Back when cigarettes went to $4 a pack, I started making my own. They sold filtered tubes, bulk cigarette tobacco and the machines to stuff the tubes. That put the price at less than a buck a pack. There were some nice Turkish blends too. Those were kind of strong but good on occasion.
Then Obama put his 150% tax on bulk cigarette tobacco. First the imported stuff went away and then the domestic. He didn’t tax pipe tobacco for some reason so now everyone sells cigarette tobacco as pipe tobacco. The difference is the coarseness of the cut.
So now, those of us who smoke cigarettes and don’t want to pay $5-6 a pack deal with chunks and fussiness when making smokes. We lose a few tubes here and there. They don’t make any nice blends. It’s all just whatever’s cheapest to grow I guess. Oh and when all premade cigarettes went to being ‘fire safe’, the taste changed. I can’t stand a premade cig. They taste like chemicals to me.
Definitely a tax on the poor. There were no well to do people stuffing their own cigarettes.
Gee, don’t they sell vaping stuff online?
For years I did the make your own cigarettes too. I’d make them Saturday night while watching TV.
Then about 10 years ago I found the e-cigs. Must say my lungs feel a lot better. The morning hack is gone. Clothes don’t reek of smoke. Cost is about 50 cents a day.
The government wants the money. That’s all. The kids are just a convenient excuse. Money. Taxes. Government misses the money generated from cigarettes.