September cigarette sales figures were up an astonishing 88 percent in Japan. The driver of this spike was an unprecedented tax hike that took effect Oct. 1, 2010. Droves of consumers turned out to stock up on smokes prior to the hike of 40 percent. Japan Tobacco predicts that thanks to the hike, consumption will plunge by 25 percent or more over the next year. The stockpiling spurred Japan's overall economy, and the Japan Research Institute estimates that the phenomenon may increase the quarter's annualized economic growth rate by as much as 1.4 percentage points.
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