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ARLINGTON, Va. - Smokers in the United States will soon have fewer choices. The government is putting a ban on "clove cigarettes" and other flavored tobacco products.
It's difficult to find them in stores but they're all over the Internet. Clove and flavored cigarettes come in different flavors like cherry and vanilla.
"I'm a nonsmoker and I hate cigarettes," said Steward Smith, a parent. "We don't want our teenagers to grow up around smoking with bad habits."
Smith says his parents smoked when he was growing up and doesn't want his children to get hooked.
And it seems neither does the government. Starting Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration is banning flavored and clove cigarettes.
The FDA says those products attract and appeal to teenagers. The U.S. market for clove cigarettes is about $140 million -- a big hit since the United States imported them in the 1960s. And data shows cloves are mostly smoked by people under the age of 30.
"I was close to 16 when I started smoking regularly," said Dale Horn, a smoker. Horn now tries to stop others. "If a teenager comes up to me I say, 'I don't have any cigarettes, so no.'"
The ban is part of a new law signed by President Obama in June called The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The law gives the FDA authority to regulate tobacco.
The agency, however, can't ban tobacco and nicotine outright.
"If they're trying to keep it out of kids hands it's going to be like everything else. They drink and they have to be 21 to drink," said Michele Barr, a smoker.
Some companies that make clove cigarettes have found a loophole in the ban. They're making cigars close to the size of a cigarette flavored with clove, vanilla and cherry.
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