The International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) has announced that it has successfully defeated a proposed tax hike on cigars and pipes in the state of Louisiana.

Yesterday, the Louisiana State Legislature agreed on a new budget to deal with the state’s budget shortfall, which could have totaled to $1.6 billion. While the tax on cigarettes will go up 50 cents in the state, the tax on cigars and pipe tobacco remains the same.

Louisiana currently taxes cigars at 20 percent of their wholesale price. An additional 5 percent tax on cigars had been proposed along with an additional 17 percent tax on pipe tobacco.

Currently a cigar with a suggested retail price of $9.50 likely retails for around $11.40 in Louisiana, if the additional tax had been approved, that price would have been around $11.88.

For a complete list of state cigar taxes, click here.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.