The per-carton increase that will range from about 80 cents to $3.80, depending on the brand, is not a tax increase, and marlboro cigarettes  is unrelated to Gov. Bob Riley's failed revenue package.

Nonetheless, it could add millions of dollars a year to the sums paid to Alabama and other states by the "participating manufacturers" -- major tobacco companies that joined in a historic 1998 agreement with the states cheap cigarettes discount .

In 1998, the tobacco industry agreed to pay the 50 states about $246 billion over the following 25 years to settle lawsuits filed to recoup taxpayer dollars spent treating tobacco-related illnesses.

In order to afford the twice-annual payments to the states, so-called Big Tobacco increased prices by about 40 cents a pack, or $4 a carton, within a year of the settlement.

Makers of brands like Cowboy, dute free cigarettes  because they didn't participate in the settlement, immediately gained a substantial cost advantage.

Such companies, some from other countries, moved quickly to grab the opportunity, said Wade Hope, an attorney with the discount cigarettes  Alabama Department of Revenue.

In 1998, fourth-tier brands held a market dute free cigarettes share of less than 1 percent. Five years later, these brands -- also known as taste-a-likes because they mimic particular famous brands -- have captured almost 6 percent of the market, according to the National Association of Attorneys General in Washington cheap cigarettes discount .