Here we go...

As I have mentioned before, I occasionally smoke a pipe.


In that post, I discussed legislation the Chain Smoker in Chief had signed, increasing the price of various tobacco products.  The Federal Excise Tax on pipe tobacco doubled, from $1.0969 per pound to $2.8126 per pound; among others, the tax on roll-your-own tobacco went from $1.0969 per pound to $24.62 per pound!


Now, Liquidity Preference blog tells us that 

On January 13, 2010, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) and co-sponsor Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) introduced bill H.R. 4439 to congress to raise the federal pipe tobacco tax from $2.8311US per pound to $24.78US per pound and “To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose the same rate of tax on pipe tobacco as is imposed on roll-your-own tobacco.”[...]

If this bill passes, the average increase to your favorite blends will be about:

$2.43US per 50gr

$2.74US per 2oz

$4.86US per 100gr

$10.98US per 8oz

$21.95US per 16oz

$24.15US per 500gr

These prices would be added onto the price you are currently paying for those amounts of pipe tobacco. So with the average price of 100gr tin McClelland Frog Morton being about $13.20US, the new price would be $18.06US!

(From Pipes magazine.  Let my sub lapse, alas.)(Living in Bluest, money-grubbing, tax-the-taxes-on-the-taxes Washington State, of course, I couldn't touch Frog Morton for a mere $18.06 even 10 years ago...)

Pipe tobacco usually comes in 100 gram, or 8 or 16 ounce tins, although you can usually buy two ounces at your friendly neighborhood tobacconist; assuming, of course, that the looters and nanny-staters haven't run your tobacconist out of business...

Jacob Grier of Liquidity Preference (a coffee and drinks blog) says that

The motivation for the tax increase is to stop producers of roll-your-own tobacco (RYO) from repackaging their product as pipe tobacco, which is taxed at a lower rate. The two products are very similar and in the past were taxed at the same rate of $1.10 per pound.

Which I disagree with; even "deluxe" roll-your-own cigarette tobacco is not of the quality of pipe tobacco, nor is it cured the same way.  ("This here high-end wine cooler is better than TJ Swann, and just the same as your Wine Spectator 99 Point Pinot Noir...")