WANT JUST ONE CIGARETTE? SINGLES TO BE SOLD HERE

There's Nicorette gum, and there's a pack-a-day smoking habit. And somewhere
in between is Chuck Emery.

He was a businessman in Phoenix, and he had an idea. Sell cigarettes, but
sell them one at a time, in a plastic tube, for 39 cents a butt. Do that,
and the convenience stores would eat it up. More than a thousand stores in
eight states later, he was right.

And now he's coming to Washington state.

The Department of Revenue last month gave Emery and his company, Single
Stick, permission to sell single cigarettes, which could be sold soon in a
dispenser designed for bars, gas stations and quick-marts.

Foes call them "kiddie packs," marketing that targets children by giving
them easier access to smoking - either because it makes cigarettes more
affordable to them or easier to steal. Emery has said that single cigarettes
will help people quit smoking, that he isn't trying to attract children and
that his company will go out of its way to make it difficult for kids to get
his cigarettes.

"Who are these cigarettes marketed to? The cigarettes are less expensive. I
think, intentional or not, these cigarettes are going to appeal to the
younger smokers, kids. And even if they can't buy them, the cigarettes are
much easier to steal," said Danny McGoldrick, an analyst for the Campaign
for Tobacco Free Kids in Washington, D.C.

Washington state lawmakers say they'd love to stop Emery's company but
cannot because he found a legal loophole that skirts a state law that
effectively banned the sale of single cigarettes for a time. Gov. Gary
Locke, after hearing about Single Stick, tried to find a way to stop the
company from selling in Washington but could not.

"We need legislation," said Keith Love, director of communications for the
governor. "We were very concerned. It makes it so easy for minors to get
them. . . . But legally there's nothing we can do. If the small companies
(succeed), then we'll just have to sue them."

Single Stick executives did not return repeated phone messages. But Chuck
Emery's mother, Norma, who works at Single Stick, spoke for the company: "We
do not sell cigarettes to kids. That's not what we're trying to do here."

She said Chuck Emery thought of selling single cigarettes about four years
ago because it seemed like consumers wanted a convenient product like that.

State lawmakers figured the sale of single cigarettes had, for all practical
purposes, been banned. The Department of Revenue only makes tax stamps,
required on cigarettes, for packs of 20.

But Single Stick, according Lisa LaFond, spokeswoman with the Office of
Tobacco Prevention and Control in the Department of Health, devised a way of
using lasers to imprint tax stamps on single cigarette packages. As long as
the tax is paid, that's not illegal. Nobody, LaFond said, ever guessed
anyone would try it.

"It's a new issue here. The law doesn't say they can't," she said.

Tobacco experts say Chuck Emery is trying to capture a demographic niche -
poor people - left unattended as Big Tobacco contends with billions of
dollars of lawsuits. Indeed, as Attorney General Christine Gregoire and
others try to negotiate a settlement with the major tobacco companies, that
leaves room for Small Tobacco - which goes relatively untouched by political
pressure and would not face settlement costs or lawsuits - to fill a void.

It's big bucks for them. About 60 small tobacco companies make up about 3
percent of the $45 billion cigarette market, but their sales are rising,
said Brian Smith, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office. They are
companies like Single Stick, which is only about 2 years old. These
companies are dwarfed by Big Tobacco companies like Philip Morris and Brown
& Williamson, and include Santa Fe Natural Tobacco, which makes American
Spirit "natural" cigarettes, and Kentucky-based Commonwealth Brands, which
makes Montclair and Malibu cigarettes.

Matthew Ebnet's phone message number is 206-515-5698. His e-mail address is:
mebnet@seattletimes.com

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst