Tobacco.org

• A heavier cost to lighting up  

Of all the impediments thrown at smokers over the years, the one that arrives today could have one of the biggest impacts.

Florida's cigarette tax, long among the nation's lowest, in keeping with its Southern neighbors, is rising by $1 per pack.

Combined with a 62-cent-per-pack federal increase that took effect just 12 weeks ago, cigarettes in Florida are now pushing $6 per pack -- a price that is proving persuasive even to longtime smokers.

"I think the government is putting a real burden on the backs of smokers," Gerry Nodeen, who started smoking in the 1970s, said Tuesday outside a Sarasota smoke shop. "I'll probably think about quitting instead of paying the extra money."

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