Tomorrow, Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward, D-Beaverton, is expected to introduce legislation that would raise the minimum the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21 in the state of Oregon.

A separate bill, H.B. 2024, was introduced earlier in the Oregon House. It would not only increase the minimum age to purchase tobacco, but would remove the 50 cent cap on cigar taxes, meaning cigars would be subject to the 65 percent tax that is charged on other tobacco products.

That means that a cigar with an MSRP of $9.50 would jump from $10.50 to $15.20 by halfwheel estimates before sales taxes are added.

In 2015, a similar age increase bill was proposed, though it ultimately stalled.

If passed, Oregon would join California and Hawaii as the only states where you must be 21 to purchase tobacco, though a host of other states are considering similar measures.

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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 handle the editing of our written content, the majority of the technical aspects of the site and work with the rest of our staff on content management, business development and more. I’ve lived in most corners of the country and now entering my second stint in Dallas, Texas. I enjoy boxing, headphones, the Le Mans 24-hour, wearing sweatshirts year-round and gyros. echte liebe.