Too Fruity

I got a copy of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act this morning, and it turns out the bill's flavor restrictions apply only to cigarettes. Specifically, the bill says:

A cigarette or any of its component parts (including the tobacco, filter, or paper) shall not contain, as a constituent (including a smoke constituent) or additive, an artificial or natural flavor (other than tobacco or menthol) or an herb or spice, including strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, that is a characterizing flavor of the tobacco product or tobacco smoke.

So clove cigarettes would be banned by the bill, but cherry pipe tobacco, fruity waterpipe mixtures, and wintergreen smokeless tobacco would still be legal. The rationale, presumably, is that fruit, spice, and other nontobacco flavorings make cigarettes more palatable to novice smokers, especially minors. (This sort of objection, which gives no weight to the interests of adults who happen to share the tastes of teenagers, also has been raised against sweet malt beverages such as Zima and Mike's Hard Lemonade.) I guess it's just a happy coincidence that Philip Morris, one of the bill's main backers, does not make any of the brands that would be prohibited, although it does make menthol cigarettes, which are specifically exempted from the ban.