Despite recent legislation, cigarette sales remain fairly consistent in DeKalb.

As of Jan. 1, statewide legislation banned smoking in all public facilities, causing fear among some local tobacco-selling businesses.

“We were afraid the cigarette tax would shoot up,” said Muhammad Mustafa, a worker at Smoker’s World, 818 W. Lincoln Highway. “Prices have still remained the same [though].”

With the fear of increasing cigarette prices comes the aftereffect of the legislation, which asks if if smokers will be encouraged to quit, causing cigarette sales to plummet.

“[Cigarette sales] really haven’t changed,” said Sandi Jones, assistant manager of Casey’s General Store, 1001 N. Annie Glidden Road.

“Our location might have a lot to do with it,” Jones said of Casey’s proximity Starbusters. “Usually smoking and liquor go hand-in-hand.”

Although some smokers still refuse to quit, they have noticed that they have cut back.

“I’ve already cut back, I don’t even go to the bars because of it [the ban] anymore,” said Dwayne Finnan, an NIU campus employee who was already used to part of the legislation stating that one must smoke at least fifteen feet away from a public building. NIU had adopted a policy stating smokers should smoke at least ten feet away from campus buildings and the dorms.

“I am not cutting down,” said sophomore English major Mark Kozera. His reasoning: “I like the sweet taste of cancer.”

Other students agree the legislation has made it a lot more difficult to enjoy a cigarette. After all, it requires them to walk outside every time they need their fix.

“It’s going to be really hard to go outside every time I want to smoke; it’s not as enjoyable,” said Maddy Johns, a sophomore fine arts major.

An increasingly popular alternative smokers can use to get their nicotine fix indoors is chewing tobacco. Chewing tobacco could possibly become more popular in bars or other former popular indoor smoking facilities.

“I haven’t seen a decrease in cigarette sales but I have seen an increase in chewing tobacco sales,” Mustafa said. “More people are trying it out because you can chew tobacco in bars.”

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