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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah smoke shop owners are trimming orders and offering deals to brace themselves for the tobacco tax increase that takes effect on July 1.
Gov. Gary Herbert let House Bill 196 go into law last week without his signature.
It raises taxes on a number of tobacco products, including a $1 hike on a pack of cigarettes.
The tax on cigars and pipe tobacco will go up from 35 percent to 86 percent of the manufacturer's sale price.
Come July 1, smoke shops are expected to fork over the 51 percent difference on existing inventory to the state.
So now they're trying to push out products at reduced prices, giving cigar and pipe smokers a few months to stock up on the cheap.
Deals range from two-for-one cigars at the Tinder Box in Murray to 50 percent off all pipes at Jeanie's Smoke Shop in downtown Salt Lake City.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
