It was Halloween, 2004. I was 12, and my parents had finally given me permission to trick or treat with my friends without their supervision. It was a big deal since they knew my parents as “the strict ones.”

Although tobacco use has been commonplace for centuries, it wasn’t until the 1920’s that a slightly more sinister version of smoking emerged, one that was sweet but made you look just like your old man after a long day at the office. Candy cigarettes were introduced to the American Market by the Hershey Corporation when they began production on chocolate smokes. During this time, Hershey was throwing things at the wall to see what stuck; they made candy tricycles and candy toys, but none of those seemed to take quite like cigarettes.

I remember the first time someone gave me a candy cigarette.