Tobacco.org

Small Nations Buck Global Tide 

Unlike Monaco and Liechtenstein, with their different auras of old prosperity, Andorra is more of a raw-boned frontier town. Its gold is tobacco.

On weekends, cars slow to a crawl on the curling mountain roads to Andorra La Vella, the capital turned duty-free zone, to buy cheap cigarettes. It is reported to be a nexus for European cigarette smugglers trying to avoid steep taxes. The governments of France and Spain, and of Europe, have been pressuring Andorra to cut back on its habit. The locals are boosting skiing as an alternative. [This graph only]

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