Government crackdown on candy cigarettes

Soda shop in Saint Paul, Minnesota threatened with misdemeanor

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," December 27, 2012. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE, CO-HOST: Trouble in the candy land. Well, listen to this story. You know how there is a war on smoking cigarettes in this country. Well, now, one old fashion candy story has been threatened with fines for selling sugar cigarettes. The owner of old fashion shop in St. Paul, Minnesota, have been warned to stop selling candy smokes, along with other tobacco themed product, like Big League Chew and bubble gum cigars after a ban was enacted to prevent kids from trying the real stuff one day.

So, does it any sense? Does anyone want to tie this together that there is a nexus between candy cigs, bubble gum cigars and taking up smoking? Any takers? Any takers? Smokers amongst us?

GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST: I -- this is the type of research that is created to prove the point researchers want that candy cigarettes somehow lead to real smoking. The fact is all kids had candy cigarettes. I think you should ban hot wheels because kids like to go like really fast on them, which is going to lead to fast driving. Cap gun leads to real guns. Making a finger like this should be banned. No more using --

BOB BECKEL, CO-HOST: I thought making a finger like oh, never mind.

ANDREA TANTAROS, CO-HOST: That is banned.

BECKEL: Of course it should be banned.

GUTFELD: Oh, they're fun, Bob.

BECKEL: It's a law. It's a law. And the guy should follow the law. If he doesn't, then he should be fined.

GUILFOYLE: I know. But it's like, come on, Eric. What do you say?

I had those. Look at me.

(CROSSTALK)

ERIC BOLLING, CO-HOST: I think these people have a lot -- too much time on their hands to worry about whether a candy cigarette makes a kid want to smoke real cigarette.

GUILFOYLE: I had them and I thought they were kind of --

TANTAROS: It's cool, shredded mound of bubble gum. I don't dip and I used to eat Big League Chew.

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: I thought you did dip.

GUTFELD: Oddly enough, I started chewing real tobacco and that got me into bubble gum tobacco. Isn't that weird?

Can I just say that this attack on smoking is basically a rage that is misplaced because we live in culture declining but we can't point out that our culture is declining? We've got failures and charlatans running our country. And we can't say -- so we focus our anger on the easy targets, which is smoking and obesity. We go after stuff that's easy to go after.

BECKEL: Both of those, I am part of. And this has been going on for years, George Bush and everybody else. You know what I can't stand -- I am usually on your side, because you and I are the two smokers in this place. It's people -- when you walk down streets of New York, is these people come up to you when you're smoking cigar and they say put that out. I'm going to put you out!

GUILFOYLE: That is good.

GUTFELD: When somebody asked me to stop smoking, I asked them, does the smoke bother you or does it bother you that I'm smoking?

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: Nicotine rage, Bob.

TANTAROS: How do you want the right to smoke your cigarettes but candy cigarettes are banned?

BECKEL: Because it's not for candy cigarettes.

TANTAROS: So, I like candy cigarettes. I'm an adult.

BECKEL: You like a lot of candy things and you're an adult. That has nothing to do with the fact that these things are temptation for kids.

BOLLING: So, what about -- remember the Marlboro, Camel cartoon and you can't do that anymore? Are you all right with banning the cartoon?

BECKEL: Do you know the Marlboro man died of lung cancer?

BOLLING: I do.

TANTAROS: Well, that's next. They're banning sugar. So that would make sense.

BECKEL: Well, that's good. Yes. They should join Mayor Bloomberg.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: The judge -- yes. We talk about this earlier on the show, way back when, what, a month a go. Federal judge recently said that -- basically, it's a multimedia blitz, right, saying that the nation's largest tobacco companies have to issue apologies, warnings about the danger of smoking cigarettes. A lot of people feel this is part of big government's like war against cigarettes.

What do you think of this?

TANTAROS: If you are a business owner, you have to post a giant mea culpa sign, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for selling cigarettes.

And these business owners are saying, so, what am I supposed to do -- admit that somehow I'm a bad businessman? And they speak up, and they said listen, this is a First Amendment violation, and I would agree because it's forcing them to take a position they don't agree with.

BECKEL: This is against the cigarette manufacturers who systematically killed people ands knew it and hid that fact about that. And they ought to apologize. In fact, they ought to got there and stand there and apologize.

GUILFOYLE: Bob, you are too twisted today. You are screaming about the cigarette owners.

BECKEL: Who make these cigarettes and then lie about them and get people addicted to them, are just disgraceful.

GUTFELD: People don't know by now that cigarettes are bad, they deserve to smoke.

(CROSSTALK)

GUILFOYLE: You're like Bob Beckel.

BOLLING: Number two, you do remember the lawsuit that was settled to the tune of, I don't know, $100 billion.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: Displaced anger. It's like we get, smoking is bad.

BECKEL: I smoke cigars and I think cigarette smoking is terrible.

GUILFOYLE: Oh, my gosh. Here we go ahead. I love it.

He's like yes to cigars but no to cigs. No to candy cigs because they are the very worst.

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