When my friends and I were sixteen, we used to drive 20 minutes to our favorite coffee shop and get smokes out the machine there. The machine was in a seperate room than the counter and no one was watching. When our classmate hookup that worked at the gas station was off, it was our last resort. After I turned 18, they made the machine employee controlled - had to get a barista to make it work for you after you showed ID. They were more expensive than at the gas station, but hey we were 16, we took what we could get. We smoked all kinds of crap cigarettes back then. I’ve never seen a machine with flame though. But a lot of bars have matchbooks in bowls anyway - and asking for a light can be a nice way to meet someone.
These are companies that sell a product that has been shown definitively to cause the user physical harm, and they’re selling it through an automated system, which (unless the business in which it’s placed provides security like myskepticsight has seen) is likely to dispense them to underage consumers. I somehow doubt the liability of providing a match as well would be a big concern.
Hmm… I’m almost certain that I’ve been in a club where the cigarette machine did sell lighters as well.