because tobacco is expensive, backwoods were expensive to begin with, and federal tobacco tax went up recently. you're paying for handmade style 'cigars', not 'blunt papers', they are actual tobacco leaf and not a bunch of scraps pressed together into a sheet with who knows what kind of chemical additives. blunt paper type cigars are stuffed with questionable shredded scrap tobacco containing stems and the more fribrous unsmokable pieces of the tobacco leaf. ive even found pieces of hair in swisher guts, and insect pieces. i mean just unravel a backwood, look at the tobacco inside of it, and split a swisher and look at the tobacco in it. theres a significant difference in quality. backwoods are meant to be smoked and enjoyed for the uniquely cured higher quality tobacco. which is why they hit you harder than a regular swisher cause theres more nicotine in them, and they last significantly longer because they're thicker and generally fresher