The “bad news” Big Tobacco received when Chicago raised its smoking age to 21, outlawed discounts, issued a $6 million tax on cigars, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco and banned chaw altogether at sports 
stadiums is starting to take effect with mixed results. Some people love it while other’s (primarily those who utilize vaporizers) hate it.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel strengthened a sweeping anti-smoking agenda that has brought down the teen smoking rate down to 10.7 percent. The mayor is now aiming for what he called the “attainable goal” of creating a “tobacco-free generation.”
The mayor re-ignited a plan that raises Chicago’s smoking age from 18 to 21, taxes tobacco products other than cigarettes and prohibits coupons and discounts used to lure another generation of smokers to take up the habit in the first place.
In the Mayor’s own words back in March:
“Chicago has one of the lowest teen smoking rates — not only in history, but in the country. This is an important step.”
Critics contend that taxing tobacco products yet again when Chicago already has the nation’s highest cigarette tax at $7.17-a-pack will drive up the black-market sale of loose cigarettes that breed more serious crime and drive small retailers out of business, particularly those located near the city limits.
The City Council agreed to make Chicago the nation’s fourth big league city to ban smokeless tobacco at baseball stadiums and other “professional and amateur” sporting events.
San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles have passed similar bans that take effect this season while New York and Toronto have legislation pending.
The Chicago ban is a big victory for the so-called “Knock Tobacco Out of the Park” campaign sweeping the nation.