Concerns Raised About Underage Smokers’ Access To Cheap Cigars

Just last week, 11 Bourne business owners were cited by the Bourne Board of Health for illegal tobacco sales to minors. The violations were uncovered two weeks ago during covert compliance checks conducted by the tobacco control program of the Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment. Young people, 16 or 17 years of age, working with the tobacco control program were sent into more than two dozen establishments where they attempted to purchase Game cigars, which are sweetly flavored, cheap cigars in brightly colored wrappers.

Nearly half the businesses visited sold cigars to the young customer without requiring proper identification. All 11 violations were first-time offenses, and each business was fined $100.

Among the stores that were cited was Gray Gables Market on Shore Road in Monument Beach. Store owner Russell J. Salamone appeared before the board and apologized, saying that, being a new business in town, selling tobacco to minors was not how he wanted to be perceived by residents.

Days after the board of health hearing, Mr. Salamone said that, in spite of the charge brought against him, he will continue to sell Game cigars.

“It’s like any other tobacco product. We have customers of all ages who buy them, and it’s our duty as a retailer to ensure we’re selling them legally,” he said.

Game cigars are produced by Garcia y Vega and hit the tobacco market in 2007. They are individually wrapped, flavored cigars. Flavors range from vanilla and honey to grape, peach and pineapple. Robert D. Collett, director of the tobacco control program, said they come packaged in colorful foil wrappers. Mr. Collett said a parent might mistake one seen in their child’s backpack for a fruit roll snack. Young people have turned to smoking them because cigarettes have become so expensive, he said.

Mr. Collett mentioned that Game cigars are just one in a wide variety of small, inexpensive cigars that are on the market.

“They sell for as little as 49 cents. Tobacco companies make them attractive to young people; they’re obviously marketed to young kids,” Mr. Collett said.

He pointed out that unlike a number of other countries around the world, including Canada and Australia, there are no restrictions on how tobacco companies can package their products. He said that there have been attempts to change this in recent years, but many of those efforts have failed through lawsuits brought forth by the tobacco giants.

“The tobacco industry fights those efforts vigilantly,” he said.

Mr. Collett cautioned that because they are unfiltered, cigars are more dangerous than cigarettes to smoke. He said the added flavoring in Game cigars allows a user to inhale deeper, which results in potentially greater damage in the short term.

“A single cigar contains the same amount of nicotine as four packages of cigarettes,” he said.

Mr. Collett noted that there has been an uptake lately in illegal sales of Game cigars and similar small products to minors. He said that while some young people buy them for the tobacco, an increasing percentage are purchasing small cigars to re-stuff with marijuana.

A “blunt” is a cigar that has purposely been hollowed out and re-filled with marijuana. High Times magazine, a periodical dedicated to the promotion of marijuana use, listed Game cigars as one of the seven best cigars to use as a blunt. In an article published in February 2014, the magazine suggested “you can’t go wrong with vanilla or white grape Games filled with fluffy, aromatic haze.”

A similar proponent of marijuana culture, the website The Happy Crate, also listed Game cigars as a good choice for use as a blunt. In an article posted at the website March 11, the writer noted, “not only do they taste good, but Game cigars are well-suited to being rolled.”

Mr. Collett advised parents looking to steer their children away from smoking to be vigilant. He suggested starting the conversation early about the long-term health effects that come with a smoking addiction.

“Kids don’t think beyond the next day,” he said.

     The DHHS study also concluded that 80 percent of smokers start smoking before the age of 18, and more than 3,000 young people in the US start smoking every day. Additionally, in 2000, 69 percent of middle school children and 58 percent of high school students under the age of 18 were not asked to present proof of age when buying cigarettes.

In Bourne, the town health regulations governing smoking identify a minor as anyone under the age of 18. The town last amended its regulations on tobacco and smoking in August 2012. At the time, the board noted findings by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that nicotine was “as addictive as cocaine or heroin.”

The recent failure of 11 stores throughout Bourne to pass a semi-annual tobacco sales compliance check has placed a spotlight squarely on the issue of selling tobacco products to minors and the uses for which those products are being bought. In some cases, young people may be smoking to satisfy a nicotine fix. County and town health officials have also noted that youngsters are combining some tobacco products with marijuana.

Resource:http://www.capenews.net/bourne/news/concerns-raised-about-underage-smokers-access-to-cheap-cigars/article_f577bc70-3710-11e5-9774-1725606d75b3.html