Columbus tobacco store expects 65% loss in business because of city's flavored tobacco ban

WBNS-Columbus ^ | 1/1/24 | Tara Jabour

[DallasBiff]

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Monday, shelves at Puff Palace on North High Street look a lot different. The store can no longer sell flavored menthol cigarettes or flavored vapes because of the city of Columbus’ ban on the products went into effect.

Moe Ismail, the manager of Puff Palace said their business will suffer and they are projecting a 65% loss

Ismail doesn’t understand why the city of Columbus decided to ban the flavored products.

“Why do they get to limit what kind of things we do if they don’t want to do it on different products like alcohol?” said Ismail.

The city of Columbus said they banned the flavored products because they feel it targets minorities and children. But, Ismail said children shouldn’t even be considered in the conversation.

“That’s irrelevant to us. 21 is the guideline for federal reasons and we ID people off the front,” said Ismail.

[DallasBiff]

Back in the 80's Franklin county(Columbus, county seat) was a conservative bastion for Reagan.

If this happened when my mother was alive(God bless her soul), she would be saying, like Greta Thunburg, "How dare you take away my Salem's"

My mother passed away a month from her 81'st birthday

[thegagline]

And just like that, Columbus has just created an underground market for menthol cigarettes.

[mikey_hates_everything]

Won’t be hard to find where to get them.

[MrRelevant]

Reminds me of the Chapelle game show bit when he asked people :

“Why do black people like menthol cigarettes?”

They all said “i dont know” and that was the right answer😂

[DainBramage]

The vape stores will sell unflavored vape and bottles of flavor to add. Same with menthol, they will figure a way to add it later.

[Mears]

Menthol banned in MA .

…..

[thegagline]

Good one! I’m still giggling…

[unixfox]

Ismail doesn’t understand why the city of Columbus decided to ban the flavored products.

Welcome to Amerika Ismail. The land of the banned.

[muir_redwoods]

It isn’t like 65% of smokers are going to quit, they’re simply going to drive to IN, WVA, KY, MI or PA and buy several cartons at a time. Those neighboring states will get the tax revenue

[Glad2bnuts]

I wish I lived in MI at my family there. I would be smugglin smokes, better though if you come from a place with cheaper smokes...better profit. I can imagine that Tribal places can just set up stores on their lands and the State can’t do nuffin’.

[imardmd1]

I smoked/chewed all kinds of tobacco from 1954 to 1990, 36 years. Menthol cigarettes a lot, esp in the later years of filtered smokes; many pipe tobaccos "flavored" for sweetness of smell; chewing, most all some kind of flavor.

In 1990 at the cessation, I often had coughing and respiratory infections, but after 33 years hardly any at all. And I'm 87, with gret reports on from internist and cardiologist -- almost youthful.

Who are the "do-gooders" whining about menthol? It's the nicotine that poisons, and smoke particulates that affect alveoli, not vaporized menthol, eh? Let the buyer choose, it's not addictive.

The best choice is not to smoke at all. It's just an ingrained habit, with overdosing of nicotine being the hard-to-avoid consequence that's hard to relieve. But nicotine is a poison that he body rejects, not an addictive intoxicant like cocaine or ethanol.

[cgbg]

The Karens want to save the planet.

The best way to do that is to reduce the population.

One good way to do that is to have as many people as possible die as young as possible.

They should be requiring that children smoke cigarettes!

;-)