As if it isn't bad enough that our neighboring states having whipped the daylights out of Maryland in the gambling arena, now they've added insult to injury by offering cigarettes at a lower tax rate, giving rise to a profitable smuggling industry.

Jeff Kelly, director of field enforcement for the Office of the Comptroller, was quoted in a Jan. 27 article by Jay Hancock of The Baltimore Sun saying that, "some drug dealers are switching from smuggling heroin and cocaine into Maryland for tobacco, because it isn't as violent, it's easier and just as lucrative."

Hancock further wrote that, "tobacco traffickers nailed by Kelly's enforcement agents ... are probably only a teeny portion of what goes on at an ever growing rate."

Kelly further complained how cartons of confiscated cigarettes are cluttering up a long hallway in the Treasury building — "making it nearly impossible to get around.

That prompted me to recall a column I had written in 2000, when then-comptroller Donald Schaefer had a similar quandary — also facing a mountain of cigarettes that had been confiscated from smugglers.

Interestingly, that problem got off to a roaring start following an added cigarette tax of 66 cents per pack the previous July.

By state law, they had to be auctioned off (still do), hence that 2000 column title: "Going once, twice ... sold to Philip Morris."

The idea of selling cigarettes at rock-bottom prices to wholesalers and manufactures for re-sale overseas — thereby profiting twice from the same "cancer sticks" — nearly convinced me to quit that evil habit.

But not quite.

Schaefer said that given his preference, he'd have destroyed them in a gigantic bonfire.

My guess is that if he had, the opposition from environmental groups concerned about pollution and endangering people's health would have ripped him apart.

For those who will continue puffing, no matter the health hazard, here's a glimpse of some of the more costly states when it comes to smoking:

New York City adds a $1.50 tax per pack to the state's $2.75 tax, for a combined tax of $4.25.

In terms of states, Rhode Island has the highest state tax on cigarettes, according to a January 2010 study by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, with a tax of $3.46 per pack.

Others among the highest are Connecticut at $3 per pack; New Jersey at $2.70; Hawaii, $2.60; Wisconsin, $2.52, Massachusetts, $2.51, the District of Columbia, $2.50, Vermont, $2.24 and Maryland, Alaska, Maine, Arizona and Michigan, all at $2.

Where are the lowest cigarette taxes?

Well, South Carolina has the lowest cigarette tax of all at 7 cents per pack. Missouri's tax is 17 cents, Virginia's is 30 cents, Louisiana comes in at 36 cents, Alabama 42.5 cents, West Virginia 55 cents, Wyoming 60 cents, Mississippi 68 cents, Nevada 80 cents, and California 87 cents.

A word of warning: Think twice about loading up your trunk or van to bring them home. Maryland law allows only one untaxed carton across state lines.

Now, I hope nobody misinterprets my providing the above comparisons as encouragement of smoking. I only did it to save fools like me at least some money during what could be a shortened life span.

Quote of the week: "It's not hard to quit smoking; I've done it 100 times."

— Mark Twain

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