Snuffed out.

Cuba, home of the Cohiba cigar, recently passed a law that prohibits smoking in public places. Enforcement may be harder than expected; the island until recently had no minimum age to purchase tobacco and more than half of the population, counting children, smokes. The Cuban government says it is trying to appeal to Cubans to consider the health risks of tobacco. (Cuban President Fidel Castro, once an avid cigar smoker, quit 20 years ago claiming concern for his health.) Yet, tobacco is the island's No. 2 crop, and its second cause of death. Meanwhile, cigarettes remain on the government's rationing list, while a public subsidy allows adults to buy two packs of unfiltered, domestically made cigarettes for just US$0.10. Unsubsidized cigarettes are $0.30 a pack, pricey for an ordinary Cuban but relatively cheap compared to elsewhere in the world. Smoking is a part of Cuban culture. In a country where freedoms are few, is it really the government's responsibility to ban yet another liberty?