Prometheus 6

In Montebello, a tough section of northeast Baltimore, Newports are shared, sometimes for cash by people trying to recoup the cost of a pack.

“Everybody here smokes who can afford it,” said Eddie Johnson, 54, who broke a heroin addiction during a recent jail stay and is now training to be a drug counselor. Mr. Johnson said he smoked 10 to 20 cigarettes a day.

The Smoking Scourge Among Urban Blacks
By ERIK ECKHOLM

BALTIMORE, Oct. 15 — Outside subway stops and bars in parts of this blighted city, slouching hustlers mutter “loosies, loosies” to passers-by, offering quick transactions, 50 cents a stick or three for a dollar.

Their illegal, if rarely prosecuted vocation: selling loose Newport cigarettes to those who do not have $4.50 to buy a pack.

In small corner markets, customers sometimes use code words like “bubble gum” or “napkins” to receive individual cigarettes wrapped in a napkin. Or they buy a flavored Black and Mild, the latest smoking craze here, from an opened five-pack.