Cigarettes and Tobacco News

Jul 18, 2006 -- Cigarettes might be the smokes of choice at Duke's Place in Homestead, but part-time bartender John "JW" Walters never lights them up -- he prefers little cigars.

"The appeal is the low prices, that's why I buy them," Walters said.

While Allegheny County Council is considering a smoking ban that would include restaurants and bars, the nationwide debate about tobacco has to do with these "little cigars."

The low cost of little cigars -- filtered, cigarette-shaped smokes wrapped in brown paper -- drove attorneys general in 39 states, including Pennsylvania, to petition a change in regulations on the tobacco product. The smokes avoid high taxes and health restrictions under the cigar classification, but the attorneys general argue that little cigars are cigarettes wrapped in brown paper and should be taxed accordingly.

Joel Ressler, the Pennsylvania Chief Deputy Attorney General, said the office has found young people buy more little cigars than cigarettes.

"This is potentially a big problem," Ressler said. "One of the reasons that these products are appealing to kids is because they are so much cheaper."

Local prices are as low as $0.69 per pack, which has helped to more than double the consumption of little cigars in the past decade, according to Department of Agriculture statistics cited by the attorneys general.

"They are probably my best sellers right now," said Steve Boyan of Tobacco Outlet in Bloomfield, where a pack of little cigars is $3 cheaper than a pack of Marlboros. "Within the last three years, they have basically taken over the market along with roll-your-own tobacco," Boyan said.

"People want the cheapest smokes they can get," said Francine Mykich of S&S Candy and Cigar on the South Side, where little cigars are quickly becoming best sellers "because they aren't taxed like cigarettes."

Pennsylvania collects $1.35 in taxes from each pack of cigarettes sold, while little cigars are not taxed because of their current classification. Taxation would make little cigars more expensive, said Ressler, who hopes that increased prices will decrease little cigar consumption among youth.

Little cigars are not big sellers at Continental Smoke Shop in Squirrel Hill, because Ivan Harris said he does not to promote them.

"They don't taste like a real cigar," Harris said. "You're not getting the true effect of smoking a real cigar. They burn very fast and hot."

Many of Harris' customers smoke little cigars like a cigarettes. "You shouldn't be inhaling any cigar," he warned.

Little cigars are popular products in Pittsburgh tobacco stores, but they have yet to show up in local bars and clubs.

"I haven't seen that fad yet," said Jen Clark, event coordinator at dejAVu Lounge in the Strip District. "I see more of the big fat cigars."

While the attorneys general seem primarily concerned with youth consumption, little cigar smokers have one thing in common -- and it isn't age.

"It's sort of across the board with our clientele," said Mykich at S&S. "It's the people who are looking for the cheapest."