62
TOBACCO BUSINESS
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013
An Ohio RYO/MYO
company navigates
the windy roads
of regulation.
By Jennifer Gelfand
I
n many ways, Great Midwest
Tubes is a testament to the power of
perseverance. When last we checked
in with this Ohio cigarette tube company
launched in 2008,it was grappling with the
aftermath of the much-heralded passage of
SCHIP.Many predicted the demise of the
RYO and MYO categories after SCHIP
raised the federal tax rate on tubes from .09
cents to .25 per carton of 200 tubes—but
not John Ewald, Great Midwest’s general
manager at the time.
“There will always be people who will
continue to roll their own cigarettes because
it will continue to be a viable, lower-cost
option to manufactured cigarettes,” he told
TB
back then.
More recently, the RYO/MYO
category suffered a second blow when
the rapidly growing in-store rolling
machine business was regulated right
out of existence, as state after state and,
ultimately, the federal government ruled
that retailers who allowed customers to roll
cigarettes in their stores would be classed
as manufacturers and expected to comply
Hot-Rodding
in Ohio
