Come every budget day, millions of smokers throughout Malaysia will feel the pinch due to the increase in tobacco duties.

So it is too this year as prices of cigarettes are expected to go up following the budget announcement tomorrow.

At present, word on the street suggests that prices of cigarettes will increase by a whopping 100%, bringing a normal pack of cigarettes from RM6.50 to RM13.

Several cigarette salespersons have suggested that the new price would be between RM7.50 to RM8.50.

However, the few individuals who spoke to malaysiakini felt that any price increase for cigarettes would not be a deterrent for hardcore smokers.

A lifestyle

A director of a food produce company, JS from Ampang, feels that smoking has become a lifestyle for many. Thus, a price increase is not likely to affect their habit.

He brushed away any suggestions of a threshold price that would affect his consumption of cigarettes.

"They can go ahead and increase the price... until the day we quit smoking, we have to continue paying the price for our habit," he said.

A marketing executive from Penang, Andy Leong, is in favour of a price increase. He feels that it will deter youngsters from picking up the habit.

"They won't be able to afford the kiddie pack (cigarette packs with less than ten sticks), let alone a large pack. This should discourage the young from problem of young smokers," said Leong.

For Leong, who buys duty-free cigarettes fortnightly on business trips to Langkawi, said a price increase is not going to affect him much.

"At the most, I will smoke less," he said.

There are alternatives

Met at a stall, Rahman, an IT consultant, said that people will seek alternatives should there be a drastic price increase.

"At the moment, more smokers switching to cheaper brands. Many are also buying tobacco to roll into cigarettes," said Rahman, himself having switched to a cheaper brand.

A semi-retired senior citizen from Kamunting, who has quit smoking for several years, feels that any price increase should come with a well defined policy towards getting people to quit smoking.

He feels that the immediate phasing out of kiddie packs should be prioritised.

"The government is not serious with doing away with kiddie packs. While they claim they want to deter people from smoking, they argue that they still have to protect tobacco planters," he said.

Like the other three, he was pessimistic that hardcore smokers would kick the habit should the price increase.

However, he feels that a 100% price increase would be very encouraging. The flipside he says, would be the increase in crime such as snatch theft, as the poor cigarette addicts would find ways to afford their habits.

Thus far, there have been reports in local dailies that there are suspected cases of cigarette hoarding, in lieu of a possible price hike.