As a child of the ’80s raised by a pair of reformed smokers, I never had candy cigarettes. They weren’t common when I was growing up, and even if they had been, I wouldn’t have been allowed to have them. You may be surprised to learn that they still exist. Until recently, you could buy them at a retro old-timey soda fountain in St. Paul, Minnesota. Until Big Government swooped in and told the owner that the candy cigs had to go, because they’re illegal.

“Big Government,” in this case, is the city of St. Paul. A three-year-old city ordinance bans retailers from selling products shown to make smoking look cool to youngsters, like lighters with cartoon characters on them or candy cigarettes. Was the soda fountain, Lynden’s, luring youth into a lifetime of sin taxes and lung disease with their selection of candy smokes and bubblegum cigars? Not really. The store owner reports that most purchasers of the items are nostalgic grown-ups, not impressionable kids. Still, they’re obeying the law, and won’t stock their best-selling candy anymore.

St. Paul shop caught with smoking gum [Star-Tribune] (via Fark)

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