In recent years, roll-your-own tobacco machines have surfaced at various retail locations putting convenience stores at a competitive disadvantage on price. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor America, and in particular its lawmakers, remains caught in a love-hate relationship with tobacco. That push-pull has resulted in very well-publicized attempts to dissuade Americans from using tobacco, or…
GAO Suggests Equalizing Tobacco Tax Rates
A new report finds shift in using pipe versus roll-your-own tobacco and large cigars versus small cigars to avoid hefty taxes. This week, the federal Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report titled “Large Disparities in Rates for Smoking Products Trigger Significant Market Shifts to Avoid Higher Taxes.” The document shows the impact of the…
New York RYO Business Shut Down
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…
RYO Rolls Into 2010
RYO Pounds Sold Per Year Roll your own (RYO) cigarettes is a growing trend. Sales have climbed during the past five years, yet took a dive in 2009 as customers started using pipe tobacco to roll cigarettes as a result of increased taxes. On the other hand, customers used 10.6 million pounds of pipe tobacco…
Protecting Cigarette Sales
TOP PERFORMERS Altria Sales & Distribution (Philip Morris USA) R. J. Reynolds Lorillard HONORABLE MENTIONS Liggett Vector Natural American Spirit/Santa Fe (Reynolds American) Commonwealth Brands Despite the wild nine-month ride that saw a large federal tax increase and the Food & Drug Administration gain control over the category, cigarettes continue to dominate in-store sales, accounting…
FDA Clarifies Tobacco Ban
Flavored products including cigarettes, RYO and loose tobaccos and rolling papers are no longer legal in U.S. stores; administration said it would look at “little cigars” and similar products on a “case-by-case basis.” The smoking lamp on the majority of flavored tobacco products sold in convenience stores has been extinguished, but the ruling has ignited…