Are You Down with Fire-Safe Smokes?
If not, don’t even think about buying any coffin nails in the Bay State. As of January 1 this year, a new state law went into effect requiring retailers to only sell cigarettes with a so-called fire-safe design.
What exactly does that mean? Well, for starters, hopefully no more buildings burning down because some inattentive nicotine addict fell asleep with a lit butt still between their fingers. And believe me, I know how easy it is to unintentionally doze off while doing something you shouldn’t considering the number of times I’ve woken up in the morning with my glasses either still on or on the floor because I failed to remove them. Heck, I’ve already done that three times this week, so thank goodness I don’t smoke.
According to the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes, fire-safe cigarettes have “a reduced propensity to burn when left unattended. The most common fire-safe technology used by cigarette manufacturers is to wrap cigarettes with two or three thin bands of less-porous paper that act as ’speed bumps’ to slow down a burning cigarette. If a fire-safe cigarette is left unattended, the burning tobacco will reach one of these speed bumps and self-extinguish.” What’s not to like?
If you live in Canada, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, or Vermont, this probably isn’t a big deal or news to you. But, with yet another deadly cigarette-related fire making headlines in Massachusetts just last week—81-year-old local blues musician Weepin’ Willie Robinson died in Jamaica Plain after falling asleep while smoking in bed—Bostonians should be thrilled.
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