Those whose morning coffee or evening spirits includes a few puffs on a cigarette began paying a higher price before the federal tobacco excise taxes went up Wednesday.

“I had noticed they’ve gone up already,” said April Chapin, relaxing at a local lounge with friends Megan Kelly and Kevin Alexander as the full effect of increases up to $1 per pack took hold.

Already in friendly territory for smokers — Vicksburg is not among about 30 Mississippi cities that have enacted some form of indoor smoking ban in certain public places — the trio of 20-somethings was among legions of smokers who took advantage of clearance sales at convenience stores statewide in March that sold packs of cigarettes for less than $1.50. Today’s prices are more than $4 on some brands and may go to $5 by summer.

“Manufacturers went up in wholesale price in March,” said Pamela Luckett of the Tobacco Quitline in Jackson. As word spread among the masses of the 62 cents-a-pack increase that will fund renewal of the federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, Luckett said, a “stockpile-your-tobacco” mentality took hold among smokers, leading up to this week.

Kelly and Alexander said they still pay about $3.20 or so for premium brand smokes, while Chapin thinks about quitting. Behind the bar, Dawn Bell prepares for the evening rush with pack in hand.

“I don’t care how much they are,” Bell said. “If people want to smoke, they are going to smoke.”

The Tobacco Quitline is funded by the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Office of Tobacco Control and also takes calls from Alabama and Kentucky. About 900 people made initial calls to the hotline in March as they sought ways to kick the habit, Luckett said, adding about 100 more called Thursday.

“It’s been bananas,” Luckett said. “But, that’s the way we like it.”

Advisers reached at the call center set up counseling with masters-level credentials to help interested callers with the steps involved in quitting, such as behavioral changes, Luckett said. Also, an eight-week supply of nicotine patches and gum are offered at no cost, Luckett said.

Federal excise taxes on traditional 20-count packs of cigarettes had been 39 cents a pack following a phased, 10 cent increase passed by Congress in 1997. That same year, as part of a balanced budget agreement between President Clinton and a then-Republican controlled Congress, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program was established under the Social Security Act. It provides health-care coverage to low-income uninsured children in families who make too much to receive Medicaid.

Versions of the program’s reauthorization were vetoed by President Bush in 2007 on grounds the plan was a slippery slope to nationalized health care because it included coverage for income brackets even higher than its predecessor. Congress passed the 2009 CHIP Act on Jan. 14, six days before President Obama, who signed it, took office. The bill’s $65.4 billion over 10 years is set up to be offset by estimated revenue from Wednesday’s tax hike on tobacco products that include small and large cigars, pipe and roll-your-own tobacco, chewing tobacco and cigarette filters.

On the state level, Mississippi has the third-lowest excise tax on cigarettes at 18 cents per pack. The House and Senate in Jackson have not come to a compromise on how much to raise the state’s cigarette tax or where to direct the money if passed. Senate leaders want to tie future raises to what Mississippi’s neighboring states do with their tobacco taxes and use it to make up for possible increases in the cost of car tags. Lawmakers are expected to be called back into session by Gov. Haley Barbour to debate budget issues in either early May or early June.

Legislators ended the regular session Wednesday with an exception-laden offer by the Senate based on that semi-regional average to raise taxes by 64 cents on premium brands and 84 cents on off-brands that didn’t participate in the state’s tobacco lawsuit settlement in 1997.

In Louisiana, where a convenience store is located just minutes from Vicksburg across the Mississippi River, state taxes on cigarettes total 36 cents, which ranks seventh-lowest. In Arkansas, state taxes on cigarettes are $1.15, while Alabama’s tax is 42.5 cents and Tennessee’s tax is 62 cents.

Only Missouri and South Carolina, at 17 and 7 cents, respectively, have lower state taxes on cigarettes than Mississippi. New York’s $2.75 per-pack tax is the nation’s highest.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, percentages of adult smokers nationwide stands at 20 percent, with Mississippi’s at 24 percent — unchanged in the past decade. CDC estimates $193 billion in direct health-care costs are attributed to cigarette smoking.

Luckett calls the help hotline “a pro-counseling line.”

“There’s no magic bullet for quitting,” Luckett said. “It takes effort and time.”  

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com