In Pennsylvania, fire-safe smokes are a burning issue

ShareThis

Smokers may find themselves lighting up more often in the new year.
It's not that they'll be smoking more cigarettes, just lighting each one multiple times.
A Pennsylvania law requiring fire-safe wrappers on cigarettes takes effect Jan. 1, but some manufacturers already have begun phasing them in. Distributors have until July 1 to sell off stock of noncompliant products.
Fire-safe cigarettes are rolled with bands of slow-burning paper. If a cigarette is left unattended, it will extinguish itself when it burns down to one of those bands.
State Rep. Tim Solobay, who is chief of the Canonsburg (Pa.) Fire Department, sponsored the measure, which he says could save lives and property.
"I've been in the fire service for 30 years and have investigated many fires that have been traced back to cigarettes, whether accidental or intentional," he said.
Sometimes arsonists use cigarettes as slow-burning fuses to light accelerants, he said. The arsonists are miles away before the fire breaks out.
State fire officials laud the new law, and tobacco companies say they are happy to comply, though they would prefer a uniform federal standard instead of individual state laws.
The tobacco is the same and manufacturing costs are the same, said David Sutton, spokesman for Altria, parent company of Phillip Morris cigarette company and Middleton Cigars. The only difference is the paper.
Some smokers, though, say they notice a difference, and they don't like it. They say they feel forced to puff more often to prevent the cigarettes from going out. And they say that relighting them gives the cigarettes a funny taste that induces nausea.
"They say the taste is different and that they have to suck on it more to keep it lit," Solobay said. "They're barking up the wrong tree if they're worried about having to inhale more when they're doing something that's not good for them in the first place."
State Fire Commissioner Edward A. Mann is an enthusiastic supporter of the new law, which he says will prevent deadly blazes.
Smokers still need to be careful, he said.
"Household items like curtains, mattresses and bedding can still catch on fire very quickly, and the only way to prevent them from igniting is to be extremely vigilant," he said. Still, the new law is a good step toward prevention, he said.

(E-mail Tracie Mauriello at tmauriello(at)post-gazette.com)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette