Here is a graph that correlates the decline in cigarette volumes shipped with the annual MSA payments fluctuating year on year but staying stable over the medium term.
As you can see, the decline in shipments of cigarettes has followed a steady downward curve year on year from 1999, with only minor variations. Again, if vaping was the dominant factor that the vaping media make it out to be, we'd see only a gradual decline up until 2014/15 or so, and then a sudden precipitous drop. There is no evidence of that drop.
The single biggest drop in the graph, visible in both the MSA payment and cig shipments, is the drop under the S of "Since 1999" in the heading. That was in 2009/10. It wasn't vaping that caused it, very few people were vaping back then. But 1 April 2009 was the date on which the Obama administration levied an extra 69c tax nationally on all cigarette packs. It had a major effect on consumption.
As you can see, the decline in shipments of cigarettes has followed a steady downward curve year on year from 1999, with only minor variations. Again, if vaping was the dominant factor that the vaping media make it out to be, we'd see only a gradual decline up until 2014/15 or so, and then a sudden precipitous drop. There is no evidence of that drop.
The single biggest drop in the graph, visible in both the MSA payment and cig shipments, is the drop under the S of "Since 1999" in the heading. That was in 2009/10. It wasn't vaping that caused it, very few people were vaping back then. But 1 April 2009 was the date on which the Obama administration levied an extra 69c tax nationally on all cigarette packs. It had a major effect on consumption.
