The 2009 federal law that required the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to begin regulating cigarettes also gave it the option of regulating cigars. Now two bills, one in each chamber of Congress, would remove the agency’s authority over “traditional” cigars — the regular size that you’re used to, not the ones the size of cigarettes.

It’s true that cigarettes are the far bigger health scourge in the United States, accounting for nearly one in five deaths each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Traditionally, cigars have not been popular among young people, which is significant because preventing smoking among youth is one of the key reasons for regulating tobacco.

But there’s nothing good to be said about the health effects of cigar smoking. Even though cigar lovers don’t typically inhale the smoke, their lung cancer rates are higher than those of nonsmoking Americans — though lower than those of cigarette smokers. According to the National Cancer Institute, cigars have higher levels of tar, toxins and carcinogens than cigarettes and cause cancers of the mouth, lips, throat and esophagus. They also produce more secondhand smoke.

The rate of cigar smoking has been increasing for the last two decades, and cigars can now be found in fruit and candy flavors, including chocolate — the same kind of flavor tweaking that got many teenagers hooked on cigarettes. That was why the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act — the legislation that gave the FDA regulatory authority over tobacco products — banned flavoring in cigarettes.

The new bills would prevent the FDA from doing the same for many cigars.

Whether in cigarettes, cigars or pipes, tobacco is a harmful product that kills and sickens many of the individuals who smoke it, and costs taxpayers enormous sums in treatment for smoking-related diseases. That’s why the FDA was given the power to regulate it, power that should not be weakened now.