Korea’s cigarette price hike gives boost to fine-cut

South Korea’s government can probably claim some initial success in that its January 1 tax-induced cigarette price hike has forced more smokers than previously to attend quit-smoking clinics, according to a Korea Bizwire piece.

One clinic, which used to see about 150 smokers a month, now has to cope with more than 100 a day.
But some smokers are turning to fine-cut tobacco and some to electronic cigarettes, while others have reinvigorated the demand for single cigarettes – loosies – that was high during the 1980s and 1990s.

The switch to fine-cut makes sense for committed smokers. The price of cigarettes rose from about WON2,500 to WON4,500 on January 1, but hand-rolling fine-cut tobacco can cut a smoker’s costs considerably since a 40 gram pack of tobacco, from which 80-100 cigarettes can be made, sells for WON6,000-8,000.

Loosies, which sell for about WON300 each, make no sense from a smoking-cost point of view, but these are said to be bought often by people who are ‘cheating’ during attempts to quit smoking.