The true test will come when the initial excitement dies down and they're not selling whole cartons a day out of the store.

Just this week, the Procter & Gamble Company said that it would begin selling small cartons of concentrated fabric softener with a plastic bottle that can be re-used rather than thrown out.

Many supermarkets sell cartons of skimmed milk, sometimes sensibly labelled 'for slimmers'.

The San Francisco club, which was founded by Dennis R. Peron, a co-author of the 1996 ballot issue, also defied the Federal court order, selling cartons of marijuana to its 8,000 members throughout the week.

Alaa Sublaban, 25, one of the proprietors of a small, neat stall selling cartons of cigarettes four doors down from the cafe, took up the narrative.

Tetra Pak, the Swedish packaging company that owns sole rights to sell brick-shaped cartons for drinks, may also find its use of intellectual property to fend off rivals challenged if the European Court supports Thursday's opinion, Mr. Bourgeois said.

During this time she supported herself by selling cartons.

(If you've thrown yours away, most dealers will sell original cartons for $15 or $20.)

Hassell Aycock-Eason, 34, and her husband, Charles Eason, 36, both nonsmokers, own Main Street Tobaccos, where they sell cartons of cigarettes for as little as $7.41.

To raise money for the church, he is willing to enter into a black market operation with the Mafia, selling cartons of cigarettes by the tens of thousands for a percentage of the take.