Bidi cigarettes, which look like marijuana, are tobacco flakes, hand-rolled with a greenish-brown leaf, tapered at both ends and tied with a tiny thread. They come in such flavors as almond, cinnamon, clove, root beer, strawberry and vanilla.

On January 1, the sale of bidis in Illinois will be prohibited. Under the new law, violators would be fined $100 to $1,000.

Illinois is the first state to take action against bidis, which became a teen fad in the 1990s. This year, Chicago became the first city in the United States to ban the sale of bidis.

"It's been prominent on the West and East coasts," said the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest from Chicago who helped in the fight. "Our desire was to hit it here before it takes roots."

Earlier this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called the use of tobacco products, including bidis, an "emerging public-health problem" among U.S. youth.

"Part of the appeal to youth is it's a seemingly underground product. They think, 'It looks like a joint, tastes good. My parents don't know what it is. So, wow, is this appealing!'" said Diana Hackbarth, a professor at Loyola University's School of Nursing in Chicago.

The Specialty Tobacco Council denied that tobacco companies were marketing bidis to children. "There's been a lot of scare tactics used against bidis over the last year," said Garry Avram, executive director of the industry group. "The market is so infinitesimal and affects so few people. There's not a big enough populace using it to pressure a legislature or enough business to warrant litigation contesting a bidi ban."

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