Updated

Smokers are increasingly quitting or cutting back on their habits as states continue to hike up cigarette taxes, according to an analysis from USA Today.

Cigarette sales fell 18 percent in North Carolina last year, for example, after the tax was raised in two steps to 35 cents from a nickel. The tobacco-growing state resisted higher cigarette taxes until 2005.

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Elsewhere:

— Connecticut has increased its tax to $1.51 from 50 cents per pack in 2002. Since then, per capita consumption of cigarettes has fallen 37 percent.

— New Jersey raised its tax to $2.40 from 80 cents in 2002. Smoking has dropped 35 percent.