"The taste is a little bit drier," said Whitbread who has smoked for 42 years, "but it's a tiny sacrifice if one life is saved from a fire."

Starting July 1, Utah enacted a new law that has made it one of 27 states that have enacted or passed laws requiring retailers to stock store shelves exclusively with cigarettes designed to extinguish themselves.

The so-called fire-safe cigarettes are banded with less porous paper that will stop burning if the cigarette is left unattended.

"I didn't notice any difference in the taste," said Jeremy Bodrero of Logan. "It's important about there being less forest fires and all."

In Utah, 269 fires have been traced to cigarettes from 2003 to 2007, causing six deaths, 30 injuries and resulting in more than $3 million in property losses, according to the state Fire Marshal's Office.

The new packs cost the same and look nearly identical to older smokes, except for small "FCS" stamped next to the bar code.

"We're getting complaints," said Jeanie's owner Gary Klc (pronounced Kelch) of the fire-safe cigarettes. "One customer who didn't notice what he was buying returned them for the older cigarettes."

The Utah legislation has exemptions for retailers needing more time to stock up on fire-safe cigarettes, as long as they affix state tax stamps to packs purchased before the July 1 start date.

The exemptions, however, are set to expire by Jan. 1, when all cigarettes sold in Utah must be self- extinguishing.

Albertsons spokeswoman Donna Eggers said the chain is behind schedule in stocking fire-safe cigarettes, with only half of its Utah stores offering the products.

"We'll attempt to sell through the old stock," she said, "and if we can't, we'll have to take a loss."

Smith's Food & Drug spokeswoman Marsha Gilford said popular cigarette brands are being quickly replaced with self-extinguishing packs. And it's likely that the slower moving cigarettes will be replaced through sales and rotation by the Jan. 1 deadline.

Previously, tobacco companies had been able to derail federal attempts to pass safe-cigarette legislation, said Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Massachusetts that formed the Coalition for Fire-Safe Cigarettes.

The coalition then went to the states.

In 2003, New York became the first state to pass legislation mandating fire-safe cigarettes, followed in 2005 by Vermont and California.

Occasionally, Californians in Salt Lake City for trade shows stop by Jeanie's Smoke Shop for older cigarettes, clerks say. But the shop already is out of its older Camels and is quickly selling off other existing brands that can only be replaced with fire-safe cigarettes.

Smokers nationwide better get accustomed to the new smokes. A spokesman for North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds said the tobacco industry has voluntarily agreed to market only self-extinguishing cigarettes by the end of 2009.

dawn@sltrib.com

* Smoke outside

* Use deep, wide ashtrays on a sturdy table

* Never smoke where oxygen is being used

* Keep matches and lighters out of children's sight and reach

* Douse butts and ashes in water or sand to ensure they are extinguished

* Check under cushions for butts that might have fallen out of view

Source: National Fire Protection Association