Roll-Your-Own Tobacco Stores May Cease To Exist Under New Law

I haven't bought a pack of cigarettes in almost 2 yrs after switching to rolling my own by hand. Not only is it less expensive, but now if I run out and I bum a smoke from someone I can taste a huge difference between the two, not saying it is more healthy to buy and smoke RYO, but it certainly tastes like less additives are in it.

Actually when I went to the local shop such as the one being discussed the lady had a petition on the counter and briefly described what was happening. Thing was it was full already and didn't have anymore room to sign. Then I saw this article today and now I know what is happening.

This bill will have implications for people who opt to buy loose tobacco and use the machine in the store to roll the cigs for them. Other possibilities include owners of these stores going out of business by mandating they get a manufacturers permit to operate the machine.

huffpo.com

“This law is not designed for people to comply with,” said Phil Acordino, president of RYO Machines, which began manufacturing roll-your-own cigarette machines in 2008.

“It’s designed to put these people out of business," he said. "They couldn’t get a manufacturer’s permit if they wanted to.”

"Proponents of the new law and critics of roll-your-own shops say the stores take advantage of a tobacco tax “loophole” that Congress unintentionally created in 2009, when lawmakers boosted taxes on ready-made cigarettes to a much higher rate than that of loose tobacco."

This lead to a large number of mom and pop stores popping up that sold primarily loose tobacco versus package cigarettes.

The tax difference led to a flood of mom-and-pops that started selling loose tobacco, instead of major cigarette brands. Around 1,000 stores in 42 states installed roughly 2,000 roll-your-own machines, according to RYO Machines.

Well I guess I'll have to start buying online or go to the little shop down the street and buy all the cans available before it goes out of business. Also makes you wonder how many people these places employ across the U.S. that may find themselves without work...

(Alternative source)
Roll Your Own Cigarette Stores going up in Smoke

reply to post by Daedal

According to the Associated Press, the new law affecting roll-your-own shops will generate nearly $100 million annually in government revenue.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

It's all about money.

Looks like these shops are misusing a loophole meant for pipe tobacco. This new law will correct that loophole. So?

The new federal law makes it harder for stores with roll-your-own cigarette machines to classify the tobacco they sell as pipe tobacco –- which is taxed at a lower rate than cigarette tobacco.

Want to smoke tobacco without paying taxes? Grow and cure your own. Problem, solution.

Originally posted by stanguilles7
Looks like these shops are misusing a loophole meant for pipe tobacco. This new law will correct that loophole. So?

The new federal law makes it harder for stores with roll-your-own cigarette machines to classify the tobacco they sell as pipe tobacco –- which is taxed at a lower rate than cigarette tobacco.

Want to smoke tobacco without paying taxes? Grow and cure your own. Problem, solution.

Better solution:
Hand-roll them yourself at home.

reply to post by Daedal


Fortunately, I am surrounded by stores that sell loose tobacco. I even buy pipe tobacco to lower the cost even further, with filtered cigarette tubes. My total cost is about $14 a week and I get a little more than a carton out of them. I pack the tubes so light that I couldn't go back to smoking normally packed smokes even if I wanted to. Those tobacco store rollers pack the cigarettes too tight for me.

I just thank gawd that I'll be dead before all tobacco is outlawed.

I have been rolling my own butts for a while now, but I do it myself at home with a rolling machine. It takes me about a half hour to roll, and pack down, about 5 packs, I never use the store machines.

I also notice a big difference in chemical tastes between the main brands I use to buy and the pipe tobacco I roll myself. American cigarettes have that chemical that extinguishes the cigarette when it's sitting there for about 1 minute, fire safe cigarettes, and that chemical tastes awful.

Buy a $30 rolling machine and do it yourself, or use a pipe, the bags of tobacco will always be available to buy.

reply to post by Daedal


The government sure can jump and close a loophole fast when it takes away from big business, wonder why they can't seem to fix all those loopholes for big business. *sigh

Originally posted by stanguilles7
Looks like these shops are misusing a loophole meant for pipe tobacco. This new law will correct that loophole. So?

The new federal law makes it harder for stores with roll-your-own cigarette machines to classify the tobacco they sell as pipe tobacco –- which is taxed at a lower rate than cigarette tobacco.

Want to smoke tobacco without paying taxes? Grow and cure your own. Problem, solution.

encouraging the gov to make people pay more for their personal preferences and freedoms to consume, use, like what they wish that causes no one else harm, is a slippery slope with a cliff attached.

Originally posted by LittleBlackEagle

Originally posted by stanguilles7
Looks like these shops are misusing a loophole meant for pipe tobacco. This new law will correct that loophole. So?

The new federal law makes it harder for stores with roll-your-own cigarette machines to classify the tobacco they sell as pipe tobacco –- which is taxed at a lower rate than cigarette tobacco.

Want to smoke tobacco without paying taxes? Grow and cure your own. Problem, solution.

encouraging the gov to make people pay more for their personal preferences and freedoms to consume, use, like what they wish that causes no one else harm, is a slippery slope with a cliff attached.

Sure. But all this is doing is closing a loophole meant to allow people to sell pipe tobacco. I'm all for personal liberty, direct and explicit. Not people misusing loopholes.

And like I said, you are free to grow and cue your own. I've done it before. Empower yourself instead of blaming the 'government'.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
I have been rolling my own butts for a while now, but I do it myself at home with a rolling machine. It takes me about a half hour to roll, and pack down, about 5 packs, I never use the store machines.

I also notice a big difference in chemical tastes between the main brands I use to buy and the pipe tobacco I roll myself. American cigarettes have that chemical that extinguishes the cigarette when it's sitting there for about 1 minute, fire safe cigarettes, and that chemical tastes awful.

Buy a $30 rolling machine and do it yourself, or use a pipe, the bags of tobacco will always be available to buy.

your reply helped me realize i have this issue confused. as it sounded at first they wanted to tax the raw materials higher but i now think i understand it as they want to tax stores that roll them for you and sell them pre rolled is that correct?

I went into the RYO joint that I frequent in my town last week. They said the machines had to be out by July 7th. The place was mobbed as everyone was rolling 3-4 cartons rather than the normal single carton. I did the same. They say they will stay open and continue to sell loose tobacco and rolling supplies. They are also looking at an alternative use for the machines. One idea was a membership club that allows you to use the machine as a perk, located off premise.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
I have been rolling my own butts for a while now, but I do it myself at home with a rolling machine. It takes me about a half hour to roll, and pack down, about 5 packs, I never use the store machines.

I also notice a big difference in chemical tastes between the main brands I use to buy and the pipe tobacco I roll myself. American cigarettes have that chemical that extinguishes the cigarette when it's sitting there for about 1 minute, fire safe cigarettes, and that chemical tastes awful.

Buy a $30 rolling machine and do it yourself, or use a pipe, the bags of tobacco will always be available to buy.

I began rolling my own at home with loose tobacco a few years ago, and since then my chest problems have disappeared.

A long-time sufferer of chronic asthma and chronic bronchitis, these conditions have cleared up since I gave up packet cigarettes.

A pack of smokes just went up another dollar here in Illinois.

It is funny how the government thinks you can tax yourself out of debt. It doesn't work. We are on our way to rival NY's cig prices.

I am seriously going to quit. Screw rolling my own. I did it for a long time and it just isn't worth it to me.

I want to quit and write a letter to the governor and tell him that he needs to subtract my tax totals from the "projected" amount of revenue generated by the taxes. In the long run I might even tell him that the state has forced me to look for a place to live other than this messed up state.

These people need to do a better job of spending the money they already bring in.

Originally posted by LittleBlackEagle

your reply helped me realize i have this issue confused. as it sounded at first they wanted to tax the raw materials higher but i now think i understand it as they want to tax stores that roll them for you and sell them pre rolled is that correct?

Exactly. It's a loophole that allowed traditional tobacco stores to basically pretend they were only selling roll and pipe tobacco, when what they were actually doing is still selling people regular cigarettes.

reply to post by Daedal


just go find a reservation(native Americans) they dont seem effected by tobacco tax hikes and i doubt they will change anything they are doing cuz the government tells them to i been getting packs of smokes for like 2.50 on tribal land and cartons for around 20 so go visit your neighbors(native Americans) loose some money in their casinos and buy some native grown tobacco to not get taxed into oblivion

www.keeptobaccosacred.org...
www.rmtec.org...
www.nativevillage.org...

I roll my own as well. I buy a bag of Kentucky select tobacco for $23 and 400 cig tubes for about 6 bucks. This last me a month. With tax it is around $37? Anyway, it comes out to a little over a dollar a pack the last time I did the calculations. That is compared to $5 a pack for store bought in Alabama. I am not worried about their in store rolling machines anyway. I have a topomatic machine at home that is awesome!

How can they use a transportation bill to tax tobacco? There needs to be a law prohibiting improper legislation. All too often I see stuff like this tacked onto a spending bill that has nothing to do with it.

There's a video at WSJ.com. Click on the video tab.

From the OP link:

“It’s quite clear that this is politicians and big tobacco working against small businesses,” Smith said.

It’s true the Altria-owned tobacco giant Philip Morris USA has been a strong backer of the federal legislation.

bloomberg.com

Liggett Group says it’s losing sales to the roll-your-own upstarts. The discount tobacco maker and Altria Group Inc. (MO) are fighting alongside health advocates -- after decades at odds -- to press Congress and the Food and Drug Administration to equalize tax payments on various forms of tobacco and to enforce the same health rules imposed on major producers.

There it is in a nutshell. It's not all about taxes or permits. It's about big tobacco losing sales on their cigarettes.

Personally, I smoke the little cigars that sell for $1.50 to $2.00 a pack because they're not subject to the cigarette tax. Why is that? The same reason pipe tobacco isn't subject to the tax. Because if the crooks in Congress levied the same tax on all tobacco products, they would have to tax their pipes and cigars and they sure as hell don't want to pay tax on their habits.

By the way, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is the one promoting this. If you would like to contact Mr. Baucus, you can do so here.

Oh man, we're getting screwed over royally in this country. A pack of 30 cigs is around 17-20 bucks on average. My 30g wallet of Port Royal is about 16-18 bucks. A carton of 30's around 110 bucks!!

I'm solving my cigarette problem with an E-smoke. E-smokes vaporize liquid nicotine, so there is no combustion of paper, nor any smoke to inhale. It's simply vapour.
Big-pharma doesn't get my money anymore, nor do the tobacco companies. A "carton" of E-liquid runs me about $22, which is way cheaper than the $80 I was spending before. I no longer have a smokers cough, I don't smell like tobacco, and I can smoke my E-smoke anywhere!

15 years of rolling my own after being diagnosed with COPD.. I had also told that it was likely that my teeth would fall out due to a gum disease but I have had no symptoms of COPD and the dental problem was corrected by a deep cleaning procedure.... There is only one brand of cigarette tobacco I can smoke without having respiratory problems within a week.. I can't smoke any pipe tobacco I have tried though I have found a few mixes that taste real good they all have me feeling bad in a short period of time.... I spend about $80.00 a month on tobacco and filter tubes.