Smokers Rolling Own Cigarettes
07/26/99
When cigarette prices jumped last fall, Tom Hagen figured he had two choices: quit or roll his own.
David Cooper, left, demonstrates a cigarette rolling machine for Tom Hagen at Joe's Smoke House in Albany, Ga.(AP Photo/Todd Stone)He's still puffing. Like thousands of others, he now gets his cigarettes the old-fashioned way.
Rolling your own - formerly the exclusive territory of farmers and truck drivers - has suddenly become urban chic, says Adam Marsh, president of M&R Holdings in New York City, which produces "Farmers' Gold'' tobacco.
"I see Yuppie types. I saw a young woman in a cafe in the East Village who took out a little pouch of tobacco, took out some papers and rolled her own,'' Marsh says.
Marsh's company plans to introduce a make-your-own kit later this summer with a cigarette machine, tobacco and all the other accessories.
Joyce White, owner of Royal Cigar Co. in Atlanta, says sales of make-your-own supplies ``are off the wall.'' Royal Cigar has an Internet business that offers 11 rolling machine models ranging from $4 to $20 and more than 30 brands of tobacco.
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