By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Robert LaGrange sat in a Lisbon Street doorway and twisted the end of his cigarette to a fine point. He lit it and inhaled deeply, measuring the taste. He examined the cigarette a moment before placing it back to his lips.

“I definitely can’t afford the name brands, that’s for sure,” he said. “I’m going to be rolling my own.”

All in all, it was a miserable day for smokers.

Saddled with a new tax that jacked up the price of a pack of cigarettes by a dollar, they had few choices. They could quit. They could find alternatives, or they could gripe about the new expense while continuing to smoke.

“I think it’s bull,” the 40-year-old LaGrange said. “They got us addicted to this stuff and now they’re jacking up the price.”

Most smokers knew that come Monday morning, a pack of their favorite brands would cost a dollar more. The cost of a carton went up by two dollars, thanks to the new tax that targets cigarette smokers exclusively.

Pipe tobacco is not affected by the tax. Neither are chewing tobacco nor cigars.

The new tax sent the price of a pack of Marlboros or other big brands soaring to more than $5 at some stores. Even a pack of generic cigarettes, considered the equivalent of floor sweepings by some smokers, was approaching $4.

“Everyone pretty much knew it was coming,” said Ryan Feely, an employee at Bill Davis Tobacconists on Lisbon Street. “And they’re not very happy about it.”

At the tobacco store Monday, business was brisk. Some people came in for their usual brands and muttered about the higher prices. Others were there for pipe tobacco or cigars, while some were completely redefining their smoking habits.

“A lot of people are buying roll-your-own,” Feely said.

One of those is Kevin Kimball, a guitarist and physics professor who’s been rolling his own cigarettes for more than five years. The tobacco he rolls is a better grade than that contained in the brand smokes most people buy. The rolling tobacco is also not affected by the tax. But that fact did not prevent Kimball from expressing his views.

“I’m very disappointed to see our elected officials targeting folks who by all measure, are at the lowest economic level,” he said. “It’s very hypocritical.”

Kimball selected a package of tobacco fresh from a farm in Kentucky. He said it would take him maybe five minutes to roll 20 cigarettes with the help of a rolling machine.

“It’s cumbersome at first, with the machine,” he said. “But I’m willing to bet there are a lot of folks who will pick up on this.”

Tobacco, enough for 200 cigarettes for the person willing to roll his own, was selling for under $10.

One man suggested most smokers will continue to buy their regular brands even if the price eventually rises to $20 a pack. A woman said she does not smoke, but went to Bill Davis to buy rolling tobacco for her grandfather. Those people did not want to publicly comment about the new tax.

Debie Thalheiner, owner of Bill Davis, is not surprised. In recent years, smokers have been banned from restaurants, bars and public buildings. Around some buildings, they are not even allowed to smoke outside on the grounds. The price of cigarettes keeps climbing higher and higher. Smokers either adapt to accommodate their lifestyle or they give up the habit. But Thalheiner scoffs at the notion that the tax was created to encourage smokers to quit.

“It isn’t about cessation,” she said. “It’s about taxation.”

She said politicians are quick to send out press releases about matters such as the new tax. But they are quiet about new laws, such as the one enacted two years ago to make selling or buying tobacco products over the Internet illegal in Maine, she said. They are quiet, she says, because the law is rarely enforced. And that hurts legitimate sellers like herself.

“It’s frustrating,” Thalheiner said.

Downtown, LaGrange finished his cigarette and stubbed it out. He might try to quit again, he said. But either way, he is disgusted at the way the state targets smokers over and over, while those with different vices escape the scrutiny of politicians.

“It’s ridiculous the way they point their fingers at the smokers,” he said. “There are other groups of people who should be paying, too.”

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