 Sales
of cigarillos in candy flavours like raspberry and mint
chocolate are up 300% in Canada. Anti-smoking groups
fear their popularity could fuel a kid-friendly smoking
revival.
Cigarillos are cigarette-sized,
filtered cigars that come in a variety of enticing flavours
and — perhaps most dangerously — can be bought
as singles at any corner store where they're often right
next to the candy display. And, according to an ongoing
study by the Quebec health ministry, kids are eating
them up.
COOL
WITH THE KIDS
Smoking's been on the decline among young people —
down around 50% — for a decade. But cigarillos
are bucking that trend. According to a 2004 survey of
Quebec teens, 18% said they'd tried cigars or cigarillos,
up from 13% in 2000.
Chances are you've seen cigarillo
packaging — small plastic tubes that look a lot
like those old horoscope rolls — littering sidewalks
and storm drains. Though it's illegal to sell single
cigarettes, cigarillos — because they're classed
as cigars — are exempt. Cynics say the tobacco
industry is taking advantage of this loophole to get
kids hooked on smoking. Big Tobacco denies. "Regardless
of their intent, they are still attracting underage
children to their product," Rob Cunningham, a senior
policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society told
the Toronto Sun. "There's no doubt that the tobacco
industry on the whole is a declining market. And all
new smokers begin in their teens or pre-teens."
Now public health officials are
finally taking notice. Quebec's health minister Philippe
Couillard recently announced his department is looking
into banning single cigarillos, citing their wide appeal
to teens. "These little, coloured, plastic-tipped cigars,
fruit or vanilla-scented, are intended for the youth
market. They can easily buy them for about a dollar
each. This worries us enormously," Louis Gauvin, spokesman
for the Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control told the
French-language newspaper La Presse. His organization
lodged a formal complaint with the ministry in October,
prompting the current study.
"If the law prevented their individual
sale and they were sold in packs of 20," added Mr Gauvin,
"a young person might think twice because they'd have
to spend over $30 for a pack."
SWINGIN'
SINGLES
Another issue with cigarillo singles is that, unlike
cigarette packs, which feature frightening warnings
that take nearly 50% of the packaging, cigarillo tubes
only have enough room for tiny text warnings. The main
warnings are on the shipping packaging, which the consumer
never sees. A study from the March issue of the American
Journal of Preventive Medicine found that Canada's
graphic labels of decaying teeth and cancerous lungs
do work to deter people from smoking.
Add to this the fact that cigar
smokers tend to underestimate the carcinogenicity of
cigars. In fact, cigarillos pose similar hazards to
cigarettes; they're lighter on some chemicals, but heavier
on others.
The single cigarillo could also
ensnare current smokers who are trying to quit. In smoking
cessation, the greatest predictor of a relapse is a
lapse. For a quitter, the single cigarillo may feel
like less of a slip than buying a pack of 25 smokes,
offering a 'guilt-free' chance to nurse the cravings
— especially if it's flavoured to taste like a
fine single malt scotch.
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