Once upon a time, free cigarettes were handed out at Congressional Black Caucus events and Rep. Edolphus Towns was referred to as “Marlboro Man” as a nod to his campaign contributions from Big Tobacco. None of this goes on anymore, but the CBC still has a complicated relationship with the tobacco industry, which makes the recent flavored-cigarette ban a sticky problem. Many think that the bill, which bans all flavored cigarettes except for menthols, which are disproportionately smoked by blacks, has racial implications. It’s causing a rift in a CBC already divided over the Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton drama.

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