Van Dough: Why cigarette smugglers love New York.

Reason Online ^ | 7/5/02 | Jacob Sullum

[goodieD]

Anti-smoking nazi BUMP.

[morjon]

I've recently heard that the price of name brand idiot sticks in CA can go as high as $49 a carton.

[hellinahandcart]

I actually hit the "smugglers" link hoping to find a list of names (cuz I need names!). LOL, no such luck.

[dr_who]

This guy is a total idiot. He's just started one hell of a black market in cigarettes.

[NittanyLion]

This guy is a total idiot. He's just started one hell of a black market in cigarettes.

Bloomberg? Yep.

[steve50]

Go to.....yesmoke.com...they'll air freight a carton from Switzerland for $15 bucks. Legal for now, I believe

[Hunble]

Thanks for reminding me. I just placed my order for 9 cartons at 57.99 from www.stuffyourown.com.

My wife loves to make cigarettes while watching TV. It keeps her hands busy.

So New York City - STUFF THAT!

[Hunble]

WOW, I just did the math:

New York City:

9 cartons x 10 packs per carton at $7.00 per pack =

$630.00

This is absolutly criminal!

Just a few minutes ago, I ordered the same 9 cartons, for the low price of:

Subtotal 57.99
Shipping 8.95
Tax 0.00
Total 66.94

Do these idiots think that we are just as brain dead as they are?

[AdA$tra]

They just raised the taxes on smokes here in Kansas as well. The Dept of Revenue info gal went on all the news shows to make it clear that anyone in possesion of more that 200 cigarettes without a Kansas tax stamp affixed will be fined $1,000 and could face jail time. I do not smoke, but I am considering starting a little side business...LOL.

[steve50]

I'm ready to start the RYO process myself. Could you recommend a good machine and a light no additive tobacco to start with?

[umgud]

WOW, I just did the math

Here's some more math;

The average pack of smokes is 6.5 cubic inches and aren't very heavy
A typical semi-truck van measures 576" long (48') x 96" wide x 110" high....

How many packs of smokes can you smuggle in one trip? What is your minimum and maximum expected per/pack profits

[general_re]

Robert L. Shepherd, a former New York State tax official, predicts the city will see a decline in revenue as smokers shop around. "I think with $1.50 they'll pass the tipping point," he told the Times. That's what happened several years ago in Canada, where the government was forced to cut cigarette taxes in response to widespread smuggling and evasion.

Pretty much. For a while, there were some upstate NY'ers and Canadians making fat money floating smokes across Lake Ontario by the boatload...

[Hunble]

I do not know about light tobacco, since I only use full flavour.

As for machines, I strongly recommend the Excel.

Contrary to logic, this low cost plastic machine runs circles around the more expensive ones. Having used the more expensive metal machines, this one simply astounded us.

BUY IT!

[steve50]

Thanks, I'll try a starter kit with that. There's a lot of places that handle a wider variety of tobacco. I've heard good things about the Danish Haarzwarz. Time to stop feeding these idiots with tax money.

[Hunble]

Having used the more expensive machines for years, we were never happy with the quality control. They made decent cigarettes, but the backing density was difficult to maintain.

I smoke 3 packs a day, so we would were these machines out in about 2 years. Just out of curiosity, we decided to order the cheep plastic Excell.

The quality simply astounded us! Each and every cigarette is now fully packed without any annoying gaps.

For those just starting, if the cigarette is not packed tightly along it's entire length, you may end up with burning tobacco falling upon you when you least expect it!

A machine that will pack a cigarette tube well, it worth it's weight in gold.

[Maelstrom]

Next comes violence as smugglers struggle over turf, followed by a call for increased police powers...a loss of civil liberties...

Just like Prohibition

and

JUST LIKE THE WAR ON DRUGS
Do you drug warriors get it yet?

[Tacis]

You'll have a black market, all right, but you'll also have a "cottage" black market, a black market operated by amateurs. This is a great business opportunity for all those who commute from Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey. They can buy a carton at the station paper stand and sell it in the office for aprox. $10 more. The same guys that operate the NYC football pools will make a market in buying smokes in the same place they sell pool sheets. NYC will be awash in cigarettes that are available at less than the "market" rate.

My bet is that 100s of building newspaper stand (many still run by blind guys) will go out of business as "lega;" cigarette sales shrink. Sure, smoking will decrease, but city tax revenue will decrease, as well.

[newcats]

Got that beat.....
The lil Mom and Pop grocery store down the street sells cartons from Columbia for $9.99. They taste better than any American brand that I can think of.