Cigarettes and Tobacco News

Sep 29, 2007 -- A new state law aimed at preventing fatal fires caused by smoking materials kicks in tomorrow.

That's when retailers and wholesalers have to start selling "fire-safe cigarettes," which are designed to go out when someone stops puffing.

New Hampshire was the fifth state to adopt a fire-safe cigarette law. And 17 additional states have now passed similar legislation, which is being promoted by the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, cigarettes are the number one cause of fatal fires in the United States, killing 700 to 900 people a year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates someone died in a fire in this country every 143 minutes in 2005, and someone was injured every 29 minutes.

John Raymond, assistant director of the state Fire Marshal office, said some retailers have already been receiving shipments of fire-safe cigarettes in advance of the Oct. 1 law. That's in part because neighboring Vermont has had its own law in place since May of last year, so wholesalers have already been shipping the new cigarettes there.

Raymond said stores will have a chance to sell their current inventory. But as of tomorrow, any new cigarette packs shipped here will have to carry a fire-safe seal.

John Dumais, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Grocers Association, said retailers were happy lawmakers wrote the measure to allow them to sell off their existing inventory.

"The Legislature worked with us to create a program where there was enough lead time to make the transition happen," he said.

And now there are enough states enacting such laws to ease pressures on wholesalers, who had previously worried they would have to maintain separate inventories for different states, Dumais said.

"Now where it's all going in the same direction, it's an easy transition because everybody will be on the same page," he said.

"There's probably going to be some concern from consumers that it's the same as the other cigarettes, as far as the flavor and draw and everything else, but I think it's going to work fairly well," he said.

While a non-smoker, Raymond said it's his understanding that the fire-safe cigarettes are indistinguishable in taste from the standard type. "What they say is that people don't even know the difference," he said.