Big taxes don't touch little cigars

By Fredrick Kunkle
The Washington Post

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WASHINGTON -- The packaging is pretty and the product sounds tasty, even a little wholesome. But inside the brightly colored wrappers that tout an assortment of flavors such as vanilla, strawberry and peach are cigars and cigarillos -- and, according to public health advocates, a not-so-subtle strategy to target young people with cheap, candy-flavored tobacco.

"They do not see these little cigars -- because of the candy flavor -- as smoking," said Debra Annand, director of health education services of the American Lung Association. Even worse, she said, is that federal regulations define cigars in a way that allows tobacco companies to escape the steep taxes that have been levied against cigarettes in recent years.

Health advocates know that smoking habits, particularly among adolescents, are affected by cost.

"It's like gas prices," said a 17-year-old girl smoking outside Jammin' Java in Vienna, Va., recently. "When they go down, you get excited."

Now a move is under way by public health advocates to push back against cigar usage by taxing some cigars like cigarettes.

Since 1990, the per capita consumption of cigars (defined by the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau as any roll of tobacco wrapped in tobacco leaf or a substance containing tobacco) has more than doubled, according to the Cigar Association of America, a trade organization. That includes large, premium, hand-rolled brands and mass-market, machine-rolled cigars that vary in size, such as Swisher Sweet cigarillos, White Owls blunts and Black & Mild filter-tip cigars. Data suggest the consumption of "little cigars" such as Winchesters -- which resemble cigarettes in almost every way but color -- jumped 154 percent between 1998 and 2006, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a Washington-based nonprofit group.

Part of the reason is cost.

Federal excise taxes amount to 39 cents on a pack of 20 cigarettes, while cigars are taxed at a maximum of 5 cents each, according to Art Resnick, a spokesman for the tobacco tax bureau.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has urged states to consider taxing all tobacco products to bring them in line with cigarettes. Ten states have imposed taxes that treat some cigars like cigarettes, the Cigar Association says.

In May, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Joshua M. Sharfstein proposed banning the sale of single, cheap cigars. Noting that cigarettes must be sold in packs of 20 and cost as much as $5, Sharfstein would require Baltimore merchants to sell cigars in packs of five or more, with the aim of discouraging young people from trying the cheap nicotine hit of a single cigarillo.

At present, some cigars, such as a Black & Mild filter-tip, can sell singly for as little as 69 cents, he said. "It just struck us as an enormous oversight," Sharfstein said, explaining that he wanted to fight the "balloon effect": Like squeezing a balloon, making cigarettes more expensive may be pushing more young people to try cigars.

"If it's implemented, it's not going to be a miracle fix of the problem, not by any stretch. But it's a component," the health commissioner said.

Public health advocates have called increasing attention to the use of cigars among young people, particularly their use of machine-rolled cigarillos and little cigars with sweet or exotic flavorings. One 7-Eleven in suburban Virginia had a vivid array on display, including peach-flavored White Owls in bright, crinkly orange paper and Dutch Masters cigars with a hint of grape in a purple wrap.

Eddie Feeks, 18, said he was a 15-year-old Virginia high school student when he tried smoking for the first time. Despite his misgivings, he decided to try one of his friends' cigars.

"I didn't inhale it the first time," Feeks said. "Then the second time I tried to inhale it, and it, like, punched me in the throat. ... I waited until I was done coughing five minutes later, and then I kept smoking."

Tobacco makers deny any attempt to reach children. "Our look at it is, first and foremost, all of Altria's products are designed only for adults," said David Sutton, a spokesman for the company. "We don't want kids to use any type of tobacco product. Period." Sutton said the firm has joined other tobacco companies in promoting training, financial incentives for retailers and other steps such as the We Card program, which trains retailers to sell only to adults.

Industry officials also deny that flavored tobaccos are designed for children.

"Any time there's an issue of flavorings, it's always assumed to be a marketing at kids. I don't buy that," Norman Sharp, president of the Cigar Association, said. "The fact is, flavorings go back to the 1500s." In the Netherlands in the 1600s people smoked tobacco flavored with lavender, rosemary, nutmeg and coriander, Sharp said.