Roll-Your-Own Tobacco Road Cigarette Stores Reopen (at Least for Now)

Roll-your-own cigarette stores across the Bay area reopened at 8 a.m. this morning, July 27, just days after fearing they would be shut down for good.

“Customers are lined up out the door in some places,” said Sam Bontempo, a partner in Good Times Pinellas. The company operates 13 roll-your-own stores in Central Florida, including in Brandon, at 948 West Brandon Blvd., one of the company’s most popular outlets.

The market for roll-your-own cigarettes exploded in 2010 after the federal tax tobacco rose dramatically. Roll-your-own shops use pipe tobacco which is taxed at a much lower rate. While 10 packs (200 cigarettes) of Marlboro Lights can cost north of $60, 200 cigarettes at a roll-your-own store typically costs around $20-25.

A federal transportation bill signed into law earlier this month appeared to be the death knell for roll-your-own stores nationwide. Under a small amendment attached to the bill roll-your-own stores are termed “tobacco manufacturers” just like larger cigarette manufacturers. Facing the same taxes and federal regulations as their giant competitors like Philip Morris USA, the change looked like it would all but eliminate the roll-your-own market niche.

However, an injunction issued by a federal district court in Ohio has put the brakes on any enforcement of the new law.

“Because of the injunction … the Alcohol, Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau is not currently processing applications or providing any guidance regarding the administration or enforcement,” said bureau officials, in a statement on the group's Web site July 25.

Alcohol, Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau, a division of the U.S. Treasury Department, is the federal agency tasked with enforcing the new law.

Until the legal wrangling is resolved, roll-your-own stores will remain open. But for how long is not clear, Bontempo said.

Customers are also wary of just how long the stores will now be able to stay open with many reportedly stocking up this morning.

“We have people who would normally only buy one carton of cigarettes now buying five,” Bontempo said.

Good Times has been in business two years and employs 55 people at 13 stores in New Port Richey, Holiday, Lakeland, Plant City, Largo, Pinellas Park, St. Petersburg, Zephyrhills and Tampa. Florida is home to some 80 roll-your-own stores, second only to Pennsylvania, according to Bontempo.

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