Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2011, 8 1677 (12) from a friend, relative, or other independent seller. Purchases last made from: military commissaries (US only), Indian Reservations (US and CA only), duty free shop, outside the state or country, by telephone, Internet, someone else, or a friend or relative were included as ―low/untaxed purchases‖ for the construct. All other sources were considered to be from full taxed venues. For each respondent, the specific brand and variety of tobacco last purchased was reported and was used as a proxy measure of recent brand and variety exposure. Varieties and/or pack descriptors were combined into brand families which were further categorized as being premium brands, discount brands, or ―roll-your-own‖ (RYO) tobacco varieties based on previous work [27] and current cigarette market research. Current smokers who reported purchasing factory made cigarettes at last purchase were queried on the unit of tobacco purchased (carton, pack, or loose/single cigarettes). Based on this variable, a measure of price avoidance by purchasing tobacco in cartons was constructed. Respondents purchasing packs or single/loose cigarettes were categorized as non-participants, while respondents who purchased tobacco in a carton at last purchase were considered to be participating in this price avoidance technique. Respondents who purchased RYO tobacco at last purchase were excluded from this construct. A composite construct was derived to assess whether use of at least one price or tax avoidance behavior at baseline was associated with cessation outcomes at follow-up. Respondents were given a score of ―1‖ if they reported using any of the above price/tax avoidance behaviors at baseline. Individual scores were added together to obtain a measure of any price and tax avoidance at last purchase. A maximum score of 3 could be obtained for smokers of factory-made cigarettes; however, a maximum score of 2 could be assigned to RYO tobacco users due to the inability to purchase RYO tobacco in cartons. This price and tax avoidance score was categorized into ―no use‖ (score = 0) vs. ―any use‖ (score ≥ 1) at last purchase. Additionally, ―any use‖ was further categorized in which respondents with a score of ≥2 were categorized as participating in multiple price minimizing behaviors simultaneously while respondents with a score = 1 were considered to be participating in minimal price and tax avoidance. These measures of ―any price/tax avoidance‖ and ―varying price/tax avoidance‖ were assessed as predictors of cessation outcomes at follow-up. The preceding measures of price minimizing behaviors are proxies for purchasing tobacco products at a reduced cost. However, from these behaviors alone it is not clear whether lower price paid per cigarette actually results in reduced cessation indicators. A measure of ―price per cigarette‖ can be constructed using individual data concerning the unit of tobacco purchased (carton, pack, or loose), the number of cartons/packs purchased, and the number of cigarettes per pack. This measure was not calculated for ―roll your own‖ users because a valid measure of cigarettes per package of loose tobacco is not feasible. All price per cigarette values were converted to $USD (U.S. Dollars) for the year 2006. Outliers, defined as price measures outside of 3 Standard Deviations of the mean were excluded.