We stopped subsidizing tobacco farming. The result? Tobacco farming’s on the rise.

And the competition seems to be working exactly how the Philip Morris twins intended. In Kentucky, 85 percent of burley tobacco, the main kind of tobacco found in cigarettes, is exported. Burley tobacco has a harsh taste that has to be masked by flavors like cherry and vanilla—flavors that were just banned under the 2009 legislation. Tobacco growers, in other words, won't have much of a domestic market—but they will have a buyer trying to meet ever-growing foreign demand in Philip Morris International. That's why exports are rising and tobacco is one of the biggest export cash crops in the United States today. The whole scheme could be considered a blow to the idea that farmers need any government price supports at all.

So, five years later, the first prong of the tobacco legislation effort spearheaded by Philip Morris USA and supported by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has consolidated, boosted, and industrialized American tobacco farming and removed the price supports that made American tobacco exports unattractive on the open market. The only problem is that now that Philip Morris International is using so much American tobacco, its profits had fallen last quarter due to the stronger American dollar. But before some congressman jumps to Big Tobacco's rescue, as they seem to love to do these days, I should note that the dollar is already weakening once again.