CNN reports that the City of New York is trying to come up with a way to charge tax on stores/customers who use roll-your-own machines to make their own coffin nails.
A pack contains 20 cigarettes and sells for around $13 in New York City after taxes are added. That compares with the national average in 2010 of $4.80 a pack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A pack from Island Smokes can cost less than $4 a pack.
Everything about the business is legal, precisely because the company is neither selling cigarettes, nor manufacturing them, said Jonathan Behrins, a lawyer for Island Smokes. It is simply selling loose tobacco and tubes, he said, and giving customers access to the rolling machines to make the cigarettes themselves.
"What's the harm?" he said. "They are not selling unstamped cigarettes."
Portland Mercury Blogtown has photos of a RYO (Roll-Your-Own) Filling Station. They look cool!
