Cheap.....if the tax increase was 20,000% on all cigars, I agree it would have a serious adverse affect on the industry. But that is not the case.
Here are the old and new proposed tax rates:
Old (current) rates:
* cigarettes not weighing more than 3 lbs/1000 ("small cigarettes") are taxed at a rate of $19.50/1000 ($.39/pack)
* cigarettes weighing more than 3 lbs/1000 (large cigarettes)are taxed at a rate of $49.50/1000
* cigars not weighing more than 3 lbs/1000 (small cigars) are taxed at a rate of $1.828/thousand
* cigars weighing more than 3 lbs/1000 (large cigars) at the rate equal to 20.719 percent of manufacturers or importers sale prices, but not more than $48.75/1000
Proposed new rates:
* small cigarettes are taxed at the rate of $50/1000 ($1/pack)
* large cigarettes are taxed at the rate of $104.99/1000
* small cigars are taxed at the rate of $50/1000 (same as small cigarettes) or 5 cents/cigar
* large cigars are taxed at the rate of 53.3 percent of manufacturers or importers sales price, but not more than $10 per cigar.
http://www.senate.gov/~finance/sitep...1307%20JCT.pdf
I dont know much about the cigar industry either. How many are small cigars (to be taxed at 5 cents/per cigar) vs large cigars; but I assume most sales are not of $20 cigars (or the maximum $10 tax per cigar).
pan.....If i was a smoker, I would buy my cigarettes off of tribal indian websites and pay no tax.