One northeast Iowa smokeshop owner says the F.D.A.’s ban on cigarettes containing candy or fruit flavors has him wondering what is going to be next. The president of the National Cigar Store in Waterloo, John Eveland, says he didn’t sell a lot of candy-flavored cigarettes. He says pipe tobacco has become a popular seller for people to use to make homemade cigarettes.
“The thing that’s been our savior has been the pipe tobacco, and the pipe tobacco is just like roll your own (cigarettes), only it’s not taxed as much. And you can still roll your own for about 11 dollars a carton. So, this is a category that’s growing, but who knows, the government will probably step in and tax that just like they do roll your own tobacco,” Eveland says.
There’s been some discussion of banning menthol cigarettes, but Eveland predicts that won’t happen. “I’d be very surprised if they do I think menthol is a very very good seller, lots of people would be impacted but who knows with the F.D.A. what’s gonna happen, ” Eveland says. Eveland says the menthol customers tend to be older and the ban on candy and fruit flavors is an effort to keep kids from starting to smoke.