Giving customers access to tobacco and RYO machines is akin to selling untaxed cigarettes, lawsuit insists.
Two New York-based roll-your-own tobacco stores run by Island Smokes—one in Chinatown and one in Staten Island—have agreed to close their doors by Feb. 1, following a lawsuit settlement, according to city officials, the New York Post reported.
Island Smokes, had been providing customers with loose tobacco, tubes of cigarette paper and in-store access to cigarette-making machines, which officials claimed amounted to selling untaxed cigarettes.
The company had faced a lawsuit brought by city lawyers, and agreed to shut down in settlement of that lawsuit, according to a Law Department spokeswoman.
At least five other roll-your-own businesses have started up since Island Smokes came under attack by city officials, and several of those businesses have also been sent letters, warning them to cease and desist their roll-your-own business or face a lawsuit that would seek to force their closure.