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 […]
The state of New Hampshire is about to join the list of states with a Tobacco 21 Law. In budget meetings the House of Representatives had included an exorbitant tax on Vape. The Senate then in turn wanted to lower the tax to make the state competitive with surrounding states. In turn, the House agreed to a lower tax in exchange for Tobacco 21 legislation. A committee of House and Senate lawmakers will put the […]
You can now add Connecticut to the list of states that have raised the Tobacco purchase age to 21 as Democrat Governor Ned Lamont signed HB 7200 into law. The bill had passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 124-22 and the Senate with a tally of 33-3. The new law will see those who sell tobacco to those under 21 fined $300, with a second offense of $750 and a third offense […]
The state of Texas has raised the tobacco age to 21 with Republican Governor Greg Abbott signing Senate Bill 21 into law. The bill had the support of the company JUUL who took full-page advertisements in state newspapers in support of the measure. Altria, the parent company of Nat Sherman Cigars owns a 35% stake in the e-cig company. The bill which takes effect on September 1, 2019 passed the House of Representatives by a […]
You can now add Maryland to the growing list of states that have raised the tobacco purchase age to 21. On Monday May 13th, Maryland Republican Governor signed a bill raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products in the state to 21-years-old with an exemption for active members the military. HB 1169 passed the House with a vote of 101-35 and the Senate with a vote of 32-13. The new law goes into effect October […]