The cigar industry scored a win today against the FDA when Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled in their favor over warning label requirements. If the FDA was allowed to create labeling rules, the majority of cigar boxes would have covered with a a warning. In his conclusion Judge Mehta wrote, “The Deeming Rule’s warnings requirement for premium cigars is hereby vacated” before adding, “this portion of the Rule is remanded to the agency for further […]
The National Association of Tobacco Outlets has sent an email to its members denoting the FDA has stated that they are enforcing the Federal Age 21 Purchase Law immediately. The press releases goes on to say… As reported this past week President Trump signed into law a federal government funding bill (U.S. House Bill 1865) that contains a provision raising the legal age to purchase any kind of tobacco product to 21 years of age. […]
For the past couple of years states and cities have taken it upon themselves to raise the tobacco purchase age to 21. In the midst of the impeachment hearings, the 2020 Budget was crafted in the dead of night. Included in this document which was over 2,300 pages long was a measure that would raise the tobacco purchase age to 21. The budget which now heads to the desk of President Donald Trump will remove […]
Earlier this year a slew of bills were submitted that looked to raise the tobacco purchase age to 21 years old. One of those bills H.R. 2339 included language that would ban on-line cigar sales as well as ban flavored tobacco within two years after the bill is signed into law. The bill which currently has 89 sponsors would prohibit retailers from selling all forms of tobacco that weren’t done face to face. According to […]
The United States Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Health and Human Services, through the U.S. Justice Department, filed an appeal the decision of Judge Paul Grimm to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in the case of American Academy of Pediatrics, et al. v. United States Food and Drug Administration, et al. On May 15, 2019, Judge Grimm found, in an opinion focused almost exclusively on […]
Cigar Rights of America is pleased to report that the FDA has appealed the decision of Judge Grimm of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland which dissolved the Guidance issued by the Food and Drug Administration delaying the filing date of Substantial Equivalence Reports for all newly deemed tobacco products, including Premium Cigars. The Government’s appeal of Judge Grimm’s ruling indicates that they believe that the FDA Guidance postponing enforcement of […]
Facebook and Instagram have unveiled a new policy that will restrict posts containing tobacco. The new policy which will be welcome by some manufacturers and most retailers will see the social media giants prohibit all private sales, trades, transfers and gifting of alcohol and tobacco products. In the past many hard to find cigars have undergone price gouging in the secondary market which has thrived on Facebook. Meanwhile, brands will have to restrict their content […]
As the comment period came to a close, on behalf of a coalition that includes 108 premium cigar companies, Cigar Rights of America (CRA) filed public comments, making the case that a one-size-fits-all approach to regulation of premium cigars, does not work. The sixty-one page document with almost a dozen attachments makes the case that premium cigars should be exempt from federal regulation, given the clear evidence from credible third-party studies that premium cigars do […]
CIGAR TAX FOR ON-LINE SALES SET TO TAKE EFFECT Editorial by David Garofalo This whole thing began with the growth on the internet and the 1992 Supreme Court case Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, that determined due to the constitutional law, states could not collect sales taxes from purchases made by their residents from out-of-state vendors that did not have a physical presence within that state, barring legislation from the United States Congress that would allow them to […]
The largest manufacturers in the premium cigar industry today filed a 273 page joint comment with the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) opposing the agency’s Proposed Substantial Equivalence (“SE”) Rule, which would require manufacturers to submit to an extensive application and testing regime to keep any “non-grandfathered” cigars on the market. In this joint comment, premium cigar manufacturers Davidoff of Geneva USA, Drew Estate, General Cigar Company, Tabacalera USA, Perdomo Cigars, and C.L.E. Cigar Company […]