Pshaw...Middle-Classers Don't Need Pleasurable Hobbies

Prepare for the price of your average smoke to shoot up....TEN DOLLARS. So, think typically a cigar goes for $5; if I'm doing my math correctly here....you are looking at $15 for a middle-of-the-road cigar. Fantastic. A 20,000% increase. Luckily we have Norm Sharp of the Cigar Association of America staying on top of the news and fighting on behalf of the American smoker..... [emphasis mine]

Newman's eyes and ears in Washington, Norm Sharp, president of the Cigar Association of America, was dumbfounded when the legislation went public Friday.

"I thought there was a typo. I thought they meant 10 cents per cigar, not $10 per cigar. I was stunned like everyone else," Sharp said.

Whew. No need to worry here folks, sounds like we have the A-Team working on this one...Full article here. Via TheAgitator.

UPDATE: Uh...Thanks to Bobbo in the comments, who actually reads and then comprehends what he read; I'm going to walk back from my hysteria a bit. The $10 is a cap with the tax rate being raised to 53%. From there you can do the math and realize that the $10 number would be rarely met. It's still a massive increase from a nickel, but clearly I have no idea what I'm talking about so read Jacob Sullum's post on it from today and tune back in when I'm rambling about bestiality or pornography -- something that I do know about.