[Chief Smoker]

Here's an article I found interesting, living in VA - what's everyone else think about this? UNFAIR?

Higher Levies Sought To Curb Popularity

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.

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 five cents each . . .

"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."