Mount Kisco Vape Shop Cited for Selling to Underage Youth

MOUNT KISCO, NY — A Mount Kisco business was cited Tuesday for selling a nicotine-based product to a youth who was under 21 years of age. Westchester County Police sent the youth into two stores in Mount Kisco as part of a compliance check to ensure that the shops, which sell tobacco and vaping products, were complying with County laws that prohibit such sales to persons less than age 21.

The first location visited was Smoking of Chen, Inc., doing business as Smoking King of Mount Kisco, at 32 E. Main St. The youth asked for a nicotine product containing four mango-flavored pods, which sell for $18, and provided a driver’s license indicating he was less than 21 years old. The clerk proceeded with the transaction and sold the product to the underage youth.

Summonses were subsequently issued to the clerk, Xin Han Lin, 46, of Flushing, Queens, and to the business. The summonses are returnable in Mount Kisco Justice Court at a future date.

The second location visited was Kisco Vapors at 145 E. Main St. This location passed the compliance check. When the underage youth presented his driver’s license, a clerk refused to complete the sale of a nicotine product because the youth was under age 21.

“Westchester County Police regularly conduct compliance checks to ensure that local businesses are not selling alcohol, tobacco, e-cigarettes or nicotine-based products to people under age 21," Public Safety Commissioner Thomas A. Gleason said. ". We will continue to conduct these checks and will continue to work in partnership with community organizations to encourage young people to make safe and healthy choices."

In June, the Westchester County Board of Legislators passed legislation that raised the age for the purchase of tobacco and related products in the County from 18 to 21. County Executive George Latimer signed the legislation into law days later.

Last week the FDA said that the use of e-cigarettes by teenagers has now reached epidemic proportions.

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