Curious, did you also remove chewing gum from the streets? And is this in the "food" category? I would expect the numbers for food to be higher than for tobacco then.
It used to be very common to see, it's probably just me, but I've not seen anyone chew gum in a few years - except those on nicotine gum. So I figured it has perhaps fallen out of favour, obviously it's still sold, so yes someone is chewing it.
It's often the most convenient form of breathe odor control available.
I keep a pack of gum in my car at all times just in case I have a drink socializing somewhere. Having alcoholic beverages on your breath when you get pulled over for something unrelated can make the experience far more annoying, unnecessarily.
No idea if it's true but I've heard a lot of mints have alcohols in them which could skew breathalyzer tests if you have one in your mouth a few minutes before.
