They’ve already banned menthol in California and it did nothing. Alternatives are already being marketed and sold and some of the better ones recreate the exact same effect but cost $1.20 more per pack at the low end. To put it simply, this is dumb as fuck.

The point is to make cigarettes as expensive and unappealing as possible.

That’s not in anyone’s own interests. Smokers have to pay more, tobacco industry gets more money. Literally a lose-lose. Dumb. As. Fuck.

This is effectively a Pigouvian tax, and will absolutely keep some people from smoking.

Don’t forget a lot of the cost of a pack of smokes is often more due to taxation than the cost of the product, even if you include things likes all the overhead for marketing and legal and shit.

Yeah that’s because of aforementioned Pigouvian taxes. The entire point is pricing some people out of purchasing them.