Pennsylvania's tax went into effect Monday and is now within a dime of the New Jersey tax.
Many living west of the free bridge in Easton know the benefit of crossing the Delaware River to buy gasoline. It's far cheaper in Jersey because the gas tax is less.
The opposite applies for smokers in New Jersey, but any benefits from buying in Pennsylvania took a substantial hit Monday.
There are four cigarette outlets on Northampton Street in Easton, within a block-and-a-half of the New Jersey border.
The tax difference of $1.10 per pack was an incentive for New Jersey residents to make the drive across the Delaware River, business owners and managers said. And for New York residents, the savings was even greater -- about a $2.75 discount per pack, since the Empire State has a tax of $4.35.
But on Monday, when the Pennsylvania Legislature's additional $1-tax-per-pack kicked in, it put at risk the future of businesses that date back as far as 1935 in Easton.
And with other taxes coming Oct. 1 on other tobacco products, it's not going to get better in a hurry for these businesses, merchants say.
"I think it's going to hurt me pretty bad," Divyesh Desai said from behind the count at Luco's, which he called an Easton landmark that dates to the days of Franklin Roosevelt's first term. "Most of my customers are from New Jersey.
"Stupid politicians. It's not fair."
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Desai says his store is not a diversified business.
"It's a tobacco shop," he said. "Every tobacco category is going to go up."
Tina VanBrackle, the manager for the last three years at Puff Discount Tobacco next to Luco's, asked of current customers in Phillipsburg: "Are they going to walk for that 30, 40 cents? No way."
The weekend was "crazy" as people stocked up on cigarettes before the price increase, she said. But now that the tax is in place, "I believe it's going to slow down."
Since he can no longer make an argument based on price, Vijay Ponohal, manager at the Cigarette Outlet in the 100 block of Northampton Street -- the closest of the four stores to New Jersey -- figures the business has lost its New York customers. Who would drive to Easton when you can take the PATH to Hoboken?
But New Jersey could still be in play, he said.
"We'll retain the customers," he said. "Many will go nowhere else. The service does matter."
Jack Desai, owner for the past 23 years of Jack's Cigarette and Grocery Outlet on the other side of Puff, knows he's going to take a hit. And it won't be the first. As Easton has attracted more upscale apartment dwellers, Desai's grocery business has dwindled, because those folks can easily drive to Giant and undercut his prices, he said.
"People used to come from out of state" to buy tobacco products at his store, he said. "Who is going to drive across the river for 10 cents? There's no parking."
It might be different if a customer were buying in bulk, he said.
"People living in New York used to come here," he said. "People in New York are going to go to New Jersey."
Fifty percent of his business was out of state. And when the next shoe drops in October as items such as bagged tobacco get a tax increase of 55 cents per ounce, some of his prices will double, Desai said.
For the past three years, Desai said, he has owned a beer sales license that -- if he could use it -- perhaps would offset the loss of business, he said.
"The town's been giving me a hard time," he said. Even though bars in town can sell beer and there is a distributor nearer the highway, zoning and planning officials say it's not a "permitted use" for him.
"People coming in here buy cigarettes," he said. With beer, "I might be able to make up something. One-stop shopping -- groceries, cigarettes and beer."
Longtime state Rep. Bob Freeman was at his district office Monday, directly across the 200 block of Northampton Street from three of the businesses.
He said his party, the Democrats, were willing to go after a broader array of taxes to fill in the state's annual shortfall if not its structural deficit. But Republicans wouldn't go along, he said. He said the majority party GOP would buy into increasing tobacco taxes and taxing smokeless tobacco -- something Freeman said "was long overdue."
Freeman said public education needs more money after funding "flatlined" in the previous four-year administration of Republican Tom Corbett. Districts were using property tax increases to offset rising costs not covered by the state.
Spending was cut in previous budgets, he said, so it was time to attack on the revenue side.
"Ideally it would have been 90 cents" per pack of cigarettes "to give our local vendors an advantage," Freeman said.
"As far as the taxes, (tobacco) taxes are about equal" now between the states.
It's only an amount of time before Jersey boosts its cigarette tax for some needed cash, and then the Easton businesses will regain their advantage, according to Freeman.
Divyesh Desai isn't sure he can wait that long.
"What I'm upset about is this could put me out of business," he said. "The politicians have taken food off my table and they should be ashamed of it."
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.