The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a tobacco retailer who rents cigarette-rolling machines to customers is a cigarette manufacturer and thus liable for payments under the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement.

The court unanimously rejected the argument by North of the Border Tobacco that customers at its Tobacco Haven store who pay a fee to rent cigarette-rolling machines are the real manufacturers.
The court agreed with an earlier Superior Court decision that said the store must either shut down the machines or ensure the state gets per-cigarette tax payments established as part of a 1998 settlement about health costs related to smoking.
Tobacco Haven has argued that because the smokes are rolled by customers, using tobacco and papers bought at the store, they are exempt from the payments. Customers buy loose tobacco and paper “cigarette tubes” and use the machines to roll up to 200 cigarettes in roughly 10 minutes. The resulting cigarettes cost less than half the price of packaged cigarettes in cartons or packs. (pi)