Minn. soda shop rebuked for stocking candy smokes
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Owners of an old-school soda shop in St. Paul, Minn., are being warned to kick the habit and stop stocking novelty candy cigarettes.
City inspectors threatened a misdemeanor citation and $500 fine if Lynden's soda fountain is caught selling the fake smokes again. The Star Tribune reported Wednesday that the offering violated an ordinance barring the sale of candy smokes and cartoon character lighters.
A city spokesman says the warning came after inspectors received and looked into a complaint about the presence of the tobacco-themed products. The ordinance was enacted to discourage youngsters from picking up a real smoking habit.
Shop owner Tobi Lynden says the white candy sticks with the red tips were her best-selling candy item but she pulled them to avoid running afoul of the ordinance.
City inspectors threatened a misdemeanor citation and $500 fine if Lynden's soda fountain is caught selling the fake smokes again. The Star Tribune reported Wednesday that the offering violated an ordinance barring the sale of candy smokes and cartoon character lighters.
A city spokesman says the warning came after inspectors received and looked into a complaint about the presence of the tobacco-themed products. The ordinance was enacted to discourage youngsters from picking up a real smoking habit.
Shop owner Tobi Lynden says the white candy sticks with the red tips were her best-selling candy item but she pulled them to avoid running afoul of the ordinance.
If you look them up on amazon the product discriptions says the name has been changed to candy stick to be politically correct , funny.
Ridiculous. Â I used to love those as a kid - I have never smoked as an adult. Â I think it is disgusting. Â
 @JusticeSeeker Same here. Nanny government at its finest!!
Really? "rebuked"? This is outrageous. A fine for selling candy?
I bought those things when I was a kid, and yes, pretended to smoke them. Â But guess what, though I was raised by a parent who smoked, and had plenty of other relatives who smoked, I never took up smoking.
 @CommutingGuy That's my story as well.
I loved the flavor of the gum in those. I didn't confuse smoking with bubble gum, I guess people figure kids are too stupid to figure that out on their own.
Â
My Dad gave me a puff of his cigar when I finally did get curious. I puked my guts out and didn't touch smokes again until way later in life, when I was old enough to make ignorant decisions all by my lonesome. :-D
 @tennistime Gum? All the ones I had were just peppermint sticks.
 @CommutingGuy We could be twins!  We loved those candy cigarettes, they just melted in your mouth.  I smoked a few puffs off a cigar in Costa Rica and that's the extent of my smoking.
@Doxie @CommutingGuy - same here - I didn't do the cigar - but my Dad smoked cigars, my Mom smoked cigarettes occasionally - I 'smoked' the candy cigarettes - but never smoked a day in my life. "Good" to see government is squashing yet another small business. Some of these government types need to take a chill pill.
 @CommutingGuy same for me, i would even ask my grandpa, who smoked for a light, he would oblige. and i never picked it up.
 @CommutingGuy Same thing.. but guess what I did and was doing it at 7th grade..
wonder if they will crack down on Big league chew next?
 @beetle73 Don't give them any ideas.
Next thing they will do is fine people for drinking soda because it prevents diabetes.. Oh wait New York City already did that.
 @toolbox1007 There's a special tax on white people that tan in salons as opposed to outdoors. Funny, it only seems to affect one ethnicity. Curious.
I didn't start smoking because of candy cigarettes, I started smoking because my older sibling, parents and friends did.
More nanny state actions. Funny the demise of civilization will be from everyone being over PC...
I ate candy smokes all the time as a kid. I remember when places like Kmart sold em. I have never once in my life smoked.
 @BlueJedi I also enjoyed the candy cigarettes as a kid. I have smoked maybe a dozen real cigarettes in my life and all of them were before I turned fourteen. Both of my parent's smoked like volcanoes and my older brother took up the habit before he was sixteen. The "logic" that candy cigarettes lead to the real thing is as absurd as the logic that breathing causes eventual death.
That's OK, they were hard to light anyway.
Candy smokes, squirt guns, GI Joe, and Barbie dolls, we are being taught at a very young age...
 @31F yup, i was taught at a young age... that they were toys.
 @31F yeah--it's pretty amazing that handicapped Barbie, ethnic GI Joe, granola bars and peace stickers don't do better.
hey, i remember those when i was a kid. i even remember going to the store when i was 8 and buying some smokes for my grandma. but, never took up the habit. must be because i made the choice not to, go figure.
And 1000 new smokers were prevented by this action. Stupid.