Candy Cigarette Habit

I grew up on candy cigarettes.

I never really liked their chalky taste, but I liked how I looked with one hanging out of my mouth. For me, they were more of a toy than a candy.

I was just a little kid but I knew how to handle a candy cigarette.

My parents didn't smoke. I wasn't around smokers, but I was an observant kid. I picked up my technique from TV I guess. I really was very good with a candy cigarette.

Once a classmate passed out candy cigarettes as a birthday treat. I, of course, proceeded to "consume" the candy. My teacher asked me if my parents smoked. Clearly, she was impressed with my ability. She was surprised when I told her that they didn't. Her theory about kids mimicking their parents went up in smoke.

I gave up candy cigarettes long, long ago. As far as I can tell, I haven't suffered any long term negative effects from my habit.

Actually, I didn't know that candy cigarettes were still on the market.

It's hard to reconcile a company producing and selling candy cigarettes with Joe Camel being deemed public enemy #1.

Apparently, candy cigarettes are still available even though they are dangerous.

GASP!

LiveScience.com -- Candy cigarettes predispose children who play with them to smoke the real things later, new research concludes.

The look-alikes made of candy or gum are marketing and advertising tools that desensitize kids and open them moreso to the idea of smoking later on, says study leader Jonathan Klein of the University of Rochester. Candy cigarettes cannot be considered simply as candy, Klein said.

The findings, from a nationally representative sample of 25,887 U.S. adults who were surveyed online via a Harris Poll, are detailed in the July issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.

The study is the first to show a statistical link between a history with fake cigarettes and adult experiences with real smokes —22 percent of current or former smokers had also regularly consumed candy cigarettes, while only 14 percent of those who have never smoked had eaten or played with candy cigarettes often or very often.

"The continued existence of these products helps promote smoking as a culturally or socially acceptable activity," Klein said, in a prepared statement.

Philip Morris USA had no comment specifically on the study, said spokesman Bill Phelps, but he noted that the company has a youth smoking prevention program that features brochures and materials on the company's Web site to help parents talk to their kids about not smoking.

...Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of smokers start before age 18, according to the Department of Health and Human Services and other sources. The survey by Klein and colleagues showed that candy cigarette use is more common among females.

That backs up my experience. Most of my girlfriends were heavy users of candy cigarettes.

Candy cigarettes reportedly have been restricted or banned in Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, among other countries. Legislative bans also have been proposed in several U.S. states and in New York City over the years, but all these failed except in North Dakota where a ban stood from 1953 until it was repealed in 1967.

As I said, I was under the impression that candy cigarettes had been banned years ago.

I think candy cigarettes fall into the playing with toy guns category.

If you don't allow your kids to have toy guns then they'll probably make their own out of Legos or just use their fingers.

The same goes with the candy. If a kid isn't enjoying a candy cigarette, she's probably dipping a french fry into ketchup and puffing on that.

All I can say is I didn't grow up to be a smoker in spite of my love for candy cigarettes.

Bottom line: I don't think the government should be regulating candy.

I wish I knew where I could buy a pack.

I'd like to "smoke" one in a non-smoking section of a restaurant. If that's not allowed, I can always use fries.