A cigar is a roll of fermented tobacco wrapped either in tobacco leaf or paper that contains tobacco or tobacco extract.  Most adults think of large cigars when they hear this term.  Today's cigar is not your grandfather's cigar and  today's cigar smoker is not your grandfather - or even your father. Teens and young adults are much more likely than adults 25 years and older to report smoking cigars. Large cigars are usually 7 inches in length or longer and typically contain between 5 and 20 grams of tobacco and can take between 1 and 2 hours to smoke.  Small cigars are simply tobacco wrapped in dried tobacco leaf or in any substance containing tobacco.  They are shorter, narrower and contain about 3 grams of tobacco (as opposed to cigarettes that contain 1 gram of tobacco) and may or may not have a filter tip.  This is important because federal and state laws distinguish between cigarettes and cigars based on the composition of the wrapper and the weight of the product, while the distinction between small and large cigars is determined by weight.

To circumvent the the Food and Drug Administration's ban on fruit- and candy-flavored cigarettes that appealed to kids, some cigarette makers have added tobacco to the wrapper and weight to their products so they meet the definition of small or large cigars, despite still being sold in packs of 20 like cigarettes. These products come in various flavors including wild berry, "pinkberry," and lemonade.  Unfortunately, they can often be purchased individually for less than $1 or in packs.[i]  In addition to avoiding the ban on flavorings, these manipulated cigarettes have also escaped other FDA regulations, including a ban on deceptive terms like "light" and "low-tar" and a requirement that cigarettes be kept behind the counter and out of reach of kids.  All of which makes them attractive, affordable and easily accessible by young people.  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 5.4 percent of adults in the United States were current cigar users, 12.6 percent of all students in grades 9 through 12 were current users in 2012.[ii] Furthermore, during 2011-2012, cigar use increased significantly among Non-Hispanic Black high school students to 16.7 percent.

What many people do not realize is that smoking brown cigarettes poses the same serious health risks as regular cigarettes, as brown cigarettes can cause cancer of the lungs, mouth, larynx, and esophagus.  They also pose the same health threat of secondhand smoke exposure as traditional tobacco products. Because they are classified as a cigar, they are not taxed at the same rate as cigarettes, making them more affordable than cigarettes.  Cigarette consumption declined 33 percent from 2000 to 2011, however use of other kinds of tobacco grew by 123 percent.[iii]

Tobacco use costs the government and taxpayers millions in medical expenses every year. Smoking-related health care expenses in Indiana total approximately $2.08 billion. The state Medicaid fund paid $521 million of those costs during 2004.