Cheap Cigarettes Research Articles

The Extent of Illicit Cigarette Sales in Five Rural Districts of Pakistan: A Cross-sectional Study.

The Illicit Tobacco Trade (ITT) subverts tobacco control efforts. Cigarette packs sold without legal health warnings undermine efforts to warn the public about the dangers of tobacco. Furthermore, cigarettes sold below minimum retail prices are indicative of tax evasion leading to revenue loss and budgetary deficits in high tobacco-burden economies. The extent of the ITT in rural areas of such countries might differ from urban. We estimated the extent of illicit cigarette sales in selected rural areas of Pakistan. We analyzed cigarette packs collected from 85 villages in Pakistan as part of a cross-sectional consumer survey of 2550 rural households. We classified cigarette packs as noncompliant if these were missing: A text health warning, pictorial health warning (PHW), underage sale prohibition warning, retail price, or manufacturer details. To measure the extent of tax evasion, we estimated the proportion of packs purchased below the legal minimum retail price. Only 35% (429/1228) of rural smokers were able to show their cigarette packs. Out of these, 89% (382/429) of packs were noncompliant with the cigarette packaging and labeling laws. In rural areas, 83% (357/429) of packs did not have PHW and 33.8% (145/429) did not have printed retail prices. Among all packs, 41% (177/429) were purchased below the minimum retail price of 63 Pakistani Rupees and hence highly likely to have evaded taxes. We found a very high previously unreported proportion of noncompliant cigarette packs in selected rural areas of Pakistan indicating weaker implementation of tobacco control laws in rural areas. This paper presents previously unreported estimates of the share of illicit cigarette sales in rural areas of Pakistan. Most packs (89%) in our sample were noncompliant with the packaging and labeling regulations and a significant proportion (41%) were purchased below the minimum price. The extent of illicit tobacco was found to be far greater in rural than in urban areas of Pakistan. Taking advantage of poor law enforcement, the tobacco industry may be complicit in flooding the rural markets with illegal and cheap cigarettes. Given this disparity, law enforcement authorities must focus on rural areas.

Foreigner

Foreigner Cristina Rivera Garza (bio) Translated by Sarah Booker (bio) I stopped at the restaurant off the highway because I couldn't stay awake. I'd been driving for eight hours after learning that my mother's health was quickly deteriorating. As soon as I hung up the phone with her, I put a few things in a little suitcase and, knowing it would be difficult to find a flight at that late hour, grabbed the car keys and ran out the door. Following by memory the route I hadn't driven in years, I took the interstate as far as I could. Then I turned right onto a state highway, and later, as it got dark, I proceeded down local roads. I'd forgotten about the beauty of that drive. The evening hues outside [End Page 55] the city. The way the wind softly bends the grass on the hills. The shapes of certain clouds. I stopped several times along the way to drink coffee and ask myself, silently and guiltily, whether my quick response really had to do with a concern for my mother's health or just the overwhelming desire to leave everything behind. Tabula rasa. My life in the city was a disaster. I was working more hours than necessary and living off cheap food, coffee, and cigarettes. I hadn't gotten a haircut in months, and I was wearing the same clothes I'd acquired years before, when I'd first arrived, full of dreams. Desires. Ideas for the future. None of it had come to fruition, I had to admit more than once during the drive. Other things had been achieved, that was true, but not the ones I wanted. Not the ones that had brought me there. The sense of failure, at first discreet and bearable, had become a permanent bitter taste in my mouth. An invisible snake slithering across the backs of my thighs, steadily creeping up my torso, under my clothes. An inner clatter that kept me from sleeping. I was not a happy man. The person who was driving these narrow country roads, now skillfully avoiding the body of some nocturnal animal, was as bitter as the saliva he couldn't swallow. I screamed it to the heavens: I am not a happy man. I shouted it out to the deer that forced me to screech to a stop in the middle of the road, the deer that kept looking at me with its big, bright eyes as I got out of my car and fell to my knees on the asphalt, crying. Who are you? I yelled. What the hell are you doing out here? I realized it was just a fawn, cocking its head to the left. I said it once I could finally stand and get back in the car, looking into the rearview mirror: I am not a happy man. I am barely a man. I was wiping away snot when I remembered my mother's youthful face. She'd also moved away, but in the opposite direction. Instead of going to the city, she'd bought a little cabin in a place difficult to find, even on a map. There, she told me, she would have time to think. She said nothing more, as if no further explanation were necessary. Time to think about what? I wondered for the first [End Page 56] time, keeping an eye on the speedometer as I counted the insects crashing into the windshield. Time to think, I guess, about how to get even farther away. That's what she did, anyway. She drifted away, to places I knew little about. One morning she woke up having finally become what she'd always wanted to be: a foreigner. Someone not from here. A person recently arrived. Tabula rasa. For years she'd talked about that with my father. At night, lying next to one other, sharing private landscapes, she'd always end up whispering: somewhere else. That was the only thing I could hear from my room. Sometimes it sounded like a plea. Sometimes it echoed threateningly. Somewhere else. Anywhere, but elsewhere. Not here. That's what she'd said...

Estimating the Size of Illicit Tobacco Market in Lithuania: Results from the Discarded Pack Collection Method.

For decades in Lithuania, the threat of illicit trade has been used to weaken evidence-based tobacco-control policies and to undermine efforts to reduce smoking prevalence and its attributable burden, while also depriving the government of much-needed tax revenue. The aim of this study is to estimate the size of the illicit cigarette market in Lithuania using data from a nationally representative discarded pack collection. The study employed a two-stage cluster design by first randomly selecting 65 well-defined population settlements (30 cities and 35 townships), representing both urban and rural areas, in all 10 counties in Lithuania. Next, we randomly selected 358 polling districts within these settlements. Each polling district had one route along which discarded packs were collected between September 2019 and 2020. In total, 28.9% (95% CIs = 27.7 to 30.1) of discarded cigarette packs were classified as illicit. The vast majority (90.1%) of illicit packs originated from Belarus with most (86.9%) packs produced in the Grodno Tobacco Factory Neman. Tax stamps were present on 93.6% of legal packs and also on 76% of illegal packs. Data from this study suggest that the illicit cigarette trade in Lithuania is more widespread than indicated by other methods and primarily supplied by the neighboring Belarus state-owned tobacco factory in Grodno. This signals the need to adopt Belarus-specific border control and security measures. This study presents data from the first national industry-independent study on illicit tobacco trade in Lithuania using discarded cigarette pack collection method. As customs seizure data show, our results also indicate that the illicit cigarette market is primarily supplied by Belarus state-owned Grodno Tobacco Factory Neman known for filling Europe with cheap cigarettes. An estimate derived from this study is higher than both the industry-independent estimate obtained by the survey method and the estimates offered by the tobacco industry. This adds to the evidence that the difference in estimates obtained by different methods reflects the strengths and weaknesses of each. The study also demonstrates the impact of a rogue neighbor on the illicit market in an adjacent country and offers suggestions on how to address it.

Illicit trade and real prices of cigarettes in Chile.

The tobacco industry claims that tobacco taxes are responsible for increased illicit trade in Chile, which they estimated at 37% in 2022. However, the evolution of cigarette consumption, estimated from population surveys, and of tax-paying cigarettes shows a decreasing penetration of illicit trade since 2018. A gap analysis was used to estimate the evolution of illicit trade based on an arithmetic identity stating that total national cigarette consumption over a given period is equal to the registered consumption as paying taxes plus the cigarettes that are consumed nationally without paying taxes. Illicit trade penetration in Chile was around 10% in 2020, less than half of what the tobacco industry claimed. In addition, the evolution of real prices of cigarettes, calculated using tax collection data, indicates that real prices net of tobacco taxes increased significantly during 2015-2021, a period with no changes in tobacco taxation. The cheapest cigarettes, presumably competing with illicit cigarettes, registered the most significant price increase. Claims of increasing illicit trade penetration in Chile are unfounded and are not supported by data on consumption and tax-paying cigarettes.

Female tabagism associated mastitis: a case report related to low quality cigarettes consumption in Magé, Rio de Janeiro

Objective: to report a case of periductal mastitis, whose initial presentation has been necrosis of nipple in a client of the Public Unified Health System (SUS) in the city of Magé / Rio de Janeiro. The public healthcare system client had reported prolonged use of cheap cigarettes which she used to smoke and which she could afford. Method: case report qualitative study, anchored in anamnesis and physical examination with emphasis on patient social history and pathophisiology of benign breast mastitis related to tobacco use. Result: According to anamnesis and physical examination, it is suggested that a chronic inflammatory process in breast ducts had occurred. A chronic breast inflammatory process may be linked with toxins eliminated in cigarette combustion, nevertheless an overwhelming patient social vulnerability and issues concerning self-care must be regarded by primary health care nursery. Conclusion: Quitting smoking may imply multifactorial aspects, including willpower, psychiatric and somatic disorders, poverty and little access to healthcare system in Brazil. Body care should have been emphasized concerning medical and nursing management. In Magé, mastitis diagnosis associated with tobacco use has been somewhat frequent, and recurrent non-puerperal breast abscess complicates most cases. Often, poor female patients with low self steem have consumed cheaper cigarettes, perhaps less subject to appropriate quality control.

The changing retail landscape for tobacco: dollar stores and the availability of cheap cigarettes among tobacco-related priority populations

IntroductionDollar stores are rapidly altering the retail landscape for tobacco. Two of the three largest chains sell tobacco products in more than 24 000 stores across the USA. We sought...

Note from the Editors

Note from the Editors

«Русский» и «советский» сюжет в творчестве Ёко Тавада

In the article the concepts-signified as “Russian” and “Soviet” expressed in the works of the German-Japanese writer Yoko Tavada (born 1960) are touched upon. The concepts signified as “Soviet” and “Russian” do encompass everything that is connected with Russian culture, literature and the Soviet Union. The empirical material for the given depiction were the essay and novel by Tavada “Suspicious passengers of your night trains” (2002, 2009). Based on the example of this novel the attitude of the younger generation of the socialist countries of late 1980s to the Russian language is revealed. The transition of the socialist bloc (Yugoslavia) is described on the example of clothes (jeans, aluminum fork, and pizza), the younger generation (good manners vs. bad manners), and language skills (English vs. Russian). The heroine’s journey along the Trans-Siberian Railway (Moscow – Irkutsk – Khabarovsk) enabled the author to reveal the micro-historical realities of the last decade of the Soviet era. The plot of the novel showed that in the last decades of the Soviet era there was already a “nostalgia” for household goods, the style of clothing and music, and Western pop culture (Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley). During the contact with the main character, the Russian soul (benevolence, openness, hospitality) and low standards of eco-awareness and disrespect for non-smokers in public transport (train) are revealed. The Soviet era is also confessed at the level of smell and food (garlic, cheap cigarettes, onions, black bread, porridge, soup butter drips, vodka, etc.). In the course of the narrative and communication with the surrounding people the Siberian “real” world is indicated, i.e. the poverty of the interior of the Siberian villages of the Soviet era. In the course of describing the Siberian expanse its natural and climatic constants such as cold, snow, bathhouse and birch, the latter as a symbol of all of Russia with its mythological stratum, were presented. The attributive cycle of the Siberian natural-climatic and “material” world is completed by the theme of androgyny opened up in the Siberian bathhouse, which is a space for identifying all types of physical things, that is, of female and male in woman and man.

Estimating the Magnitude of Illicit Cigarette Trade in Bangladesh: Protocol for a Mixed-Methods Study.

The illicit tobacco trade undermines the effectiveness of tobacco tax policies; increases the availability of cheap cigarettes, which, in turn, increases tobacco use and tobacco related deaths; and causes huge revenue losses to governments. There is limited evidence on the extent of illicit tobacco trade particularly cigarettes in Bangladesh. The paper presents the protocol for a mixed-methods study to estimate the extent of illicit cigarette trade in Bangladesh. The study will address three research questions: (a) What proportion of cigarettes sold as retail are illicit? (b) What are the common types of tax avoidance and tax evasion? (c) Can pack examination from the trash recycle market be considered as a new method to assess illicit trade in comparison to that from retailers and streets? Following an observational research method, data will be collected utilizing empty cigarette packs from three sources: (a) retailers; (b) streets; and (c) trash recycle market. In addition, a structured questionnaire will be used to collect information from retailers selling cigarettes. We will select post codes as Primary Sampling Unit (PSU) using a multi-stage random sampling technique. We will randomly select eight districts from eight divisions stratified by those with land border and non-land border; and within each district, we will randomly select ten postcodes, stratified by rural (five) and urban (five) PSU to ensure maximum geographical variation, leading to a total of eighty post codes from eight districts. The analysis will report the proportions of packs that do not comply with the study definition of illicit. Independent estimates of illicit tobacco are rare in low- and middle-income countries such as Bangladesh. Findings will inform efforts by revenue authorities and others to address the effects of illicit trade and counter tobacco industry claims.

Explaining the Consumption of Illicit Cigarettes

What drives the consumption of illicit cigarettes? While criminology has rarely addressed the divers of the illicit cigarette markets from a theoretical and empirical perspective, studies from other disciplines point to two classes of causes. Some studies stress the impact of cigarette prices and taxes on the market for illicit cigarette; others emphasize the importance of different non-price factors, including informal economy and corruption. This study tests the influence of both price and non-price factors on the illicit cigarette market. Multilevel growth curve analysis—three-level MLM for longitudinal measures—of the illicit cigarette market at the subnational level in the European Union. The analysis focuses on 247 regions in the EU between 2007 and 2013. This study shows that both price and non-price factors influence illicit cigarette consumption. Lower affordability of legal products, proximity to sources of cheap cigarettes, higher national income inequality, greater population density, and the levels of illicit cigarettes in neighboring regions are associated with higher illicit consumption. On the contrary, there is no empirical evidence of the role of two ‘usual suspects’: corruption and shadow economy. The paper also shows that the market for illegal cigarettes is shaped by both demand and supply factors. The geographic concentration of illicit consumption and smuggling calls for the creation of anti-illicit-trade units in most densely populated areas or custom task forces at the most sensitive borders. The disproportionate relevance of illicit flows from eastern non-EU countries suggests to increase the political pressure on these source countries. Finally, given the importance of the demand side in determining the size of the illicit market, price increases should be matched with consumer awareness campaigns. These campaigns should focus on the societal consequences of purchasing illicit cigarettes together with illustrating the harm of consuming tobacco products.

Cigarette Prices in Rural and Urban Ohio: Effects of Census Tract Demographics.

The prevalence of smoking among rural Americans and Americans of lower socioeconomic status (SES) remains higher than among their urban and higher SES counterparts. Potential factors contributing to these disparities are area-based differences in the retail environment and tobacco control policies. We describe the association between neighborhood demographics and cigarette prices in rural and urban areas. Prices of one pack of Marlboro Reds, Newport menthols, and the cheapest cigarettes in the store were recorded from a stratified random sample of tobacco retailers in urban (N = 104) and rural (N = 109) Ohio in 2016. Associations between prices and census tract demographics (SES and race) were modeled separately in each region, controlling for store type. In the rural region, as the census tract income increased, the price of Marlboro and Newport cigarettes decreased, and the price of the cheapest pack of cigarettes increased. In the urban region, as the census tract income and percentage of White non-Hispanic people increased, the price of Marlboro decreased; there were no associations between census tract characteristics and the price of Newports or the cheapest cigarettes. Results describe a complex association between cigarette brand, prices, and area characteristics, where the cheapest brands of cigarettes can be obtained for the lowest prices in lower SES rural areas. Tobacco control policies that raise the price of cheap cigarettes, particularly minimum price laws, have the potential to reduce SES-related smoking disparities in both rural and urban populations.

Smoking as a Socio-Ecological Problem of Mankind

The problem of smoking is almost the most common among human addictions, which is very difficult to give up. A person spends a lot of his life neglecting his health to buy cigarettes and get temporary pleasure. The issue of quality and environmental safety of cigarette components – tobacco, tissue paper and filters worries both cigarette consumers and environmentalists, doctors and others. specialists. Of course, the use of low-quality product from cigarette manufacturers harms not only the human body but also the environment. Purpose. Determine the quality and environmental safety (presence of concentrations of heavy metals) of tobacco, cigarette paper and cigarette filters of domestic and foreign brands. Methods. Methods of atomic absorption spectrometry using the atomic absorption spectrometer MGA 915 MD. Results. Experimental studies by atomic absorption analysis on the concentrations of heavy metals in tobacco, cigarette filters and paper showed the presence of heavy metals: Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr, Cd, Pb. Studies of various tobacco brands have found that the highest concentrations of heavy metals were in the tobacco of the cheapest cigarettes (up to 150 mg / kg), in cigarette paper found only Mn, Zn., When comparing the content of the most toxic heavy metals Cd and Pb in the cigarettes "Parliament" and "Kyiv" and "LM" it was determined that in the tobacco of "Parliament" cigarettes HM concentrations are 7–10 times lower.. Conclusions. There is a tendency to decrease the concentration of heavy metals in the components of cigarettes depending on the price category of the tobacco product. Thus, for the most part, the components of cigarettes of domestic brands have tens of times higher concentrations of heavy metals than cigarettes of the American manufacturer.

The Price of Natural American Spirit Relative to Other Cigarette Brands.

American Spirit cigarettes feature American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) imagery in the branding and are marketed as environmentally friendly, without additives, and four varieties contain organic tobacco. This study is the first to examine retail price of American Spirit relative to other cigarette brands and to assess how its price varies by neighborhood demography. In a random sample of licensed tobacco retailers (n = 1277), trained data collectors recorded availability and price of American Spirit, Pall Mall, Newport, Marlboro, and the cheapest cigarettes regardless of brand. Data were collected in January-March 2017 in California, the state with the largest AI/AN population. Paired t tests assessed prices (before sales tax) of American Spirit relative to others. Ordinary least squares regressions modeled prices as a function of neighborhood demography, adjusting for store type. American Spirit was sold in 77% of stores at an average price of $7.03 (SD = 0.66), which was $0.75-$1.78 (12.0%-34.4%) higher than Pall Mall, Newport, and Marlboro in the same stores. American Spirit costs significantly less in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of school-age residents; however, this pattern was not unique to that brand. Contrary to expectation, American Spirit did not cost less in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of AI/ANs. This study is the first to document lower prices for American Spirit in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of school-age youth. Future research should consider whether the ultra-premium price of American Spirit contributes to misperceptions that the brand is organic and less harmful than other cigarettes. In a large random sample of licensed tobacco retailers in California, American Spirit costs significantly more than other brands, 12.0%-34.4% more than Pall Mall, Newport, and Marlboro in the same stores. After controlling for store type, American Spirit price was significantly lower in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of school-age residents. Research about how an ultra-premium price contributes to misperceptions that all American Spirit varieties are organic and the brand is less harmful and less addictive than other cigarette brands would be informative for ongoing litigation and product regulation.

How Low-Income Smokers in New York Access Cheaper Cigarettes.

To understand the tobacco acquisition practices of low-income smokers in New York State in light of high cigarette prices due to high cigarette taxes. Eight focus groups with low-income smokers were conducted in spring 2015 and 2016 (n = 74). New York City (NYC) and Buffalo, New York. Low-income adults aged 18 to 65 who smoke cigarettes regularly. Qualitative analysis of focus group transcripts that explored differences and similarities by region. We used the interview guide-which covered the process of acquiring cigarettes and the impact of cigarette prices-as a framework for analysis to generate themes and subthemes (deductive coding). We also generated themes and subthemes that emerged during focus group discussions (inductive coding). Some smokers in Western New York have switched to untaxed cigarettes from Native American reservations, whereas low-income smokers in NYC described convenient sources of bootlegged cigarettes (packs or loosies) in their local neighborhood stores, through acquaintances, or on the street. Familiarity with the retailer was key to accessing bootlegged cigarettes from retailers. Smokers in this study could access cheaper cigarettes, which discouraged quit attempts and allowed them to continue smoking. The availability of lower priced cigarettes may attenuate public health efforts aimed at reducing smoking prevalence through price and tax increases.

Google Searches for "Cheap Cigarettes" Spike at Tax Increases: Evidence from an Algorithm to Detect Spikes in Time Series Data.

Online cigarette dealers have lower prices than brick-and-mortar retailers and advertise tax-free status.1-8 Previous studies show smokers search out these online alternatives at the time of a cigarette tax increase.9,10 However, these studies rely upon researchers' decision to consider a specific date and preclude the possibility that researchers focus on the wrong date. The purpose of this study is to introduce an unbiased methodology to the field of observing search patterns and to use this methodology to determine whether smokers search Google for "cheap cigarettes" at cigarette tax increases and, if so, whether the increased level of searches persists. Publicly available data from Google Trends is used to observe standardized search volumes for the term, "cheap cigarettes". Seasonal Hybrid Extreme Studentized Deviate and E-Divisive with Means tests were performed to observe spikes and mean level shifts in search volume. Of the twelve cigarette tax increases studied, ten showed spikes in searches for "cheap cigarettes" within two weeks of the tax increase. However, the mean level shifts did not occur for any cigarette tax increase. Searches for "cheap cigarettes" spike around the time of a cigarette tax increase, but the mean level of searches does not shift in response to a tax increase. The SHESD and EDM tests are unbiased methodologies that can be used to identify spikes and mean level shifts in time series data without an a priori date to be studied. SHESD and EDM affirm spikes in interest are related to tax increases. • Applies improved statistical techniques (SHESD and EDM) to Google search data related to cigarettes, reducing bias and increasing power • Contributes to the body of evidence that state and federal tax increases are associated with spikes in searches for cheap cigarettes and may be good dates for increased online health messaging related to tobacco.

Chinese immigrant men smokers\u2019 sources of cigarettes in Canada: A qualitative study

BackgroundImmigrants often experience economic hardship in their host country and tend to belong to economically disadvantaged groups. Individuals of lower socioeconomic status tend to be more sensitive to cigarette price changes. This study explores the cigarette purchasing patterns among Chinese Canadian male immigrants.MethodsSemi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 Chinese Canadian immigrants who were smoking or had quit smoking in the last five years.ResultsBecause of financial pressures experienced by participants, the high price of Canadian cigarettes posed a significant challenge to their continued smoking. While some immigrants bought fully-taxed cigarettes from licensed retailers, more often they sought low-cost cigarettes from a variety of sources. The two most important sources were cigarettes imported during travels to China and online purchases of Chinese cigarettes. The cigarettes obtained through online transactions were imported by smoking or non-smoking Chinese immigrants and visitors, suggesting the Chinese community were involved or complicit in sustaining this form of purchasing behavior. Other less common sources included Canada-USA cross border purchasing, roll your-own pouch tobacco, and buying cigarettes available on First Nations reserves.ConclusionsChinese Canadian immigrant men used various means to obtain cheap cigarettes. Future research studies could explore more detailed features of access to expose gaps in policy and improve tobacco regulatory frameworks.

Tobacco control environment: cross-sectional survey of policy implementation, social unacceptability, knowledge of tobacco health harms and relationship to quit ratio in 17 low-income, middle-income and high-income countries

ObjectivesThis study examines in a cross-sectional study ‘the tobacco control environment’ including tobacco policy implementation and its association with quit ratio.Setting545 communities from 17 high-income, upper-middle, low-middle and low-income countries...

Spring Breaks and Cigarette Tax Noncompliance: Evidence From a New York City College Sample.

Estimate cigarette tax noncompliance (tax avoidance and evasion) before and after mid-semester recesses in a New York City college campus, where the majority of students are residents of nearby lower-tax states, using data derived from garbology, an archaeological method that reconstructs patterns of human behavior from discarded materials. We systematically divided the college campus into four geographic areas and established a total of 12 transects (survey lines) and five quadrats (survey spheres) in those areas to encompass 74 outdoor trash cans. Weekly collections of discarded cigarette packs (n = 174) in the four areas during Spring 2012 and 2013 were conducted to quantify the percentage of cigarette packs that were tax noncompliant. Overall, we find that 72.4% of the cigarette packs collected in Spring 2012 and 2013 did not bear the required joint New York City and New York State tax stamp. Additionally, we find that cigarette tax avoidance significantly increased after recesses (mid-March and early April) in Spring 2012 and subsequently declined. We also find that packs with a Virginia tax stamp became more prevalent as time elapsed after each recess. College students practice tax avoidance, drawing on legal purchases from their own home states as the primary source of cheap cigarettes. As stocks decline, some students shift to tax evasion by illegally purchasing cigarettes in New York City that have been bootlegged from low tax states (eg, Virginia). Our study adds to the growing literature on cigarette tax noncompliance (ie, tax avoidance and evasion). First, we provide evidence that college students in our New York City sample avoid the payment of taxes in high tax states by purchasing low taxed cigarettes in their home state. Second, we find that once those sources are depleted, students find access to the black market nearby campus. This black market functions through cigarette tax evasion: the resale of cigarettes purchased in low tax states. Our study suggests that institutions of higher education operating in states with high cigarette taxes and a student body that resides in lower tax states should increase cessation services prior to breaks to discourage bulk purchases of cheap cigarettes.

A closer look at ‘Cheap White’ cigarettes

BackgroundGiven the prominence of Cheap Whites in illicit tobacco discussions, we examined various definitions, market presence, brand proliferation, manufacturers, production locations, trademark ownership, prices and compliance with tax stamp and...

A new method for estimating the illicit cigarette market at the subnational level and its application to Italy

This study provides a methodology with which to estimate the volumes and revenues of the illicit cigarette market at the subnational level. It applies the methodology to Italy for a 4-year period (2009–2012), enabling assessment of the prevalence of the illicit trade across years and regions. Notwithstanding the alleged importance of mafias, the results provide a more complex picture of the Italian illicit tobacco market. The maximum total revenues from the illicit trade in tobacco products (ITTP) increased from €0.5 bn in 2009 to €1.2 bn in 2012. The prevalence of illicit cigarettes varies significantly across regions, because of the proximity to countries with cheaper cigarettes and the possible occurrence of other crime opportunities. Understanding of these factors is crucial for the development of appropriate policies against the ITTP. The methodology may be applicable to all other EU countries, providing detailed, yearly estimates of the illicit market at the subnational level.