A Brookline business that lets customers roll their own cigarettes has banned "pipe tobacco" from its rolling machines in response to a judge's order, the shop's lawyers said yesterday.

The court order takes away only a portion of the business Tobacco Haven has been doing, but it is a portion that is of particular concern to the state. The state Attorney General's Office, which sued the retailer in August, alleges it is illegal for Tobacco Haven to stuff "pipe tobacco" into cigarettes unless the company pays taxes on it.

The state has also argued that "pipe tobacco" is singularly dangerous because it was being sold at prices "so low that young people would have found them affordable."

"Not only did Tobacco Haven's plan violate the law, but it placed a dangerous and addictive product within the financial reach of vulnerable children," Attorney General Michael Delaney said in a statement yesterday.

Andrew Schulman, an attorney for Tobacco Haven, called the attorney general's statement "misleading and disingenuous."

"Children can't purchase tobacco products at any price," Schulman said. "It is against the law to do so." He added that Tobacco Haven "has been investigated and observed by the state and its agents, and there is no allegation that any tobacco has or will be purchased by children."

The order by Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Larry M. Smukler is a preliminary injunction. The case has yet to go to trial. A structuring conference has been scheduled for Jan. 8.

Attorneys for Tobacco Haven have asked the judge to reconsider his recent decision and have tried to have the case sent to the state Supreme Court. At the same time, the company is offering to pay tobacco-manufacturing taxes for as long as the suit is tied up in court, in exchange for the right to continue doing business with "pipe tobacco."

The distinction between "cigarette" tobacco and "pipe" tobacco, both sold at the Brookline shop, has been a subject of some dispute. Tobacco Haven maintains there is no difference between the two products, other than the fact that one of them features the words "pipe tobacco" on its package.

The state, however, notes there is a difference when it comes to taxes. Manufacturers who supply "cigarette" tobacco to Tobacco Haven are required to pay a special tax under a 1998 settlement agreement, which requires manufacturers to put money into an escrow account as a reserve for future lawsuits.

"Pipe" tobacco, by contrast, is not taxable under the agreement.

The state's lawsuit argues that Tobacco Haven should be considered a cigarette "manufacturer," and so should be obligated to make payments into the escrow fund. Tobacco Haven says it is not a manufacturer, and that it merely rents out its rolling machines to customers.

Tobacco Haven is the only business of its kind in New Hampshire, according to Assistant Attorney General David Rienzo. The shop has two "high-speed" cigarette-making machines. Customers, according to the state, can buy loose tobacco and empty cigarette tubes, and employees teach them how to use the machines to make the equivalent of a carton of cigarettes.

The judge's order says the state "has shown a likelihood of success on the merits."