I finally got the paperwork details on the new federal tobacco taxes, and we are implementing price changes on the affected items as I write. As usual, the government made things about as hard to understand as they could. Folks that buy the “tins” of all but the very smallest cigarillos are going to be hit hard. Many of these cigars weigh more than 3 lbs per thousand, and are thus classified as LARGE cigars. What a joke! Don’t be surprised to see the retail price almost double! I’m sure many stores are considering no longer carrying the “roll-your-own” cigarette tobaccos, which saw a 2000% increase in taxation. I think the reason they are getting all the fast food chains in line with required statements of calories, fat content, etc… is so they can put a junk food tax on things like hamburgers and fries. I wonder how folks would like it if their $1.79 fries suddenly cost $3.29?
Ty – Manager Woody’s Smokes & Brews
2 responses so far ↓
Mike // April 11, 2009 at 9:02 am |
You really think this is how to approach this???
RYO is still cheaper than cigarettes by the pack and I don’t know of any cigars that are going to double in price unless you had $.40 cigars to start with.
Ty Thurman // April 11, 2009 at 1:52 pm |
It turned out that RYO did pretty much double in price at the retail level due to the huge increase in tax on that specific product. But as you say, RYO is still less expensive than manufactured cigarettes.
As for the smaller “large” cigars in tins, no they did not double in price, but they did go up significantly as a 20 count box had the new tax applied to each stick. We will continue to carry both RYO and tins as long as they sell well enough at the new price. SO far, people seem to be adjusting.