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"There is clearly no way you can prove somebody''s age over the Internet." Rubin recommends several ways to prevent online sales to minors, including the use of child safety software, such as SurfControl, that parents can install to restrict access to objectionable Web sites. He also favors a federal requirement that all shipped packages containing tobacco products be marked to require an adult''s signature for delivery. Critics of Internet sales also object to the Web dealers'' inability or unwillingness to enforce a ban on sales to minors. Though most of the Web sites offer some variation of "Click here only if you are over 18 years old," the critics claim there is no way of verifying the purchaser''s age. "I only know what common sense tells me," said Regina Carlson, executive director of the New Jersey Group Against Smoking Pollution.

Estimates of how many Internet cigarette sellers there are vary, but a directory of dealers at www.cigaretteyellowpages.com lists 40 Web sites. Benzing and Rubin think there are far more, though some are no more than mom-and-pop operations based in someone''s home. "There''s just hundreds of them, and they pop up and go away and nobody regulates them," Rubin said. They also are reluctant to discuss their business. Calls to some two dozen Internet merchandisers either were not returned or met with a polite refusal. "We don''t speak to reporters," said someone at InternetSmokes.com before hanging up. Benzing, the only one to answer questions, said CigarettesExpress.com is sensitive to criticism of the cyber cigarette business and strives to address the objections, such as sales to minors.

"We''ll never be politically correct and we can''t help that," he said. "But we don''t have to be irresponsible."He said the firm compares customers to voter registration and state drivers'' license databases to screen out minors and will ship cigarettes only to the home address of the credit card purchaser, assuring that parents at least would be advised of any purchases on their monthly statement. "If a kid goes to a convenience store to buy cigarettes, parents aren''t going to get a statement in 30 days," the company spokesman said. Benzing said he realizes the tobacco industry will always have its critics, whether customers are buying at their computer keyboards or the corner grocery store.