Take a long drag of your Warm Mocha Mint Cigar - it might be the last you buy in the city. Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the ban on flavored tobacco into law yesterday. But before you hyperventilate, read the fine print: the ban doesn’t include clove or menthol cigarettes or even flavored hookah.
The city council proposed the ban as a way to "to protect the children of New York City,” Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said during the vote. The number of high school students who smoke only cigars and cigarillos has tripled since 2001, the council said, and the fruity flavors might be to blame.
And experts agree. Michele Bonan, regional director of advocacy for the American Cancer Society, told the Daily News that flavored tobacco is "Big Tobacco's version of training wheels."
