Looking to light up? You’d better have your license on hand.

A new federal law requires businesses to card cigarette customers who look younger than 27. The law, which went into effect last Friday, is the latest effort to curb teen smoking and to keep teens from getting away with buying tobacco.

The law tightens the restrictions on Iowa’s current cigarette law — people must be age 18 to purchase and use tobacco products. Before the new federal mandate from the FDA, store clerks carded anyone who looked under 18. But the new 27-rule means that Iowa State students who smoke will be pulling out their ID more often.

Some local businesses are concerned about the hassle the law creates, particularly in a college town where many cigarette buyers are younger than 27. Although pulling out your ID may be troublesome, there are some advantages to the law.

You’re standing in line to buy cigarettes, behind some teenagers who fail to show the clerk they’re legal. The teens are upset at the clerk and try to proposition you to buy them a pack. Because you hold the almighty scepter in your hand (the ID), you are in control and refuse. What are you going to get out of buying some kids a pack of cigs? You feel great because you hold the power, yet you still get to feel young when the clerk cards you.

You may be a smoker and wish you hadn’t started when you were a teen. Or maybe you smoke and could care less about teen smoking. Or maybe you don’t smoke because you think it’s evil. Whatever the case, the law is good. It is working to close loopholes and deter teens from smoking. After all, most smokers start before they turn 21.

Even though the law is good, a different law, which will go into effect in August, should have come first. At the end of the summer, self-serve cigarette racks and vending machines will be outlawed. What good does carding a teenager, much less anyone who looks younger than 27, do when youngsters can drop coins into a cigarette vending machine?

The intention may be good, but isn’t it a little backward?