Stores switch to fire-safe cigarettes

    There is no such thing as a safe cigarette, but as of New Year’s Day Delaware will require all cigarettes sold in the state to be at least a little safer.

    After Jan. 1 retailers only may stock so-called fire-safe cigarettes, which are designed to extinguish themselves if left unattended.

    Fires caused by smoldering cigarettes have killed seven people in Delaware since 2007 and caused more than $300,000 in damage last year, said Assistant State Fire Marshal Mike Chionchio.

    “The rationale here is to protect Delaware citizens from fires, those caused by discarded smoking items,” said Chionchio, who is overseeing the state’s fire-safe cigarette program. “It’s not fireproof but it’s a substantial step, especially in the home.”

    According to Chionchio, fire-safe cigarettes get their self-extinguishing properties from two strips of extra-thick paper rolled into the wrapper.

    “In the paper that rolls the tobacco for the cigarette, there’s two what they refer to as ‘speed bumps.’ Two sections that have less pores and two layers of paper, it prohibits a lit cigarette from burning past that speed bump,” he said. “If you light one up and sit it in an ashtray and leave and come back, it will self extinguish. It has nothing to do with the tobacco, it’s layers of additional paper.”

    Over the past year the fire marshal’s office has been working with cigarette manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers in their transition to distributing and selling only fire-safe products, known officially as Reduced Ignition Propensity cigarettes.

    So far Chionchio’s office has registered more than 600 brands and styles of cigarettes that are compliant with the new rules. Any cigarette rolled in paper is subject to the fire-safe regulations and marked with a special FSC label, including herbal and clove cigarettes. Cigars, cigarillos and separately packaged cigarette rolling papers are not covered under the law.

    Chionchio said phasing in the new cigarettes was relatively easy — manufacturers were already shipping fire-safe cigarettes to Delaware because of similar laws in Maryland and New Jersey.

    “There’s a great influx of fire-safe cigarettes in Delaware already,” he said. “[The manufacturers] told me that it just wasn’t worth their costs to ship two different cigarettes to Delaware.”

    In 2004, New York became the first of more than 20 states to require fire-safe cigarettes. Pennsylvania’s fire-safe cigarette law also took effect Jan. 1.

    Some smokers say they can tell the difference between their old smokes and the new fire-safe cigarettes.

    “At first it had a little bit of a different taste but now that I’m used to it, it doesn’t really seem that different,” said Zobidah Myers, who was buying a pack of fire-safe Newports at the Bargain Barrel tobacco discount store in Dover Dec. 30.

    Bargain Barrel manager Laurie Walters said her store started stocking fire-safe cigarettes exclusively in November, and that even though some of her customers have grumbled about how the new cigarettes snuff themselves out, most haven’t changed their habits.

    “We’ll get customers who come in and ask, ‘Do you have anything in the non-FSC?’” she said. “I haven’t had too many that have not actually bought them. I have had some customers go to a different brand to see if they can get the taste they want.”

    According to the law, Walters still can sell the non-fire-safe packs she has on her shelves, but all new orders must be fire-safe.

    Michelle Myers, a clerk at the store, said customer complaints have been minor and she supports the law.

    “I think it’s a good idea because if it’s going to cause less fires, then why not? It’ll save lives and burns in the carpet,” she said.