For better or worse, there are still many people who insist on continuing to smoke tobacco. These are not only long term, confirmed addicts – new smokers start all the time as well. Many a word has been written on the subject of why do people smoke and should society try to stop them?
Addiction & Big Money
The tobacco industry as a whole turns over billions of dollars per year and employs large numbers of people; businesses of this magnitude do not simply shut up shop and go away and they will try every tool in the marketing box to maintain and grow their sales and profits. Government is also in on the act; they might, morally, wish to ban all types of smoking but, then, they look at their budgets and the huge amount of money they receive from taxes on tobacco sales; are they going to throw that much income away? In any case, as we learn’t the hard way during alcohol prohibition, banning something popular only serves to drive it underground – the government loses its revenue, people can still get the product and illegal enterprises reap the profits.
Moderation In All Things
If we accept that some people will always smoke and that some others will always join the ranks; then, rather than financially unwise and probably ineffectual bans, it makes sense to introduce controls that might help people smoke less dangerously and curb their propensity to harm others with their exhaled smoke. Currently, our Government is still trying to get the best balance. Some of the ideas tried have resulted in some anomalies.
For example, higher taxes on cigarettes since these are widely believed to be the most harmful way of consuming tobacco. Traditionally, cigars have been thought of by many as a less harmful form of smoking so they should be taxed at a lower rate.
Since a cigar is a fairly large amount of tobacco (in comparison to a cigarette), tax differences do not make a full size cigar cheaper than a cigarette. But, if the cigar becomes mass produced and smaller; the tax system can give a price advantage to the little cigar.
Added Safety Sells
Most cigarette smokers like to believe that a filtered smoke is a safer smoke. Therefore, when attacking the cigarette market with cheaper little cigars, it makes sense to add a filter to your product; as is the case with the Cheyenne Filtered Cigars.
