In July cigarette rolling businesses in South Dakota were mandated to close their doors or change the way they operate. This came after State Legislators passed a bill concerning the taxation of rolling tobacco.
SDPB’s Amy Varland has the story that shows that some cigarette rolling businesses are finding ways to keep their doors open despite the legislation.
Cigarette-rolling businesses are open across the state. They allow customers to make their own cigarettes. State legislators decided the cigarette rolling businesses are in fact manufacturing cigarettes and must be subject to the same taxes as traditional manufacturers.
Leland Ruzicka is the owner of what used to be called LT Tobacco in Spearfish and in Rapid City. He says a new change in strategy allows him to stay in business.
“Well I formed a Black Hills Rolling Club. People come in and they buy their tobacco and then they come in and they can use the machines, they pay a membership, and then they roll their cigarettes with the machines,” says Ruzicka.
Ruzicka says customers purchase their tobacco in one suite and then bring it to another suite to roll it. He adds that the machines are now owned by a non-profit corporation. Cigarette rolling businesses exist in at least five other towns in South Dakota.