The latest attempt to cap the tax on cigars in the state of Hawaii is advancing through the state’s senate.

S.B. 2843 passed the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee and is expected to receive a vote in the full Senate later this week.

Currently, Hawaii taxes cigars at 50 percent of their wholesale price. A cigar with an MSRP of $9.50 would drop from its current pre-sales tax price of $14.25 to a much more modest $10.50 by halfwheel estimates.

Attempts to cap Hawaii’s cigar tax have been an annual effort for the last handful of years. Last year’s attempt passed the Senate but failed to get approval by the Hawaii House of Representatives.

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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.