WASHINGTON — The states are once again doing battle with the tobacco industry. This time it's over little cigars.

Attorneys general from Hawai'i, 38 other states and Guam say these smokes are really just brown cigarettes and ought to be identified as such.

Cigarettes are taxed at higher rates and fall under stricter marketing rules than cigars. For example, the youth marketing restrictions imposed on cigarette manufacturers as part of their 1998 landmark settlement with the states does not apply to cigar makers.

The attorneys general have asked the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to issue new rules that would clarify how little cigars should be categorized.

The attorneys say it is important to act now because sales of small cigars are increasing. They say low prices and, in some cases, sweet flavorings added to little cigars make them attractive to young smokers.

"The states believe that cigarette smokers have switched to the cheaper cigarettes intentionally misclassified and mislabeled by unscrupulous manufacturers as 'little cigars' in order to continue to smoke cigarettes, at a cheaper price," the attorneys general wrote in a petition to the bureau, which was made public Thursday.

"It's a slick way of getting around taxes," Montana Attorney General Mike Mcgrath said in a telephone interview.

"Call a cigarette a cigarette. I've got them in front of me. There isn't any question these are cigarettes," Mcgrath said. "It's peach flavored. Now who would want a peach flavored cigar? Maybe a high school girl."

While the attorneys say the only distinction between little cigars and cigarettes often is that the little cigars are brown, industry officials contend that wrappers on little cigars contain tobacco, which isn't found in cigarette paper.

Industry officials also say the tobacco in little cigars is different from that found inside cigarettes.

Calvin Phelps, president and CEO of Alternative Brands Inc., which produces little cigars for several companies, said most little cigars are exactly what they claim to be.

"Little cigars have been around about as long as cigarettes have," Phelps said. "If they know of unscrupulous manufacturers, they should be punishing the offenders, not the industry as a whole."

Thomas Hogue, a spokesman for the tax and trade bureau, said the agency is looking at the issue and trying to come up with a "bright line" that clears up confusion around cigars, cigarettes and little cigars.

Craig Fishel, a spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said, "We look forward to being involved in the process of ensuring that all tobacco products are properly classified, be it cigarettes, cigars or little cigars." R.J. Reynolds is a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., which also owns Lane Limited, which makes little cigars.

Anti-smoking advocates are backing the attorneys general.

"Youth are attracted to both candy-flavored cigarettes as well as tobacco that is inexpensive, so these 'little cigars,' appear tailor-made just for them," said Cheryl Healton, president and CEO of the American Legacy Foundation, which runs anti-smoking campaigns.