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City's smoking-mad over flavored cigars

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By The Baltimore Sun | Friday, June 13, 2008 |

Over the past few years, the number of teenagers lighting up cigarettes has dropped, according to numerous health studies. In true smoking fashion, the tobacco industry is not taking this news lying down.

Enter the fruit-flavored cigar. That’s right, a cigar that tastes like peaches or a banana. The newest smoky treat has helped put cigar smoking on the rise among the teen crowd.

The problem with underage smokers has gotten so bad that Baltimore is working on a citywide ban of the product.

Some shops are even allowing the prepackaged boxes to be opened — selling individual cigars to their young customers.

If the public health proposal becomes law, Baltimore could be the first municipality in the country to attempt to improve residents’ overall health by limiting their access to the potentially cancer-causing cigars.

“Hopefully, we can look back and know that we protected young people from ever wanting to smoke,” said Mayor Sheila Dixon, who attended a news conference to announce the proposal. The ban could be enacted relatively quickly by the city’s health department, which has regulatory authority to protect citizens’ health and safety.

The cigars, which have been popularized by hip-hop stars, pack more tobacco than a cigarette. It is that dangerous mingling of status symbol, sweet taste and high tobacco content that has city officials worried.

Sold under brand names such as Black & Mild, White Owl and The Game, the cigars are exempt from laws that prohibit the sale of individual cigarettes. Neighborhood shops sell the cigars, which also can be repacked with marijuana, for as little as 50 cents apiece.

A 2007 study by public health researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that nearly 24 percent of Baltimoreans 18 to 25 years old had smoked a small cigar within the past 30 days.

Shawn Z. Tarrant, a Democrat from Baltimore who introduced Maryland state legislation, said he hopes his city is the first to adopt a ban on the sale of individual small cigars.

“We don’t need to be in the business of encouraging young people to smoke,” he said.