Highway bill is expected to put an end to roll-your-own cigarette parlors

(cleveland.com) The federal highway bill signed Friday will do more than help build bridges and roads: it is expected to put an end to the roll-your-own tobacco industry, causing customers of the cheaper smokes to howl.
... The businesses are a small but growing niche with their cabinetlike machines that roll 200 cigarettes in about 15 minutes. The prices hook customers: a carton of roll-your-own cigarettes made with loose tobacco costs under $25. A carton of brand-name cigarettes costs nearly $60, a difference based primarily on manufacturing costs and taxes.
In simple terms, the bill took dozens of small businesses across Northeast Ohio -- and hundreds across the country -- that have the machines and lumped them into the category of major cigarette companies on the issue of taxes. Continued