...thanks to the Gunvernment:

Massive Cigar Tax Increase Hits Today

"The 700 percent excise tax increase on “large” cigars that Obama signed into law on February 4 goes into effect today. The tax is part of a series of increased tobacco taxes raised for the controversial State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Under SCHIP, large cigars will be taxed at 52.75 percent, with a cap of 40.26 cents per cigar. This enormous increase, up from the previous rate of 20.719 percent with a cap of 4.875 cents per cigar, has many worried that it will devastate an industry already under siege due to state tax hikes and smoking bans.

...the SCHIP tax increase had the potential to devastate not only cigar retailers, manufacturers, and consumers, but could also lead to widespread unemployment and crime in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Nicaragua—the three main sources of premium handmade cigars...taxes, even more so than smoking bans, could devastate retailers since cigars are a “non-addictive luxury item,” which smokers could easily cut back on in response to higher prices."

[Thanks to Patrick Semmens]