Brooklyn, Staten Island tobacco shops defy governments in roll-your-own cigarettes battle

A federal judge has ordered defiant tobacco shops in Brooklyn and Staten Island to stop selling controversial roll-your-own cigarettes — siding with the city and state as they sue the stores for hawking the untaxed smokes. U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Forrest bolstered the positions of the city Law Department and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman by issuing the injunction. BB’s Corner on 18th Ave. in Bensonhurst and Nitecap on Gulf Ave. in Staten Island’s Bloomfield neighborhood are the targets of a federal lawsuit filed in March intended to tax machine-rolled tobacco “joints” the same way packaged cigarettes are throughout the state.

The shops “have chosen to stand their ground and fight,” Forrest wrote in last week’s decision slamming them for selling the smokes for about $4.50 a pack. A pack of popular commercial brands, such as Newport or Marlboro, sell for around $12-$13.50 in city stores, prices that include $7.47 in federal, state, and city taxes tacked onto the cost. “These stores were challenging the complaint,” said Tobacco Compliance Bureau Chief Dana Biberman who works under Schneiderman. “We are delighted with the court’s ruling.”

The judge’s order is expected to go into effect by mid-July. Meanwhile, Biberman said she is finding other stores in the city to target by subpoenaing records from roll-your-own machine companies. “We know about several more. And we will continue to investigate them,” Biberman said. Roll-your-own shops allow customers to pour loose tobacco into the devices, which can push out a rolled cigarette in just a few seconds. City tax investigators started cracking down last fall, warning offending shop owners to stop the sales or face hefty fines. About a half dozen shops heeded the warning and voluntarily shut down.

When questioned by the News, employees at BB’s Corner and Nitecap declined comment on why they continued working. On Thursday, a News reporter was offered a $47.50 carton of smokes at BB’s that had been produced by pouring a bag of Top Tobacco into a boxy, four-foot-tall boxy contraption owned by RYO, a Ohio-based company lobbying the public to join their battle against tax laws. BB’s walls were covered with flyers asking customers to call local politicians and advocate for legislation that will protect them from the authorities.

“We are doing our best to follow the law,” said a man seen outside BB’s taking down signs advertising “200 counts of smokes in just 8 minutes.” “They can’t tax us,” he said. Earlier last week, a bill designed to change tax requirements for roll-your-own smokes failed to make it to the state Senate floor. “They have to get taxed,” said State Sen. Marty Golden (R-Bensonhurt) whose name was listed on BB’s wall as a politician to call. “We need more regulations. We need to stop people from doing this.” But a BB’s customer, Chris Figurora, 59, disagreed, as he inquired about the shop’s low cigarette prices. “If you can’t get cheap cigarettes here, you will get them somewhere else,” said Figurora, a clerical worker from Borough Park. “Overtaxing won’t solve these issues. People will find another alternative.”