I smoke a pipe. I smoke an off-brand that costs me about 26 dollars a carton. If they go up much more, I'm going to start smoking my pipe exclusively.

[johnnie]

7. Hey! Keep it down

I've been doing that for months but keeping it on the down-low. As soon as they catch on we'll be done.

[imdjh]

9. I quit smoking a month ago, it's really not that big a deal.

I thought it would be a big deal. Like everyone else, I went to an accupuncturist and pissed away that time and money. I have no idea how lasar is supposed to help, but feel certain that it costs money. Chantix sounded good, but surprise, surprise, surprise, it's not good.

Here's the deal. Get up one morning and don't smoke. Do this on a day you have off and have no obligations. If you feel tired, go back to sleep. If you feel antsy, go for a walk- just don't smoke. Remember the Yul Brenner commercial- Just Don't Smoke. Go to bed that night and do it again the next day. Congrats, you're a nonsmoker.

I "quit" smoking ten years ago for about six weeks- because I was confined to a hospital bed. I suppose it was because I didn't really have a choice, when I could get up and around, I went straight for the cigarettes. I lit that cigarette and inhaled, and I damn near fainted. I felt like I was having a mild stroke. Guess what? That happens EVERY time you light a cigarettes, you just don't notice it anymore.

I'm also going to tell you that I'm not one of those people for whom the world became a whole new sensation of taste, smell, and whatever. I have never liked the smell of cigarettes, and haven't smoked in my house or car for years. Only two days ago though, did I notice how nasty my neighbor's cigarette smells on a hot and humid day while she was chatting with me over the fence.

Look, it's illegal to smoke in your workplace and most public places. It's bad form to smoke in some of the places where it's permitted. And now they have made it prohibitively expensive on top of being a nuisance. Just quit, it's not a big deal.

Do you know how nice it is to not worry if you put out the last cigarette before leaving the house? Do you know how nice it is not to jam a cigarette into the dashboard of your car accidentally? Or burn your carpet? Or burn your clothes? Or light a cigarette off the toaster or the stove because you ran out of lighters or matches? Well let me tell you it's a lot of fun not to stop at the corner store and drop $10 or $30 on something as stupid as cigarettes. I could theoretically eat a lobster every month at the best restaurant in town for less than I was spending on cigs. As it is, I'll use the money to pay my electric bill. But I digress.

[The Straight Story]

12. I usually encourage people to smoke

Creates jobs for Americans (most is grown and manufactured here), helps pay for insurance for kids (no one else wanted to offer to be taxed to do it, so smokers are saving the lives of children), small mom and pop stores rely on those customers to keep them in business, and doctors/nurses/hospitals would have less patients so they would lose jobs and we would have more out of work people.

Save America and American Jobs - Smoke.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

11. The internet is your friend.

Without giving up too much information lets just say that I pay about $2.60 a pack for the same Cigs that now cost about $7.00 a pack at the store down the street.

Before the latest tax increase, I knew that most of the cost of my smokes was tax but I didn't mind and bought locally. The latest increase just pushed me over the edge. If they think they can balance the budget on the backs of a few addicts they are wrong. It just turns us into criminals.

You would think they would learn from the current drug war, or maybe by the wild success of prohibition but we just don't get the best and brightest in our elected officials.

[trayfoot]

13. The electronic cigs are a good option, also!

I have cut down on smoking "real" cigs significantly (and seeing some good health results as a result) since getting the electronic cig.