Most kids dream of the day when they’re grown up and independent, often imitating their parents or other grown-ups they admire. If you grew up in the 1960s, it’s likely you indulged in candy cigarettes, pantomiming adults smoking. The first candy cigarettes started out as chocolate in the 1880s and were sold right next to real cigarettes. By the 1920s, they were made of chalky sugar and had become so popular that manufacturers began packaging them in branded boxes similar to those of real cigarettes. The retail price for candy cigarettes was also lower than the prices of other candies, and were often placed on lower shelves that were more accessible for children. Then, in 1964, a report by Surgeon General Luther Terry addressed the serious impact that smoking can have on health, causing lung cancer and even death. That led to the tobacco industry being required to put warning labels on tobacco products. With the belief that the makers of candy cigarettes were subtly grooming children to become adult smokers, the public was calling for a ban on them. North Dakota banned candy cigarettes in 1953, only to have the ban repealed in 1967. Today, you can only find candy cigarettes at specialty cancer stores and at online retailers like Amazon. Meanwhile, Canada, UK, Australia, Finland, Norway, Ireland and South Korea have banned them altogether.
