Premium cigar sellers want break from taxes

Cigars are at the foundation of Tampa's history, but some high-end dealers say they're being singled out unfairly in new efforts to tax tobacco. Now they're banding together nationwide to get their point across to Congress, with one local seller joining the charge.

Gordon Smith, owner of Edward's Pipe & Tobacco Shop near Kennedy and Henderson boulevards, was recently part of a 20-member delegation from the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association that visited Capitol Hill. The group met with senators and representatives to explain how their products are different from machine-rolled cigars or cigarettes.

The 2,000-member association, based in Canton, Ga., says premium cigars comprise only 3% of all cigars sold and less than 0.5% of the overall tobacco market. Therefore, they should be classified separately as the Federal Drug Administration reviews its role in the recently enacted Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

“Our businesses are at stake, as is our industry, whenever tobacco tax increases and control measures are considered at the federal and state levels,” says Smith, whose store has been around for nearly 50 years. “Ours is strictly an adult product, not inhaled and smoked in moderation not as a habit but more as a hobby.”

Tampa maintains a few remnants of its once-thriving cigar industry with several smaller shops making and selling their own hand-rolled varieties. However, some local aficionados prefer imported premium brands and secretly wish for U.S. trade restrictions against Cuba to be lifted.