Cheap Cigs for NY'er?

June 22, 2010 7:29 AM

I live in upstate NY. What's the shortest distance from me to cheap cigarettes? Halp, they be taxing my vice too much.
posted by Area Control to Shopping (11 answers total)

Usually you can buy cheap cigarettes at Indian reservations. I don't know where in Upstate you are, but there are like seven of them out in Western NY, the Onondaga reservation is near Syracuse, and the Oneida reservation is reasonably close to the Capital District.
posted by kataclysm at 7:37 AM on June 22, 2010

"upstate" means different things to different people. Are you "upstate" as in "just north of Westchester County" or "upstate" as in "Rochester/Buffalo/Syracuse" or "upstate" as in "Watertown/Malone/waaaaaaay north"?
posted by Lucinda at 7:37 AM on June 22, 2010

Best answer: Roll your own?
posted by mrsshotglass at 7:46 AM on June 22, 2010

Cigarette Tax Increased to Keep State Running:

And in what may be the legislation’s most controversial provisions, starting on Sept. 1, the state will begin collecting — or try to collect — taxes on cigarettes sold on Indian reservations to off-reservation visitors, an issue that led to violent protests during the early 1990s.

One Indian chief has said that trying to collect taxes would be considered an act of war.
posted by 2bucksplus at 7:52 AM on June 22, 2010

Mod note: few comments removed - you can email the OP if you have information that's not germane to the question
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:07 AM on June 22, 2010

Best answer: Yeah, rolling your own is crazy cheap. With the premade tubes and the injector, you can bang out a pack in a few minutes.
posted by electroboy at 8:18 AM on June 22, 2010

Your closest Indian Reserve is your best bet, but I read somewhere that many cheap reserve-bought smokes are unregulated Chinese-made knockoffs that have god-knows-what in them.
posted by rocket88 at 8:19 AM on June 22, 2010

Best answer: Agreeing with the roll your own crowd. When I smoked, and switched from Marlboros to Bali Shag and enough papers and filters, my weekly expenditure dropped enormously. If I had gone with a cheaper brand, it would have dropped even more. I also picked up a $10 pocket rolling machine that was the size of a pack of smokes and held enough paper, filters and tobacco to last a whole day (about a pack and a half's worth).

Dammit. Thinking about the aroma of a fresh can of Bali Shag is giving me the first urge to smoke in 3 years!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 8:53 AM on June 22, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks everyone, great responses. I'm curious about the comments that were removed, were they from people telling me to stop smoking? That's hilarious.

It's looking like rollies are the answer. Oh, and to answer Lucinda: Upstate means near the capitol. Any further north and you're in the "North Country". Any further west and you're in "The Zone of No Hope". Any further south and you're in one of those bizarre little towns where hippie energy pushes down on the NYC hipster energy coming up, creating an unstable frontal zone right around New Paltz.
posted by Area Control at 9:05 AM on June 22, 2010 [9 favorites]

The Native American reservation approach may eventually not be an option.

I'm sorry to derail, but I live in the distant exurbs of NYC and 'upstate' gets a much looser interpretation than you think. Also: I'd use some caution with that term for western NY state -- there are plenty of people there who would use it to refer to Albany.
posted by gnomeloaf at 8:30 AM on June 23, 2010

I used to do these nutty cigarette runs to Virginia, where I would drive five hours from NYC to go hit a suburban DC strip, buying five cartons at a time at various gas stations, until my trunk was full. Then I would drive home. I'm sure if a cop stopped me for something on the Jersey Turnpike they would think I was smuggling smokes to sell, but it was really all for me. I thought it was worth it from NYC, but it's probably too far from upstate.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:32 PM on June 24, 2010