Jump to full article: Seattle (WA) Times, 2010-09-06
Author: Erik Lacitis Seattle Times staff reporter
Intro: There was no outcry, no mourning for its passing: The SingleStick cigarette you'd see for sale at convenience stores, just one cigarette, in a plastic tube, selling for 75 cents to $1 each.
They had been around for 15 years, sometimes displayed in a cardboard box on the cash-register counter, sometimes inside a plastic box that rolled them out like toothpicks.
But who would admit to being a SingleStick fan? That'd be like admitting you buy those little single bottles of Gallo wine.
Told "no more," the customers simply slumped off.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stopped the sales June 22, and stores in this state had until Sept. 1 to sell off any remaining stock.
"They were very popular. . . .
At her minimart, Chinn says, "Some people would buy three or four of the smokes, and smoke two in the morning and two in the evening. I kept saying, 'This is very expensive. Why don't you buy a pack?'
"They'd say, 'This is my last cigarette. I'm gonna quit.' "
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