Now you see them, now you don't.
Today marks the first day of the vanishing cigarette displays in Ontario.
If smokers want to see a package of cigarettes before they buy them, they'll have to head to the Tyendinaga Territory.
As of today, Ontario retailers who sell smokes are not allowed to let customers see or handle a package until they are paid for - unless the store is on a native reserve.
And that has several Belleville store owners seeing red.
"We don't have a level playing field anymore," complained Cam Smith, owner of Pine Street Variety. "I just can't figure it out."
Retailers who sell tobacco products must keep them hidden from customers under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act provision that kicked in today.
Any retailer who contravenes the law is subject to fines running anywhere from $250 for a first offence to a maximum of $4,000. The enforcement of the law is left to local health units.
The idea is to keep tobacco products hidden so as to "denormalize" cigarettes to children - out of sight, out of mind, said Cheryl Vigar, program manager for tobacco enforcement at the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit.
"We want to restrict (the sight of tobacco from) the kids so we don't get any new smokers coming along," she said.
That's ridiculous, said Mike Saleh, who has run the Super Duper at 20 Bridge St. W. in Belleville since 1978.
"What's the sense to cover it?" he wondered. "Kids see (people smoking) cigarettes in the streets."
The new law is rigid. Customers can look at a binder containing an inventory of tobacco products for sale, but the binder must be kept under the counter and can only be viewed by those 19-years-of-age or older.
Otherwise, customers can only see a blank metal grey wall and must ask for the cigarette brands they want. Clerks are only permitted to let customers handle the product only after they have made the purchase.
Most galling to the retailers is that while they have had to cover up their tobacco displays, tobacco products can still be seen and handled on the nearby native reserve.
"What is the difference between me and the Indian?" Saleh said. "Why do they (government) treat us differently? I think we live in Russia now."
Vigar is sensitive to the criticism - off-reserve retailers are already losing business to those who sell cheap contraband cigarettes with impunity on Tyendinaga Territory.
"We are very conscious of their concerns," she said. "We agree with them."
But Vigar said there is nothing the health unit can do because the smoke-free law is provincial, whereas reserves are under the federal government.
"They (Indian reserves) don't fall under our jurisdiction," she said.
The health unit has tried to clamp down on the sale of contraband tobacco on the reserve, but was told by both the province and the band council to stay out.
Cigarettes on the reserve sell for as little as $12 for a plastic bag of 200, with no provincial or federal tax paid. Even name brands from established manufacturers that cost $72 in off-reserve stores runs about $50 on Tyendinaga. Both contraband and name brand sales rankle Belleville store owners who have lost a lot of business to the reserve.
"I've lost 100 cartons (in cigarette sales) a week," said Smith, who has run the Pine Street store for 26 years.
He pointed the finger at the government for the loss.
"I'm certainly not blaming the natives," he said. "It's the government. We have politicians like (Prince Edward-Hastings MP) Daryl Kramp who talks out of both sides of his mouth and does nothing. They are not doing anything to help us solve the problem on the reserve."
Smith has a cottage on Chemong Lake and cigarettes are available on the reserve there, too. But he said native stores charge more for tobacco products to those who do not have a band card and he would like to see the same system adopted at Tyendinaga.
"That's what should happen down here," Smith said.
But Saleh disagreed.
"We are all Canadian," he said, and everyone should be treated the same, with one law for all. "Why do they treat us differently? They have a special treatment there (on the reserve)."
Saleh said he has lost sales of between 120 and 140 cartons a week thanks to the cheap contraband cigarettes on the reserve, and the fact that natives pay no or only partial tax on some of the other tobacco products and do not charge tax to customers hurts his business too. The province is losing millions in taxes on contraband cigarettes.
Meanwhile, off-reserve stores must pay taxes and also collect GST on the sale of tobacco products for the government from consumers, Smith said.
"The taxes I pay are fantastic," he said.
Other than on the reserve, there are two places in Hastings and Prince Edward counties - one in Belleville and the other in Picton - where some tobacco products do remain on display.
Quinte Smoke and Gift in the Quinte Mall and M-R Cigar and Chocolate on Picton's Main Street are registered tobacconists with the Ministry of Health Promotion, Vigar said.
Under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, registered tobacconists must cover up displays of cigarettes, but they do not have to hide specialty tobacco products. The latter include cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobaccos, snuff, chewing tobacco and tins of cigarette tobacco.
However, the exemption comes because admission to the store is restricted, said Max Saleh, owner of Quinte Smoke and Gift.
"If you are under 19-years-old, because of the new Ontario Smoke Free Bylaw, you are not permitted to enter this store unless accompanied by an adult," a sign on the door states.
Otherwise, the same rules apply.
"The customer must pay for the product before he actually touches them," Saleh said. "It's the law. Stupid law."
bellsworth@intelligencer.ca.
Here are some of the rules retailers face under the new provisions of the Smoke-Free Ontario Act that takes effect today:
Tobacco products must be stored so that consumers cannot see them before they are purchased.
Customers are not allowed to handle cigarettes or other tobacco products before a purchase.
Store owners must restock and do inventory of tobacco products out of sight of customers - in other words, when the store is closed.
If the storage devices containing the tobacco products are open too long during a sale, it could be considered as displaying the product and there could be a charge laid under the Act .
The storage area must be small. They are usually flip-up shelves that are a foot in height and two feet wide. Not allowed are sliding doors or curtains or any storage that would allow a large portion of tobacco stock to be seen.
Fines could run from $250 to $4,000 for first offences under the Act.