S.18 would end retail sales of all flavored e-cigarettes, e-liquids, and oral nicotine pouches. The bill would also end the sale of all menthol-flavored tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and smokeless tobacco, by January 1st, 2026.
The legislation, which has been debated for at least six years, faced a fierce lobbying campaign from retailers who said it would put many out of business. Some lawmakers have also balked at the loss of millions in tax revenue, according to media reports.
But supporters say the adverse health impacts on young people who get hooked on the products are just too great. Lawmakers spoke on the House floor Thursday about the extensive testimony from medical professionals, educators, parents, and members of the BIPOC community in support of the bill.
The bill will now return to the Senate, which passed a different version of the bill last year. The governor has not yet indicated if he will sign it.
A law group in California has filed a lawsuit against Philip Morris in the state’s Southern District. The Schmidt National Law Group claims that the maker of Zyn is targeting children and young adults with its flavored nicotine pouches.
“Now comes along Zyn the chewing gum, and the common denominator of all these nicotine delivery systems is as far as targeting towards kids, and I’m talking about kids, middle school, high school, younger and younger,” said Martin Schmidt, managing attorney at The Schmidt National Law Group.
Although a person must be at least 21 years old to purchase the product legally, Schmidt says it is very accessible to people younger than 21. The class action lawsuit seeks “damages” from Philip Morris and Schmidt said he would like stricter limits on access to the product, according to media reports.
The case could take years to work its way through the litigation process, according to Schmidt.
Chinese liquor company Luzhou Laojiao and Cuban cigar company Habanos SA have signed a strategic agreement to jointly expand their markets.
During the 24th Habano Festival in Havana, Cuba, Zhang Biao, general manager of Luzhou Laojiao, highlighted the similarities between Luzhou Laojiao’s liquor and Cuban cigars, noting that the cooperation will strengthen the commercial ties between China and Cuba.
The agreement includes a joint product through co-branding, with the Chinese company handling the marketing. José María López, vice president of development at Habanos, said that this partnership is based on shared values such as craftsmanship, quality and leadership, highlighting the “perfect match” between Chinese liquors and Cuban cigars.
Habanos executives reported that China is one of the most dynamic markets for Cuban cigar sales. The country contributed heavily to a 31 percent increase in Cuban cigar sales in 2023, reaching a total of $721 million.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding aims to explore new avenues of cooperation for both companies. Luzhou Laojiao, one of China’s oldest liquors, has been produced in the National Treasure Cellars since 1573, with distillation technology dating back 700 years.
The collaboration will focus specifically on Luzhou Laojiao’s “Guojiao 1573” brand and Habanos Corporation’s Cohiba Atmosphere brand. In addition, seven Guojiao 1573 brand liqueurs were auctioned along with during the festival’s humidor auction, with the funds raised going to public health initiatives in Cuba.
“This strategic agreement strengthens commercial ties between China and Cuba in the liquor and cigar industries,” according to a press release.
The highest court in Massachusetts ignored objections from vape shop owners and tobacco retailers and upheld the legality of a novel bylaw that bars cigarette sales to anyone born after January 1, 2000, in the town of Brookline. The restriction, the first of its kind in the United States, is designed to prevent future generations from using not only tobacco but also nicotine.
Retailers argued that the 2021 Brookline bylaw was pre-empted by a state law approved in 2018 that raised the minimum age for purchasing a tobacco product from 18 to 21, according to media reports. The retailers pointed out that the Brookline bylaw effectively means someone born after January 1, 2000, will not be able to purchase a nicotine product regardless of their age.
Over time, as the population ages, the bylaw will effectively ban the sale of tobacco products in the town.
In the Supreme Judicial Court’s unanimous opinion, written by Justice Dalila Wendlandt, the court acknowledged the Brookline bylaw is more restrictive than the state’s minimum age standard, but the justices had no issues with that. They said the bylaw “augments the state statute” by further limiting access to tobacco products to persons under the age of 21.
The court rejected claims by the tobacco retailers that the state law was designed to clarify what had become a muddled regulatory environment as municipality after municipality raised the minimum age for buying tobacco products.
“The retailers claim that the purpose of the Tobacco Act was ‘actually to benefit tobacco retailers . . . by eliminating the confusion that arises when the minimum age for purchasing tobacco varies from town to town and city to city across the Commonwealth,’” the opinion said. “To the contrary, the act reflects the legislative intent to protect young persons and other vulnerable populations from the deleterious health effects of tobacco product use.”
The case drew attention in Massachusetts and around the nation and the world and the outcome is likely to prompt more communities to follow Brookline’s lead, creating a patchwork quilt of regulation of tobacco products.
It happened again. For the second time in the last three sessions, a bill to regulate flavored nicotine products has died in Colorado’s General Assembly.
The proposal would have allowed a board of county commissioners to ban flavored tobacco and nicotine products. The House Business Affairs & Labor Committee defeated it on a 6-5 vote, according to Colorado Public Radio.
Several lawmakers on the committee voting against the bill cited concerns about its impacts on local businesses, echoing testimony from several vape shop owners who said it would have hurt sales if a county banned flavored vaping and other tobacco products.
“We have a long history of choosing to listen to the tobacco lobby,” said bill sponsor Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, as she appealed to her colleagues before the vote. “I hope that today we can really think about the children and make sure that we do the right thing to make sure that our children don’t have access to these products that have been targeted for them.”
The measure had already passed a Senate committee and the full Senate. As has been seen in prior years, the bill drew intense lobbying, with 141 lobbyists from both sides signing up to voice support, opposition, or neutrality, according to the state’s lobbyist disclosure website.
Tobacco companies like PMI, RJ Reynolds America, and Altria, represented by the lobbying company Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and industry groups, including the Vapor Technology Association, hired lobbyists in opposition to the legislation.
All the traditional anti-nicotine groups such as Bloomberg, Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund and Kaiser Permanente also hired lobbyists in support.
In 2022, a bill to ban flavored tobacco statewide failed after Gov. Jared Polis said the issue should be handled at the local level.
The Smoker Friendly chain of retail stores announced it is acquiring 54 Low Bob’s Discount Tobacco locations in Indiana.
The Cigarette Store, LLC, parent company of Smoker Friendly, announced its acquisition of Richmond Master Distributors, Inc., the owner of Low Bob’s Discount Tobacco. The stores will be rebranded as Smoker Friendly locations.
There are 344 Smoker Friendly locations across 13 states, as well as independently owned stores within the Smoker Friendly network. The company has its own private-label brands and operates the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival, according to Charlie Minato of Halfwheel.
“We are very pleased to welcome the Low Bob’s team to the Smoker Friendly family,” said Terry Gallagher Jr., CEO of Smoker Friendly, in a press release. Pat and Scott Carrico and the Richmond Master team have been longtime friends and leaders in the tobacco outlet channel. We are fortunate to make this acquisition and strengthen our Smoker Friendly footprint in Indiana, bringing our store count to 80 in the state.”
Ana Isel Mederos Cano (Photos Special to Tobacco Reporter)
Activities during the 2024 Habanos Festival usually only vary slightly. However, this year, attendees were allowed to roll a cigar alongside professional rollers at one of five factories. It marked the first time the festival hosted its master rolling class in the same buildings where Habanos cigars are produced.
Daymi Difurniao Rodríguez, communications and marketing specialist for Habanos, said that the venue change was to allow more attendees to learn firsthand about the “Totally by Hand” production process of a Habano.
“I wanted the press to make their own Habano so they could understand the details and intricacies involved in creating the Habanos, the world’s finest cigars,” she said.
The torcedor (cigar roller) who taught the El Laguito class was Ana Isel Mederos Cano, main quality specialist at El Laguito. She is also a nominee for the Habano Woman of the Year award in the production category for the XXIV Habano Festival currently taking place in Havana.
She has been at El Laguito for 25 years, 11 of them as a roller and the past 14 in her current position.
“I love that I have been given this opportunity to teach the art of cigar rolling to the representatives of media from around the world,” she told Tobacco Reporter.
The venue change was a welcome addition, according to several festival attendees. A seasoned festival media participant, Nicholas Syris of LH Cigars and several cigar podcasts, who also rolled at El Laguito, said the personal attention from the professional rollers helped festival goers learn the challenging art of rolling cigars better than in a large conference room setting.
“It was really good. It was a nice addition to the festival,” he said. “I would say many more people rolled a smokable cigar than previous editions of the festival.”
Visitors had the opportunity to visit La Corona, Partagás, H. Upmann and Carlos Baliño. El Laguito was for media only.
La Corona has about 750 employees, 300 of which are dedicated rollers. The rollers produce brands such as Hoyo de Monterrey, Montecristo, Cuaba, Diplomaticos and San Cristobal de la Habana.
At the H. Upmann Factory, H. Upmann, Montecristo, and Romeo y Julieta, and sometimes several sizes of Cohiba are produced. Partagas is one of Havana’s iconic factories and Carlos Baliño is the former El Rey del Mundo factory.
Tobacco Reporter was only permitted to attend El Laguito, the legendary home where many of Habanos’ premier marcas are produced.
Festival roller trainees were given a wooden board to roll, a “chaveta” tobacco leaf cutting blade, some vegetable glue, and an apron. Several factory rollers made rounds around the room helping festival attendees roll their cigars.
“I love this new idea,” said Brooks Whittington with Halfwheel, a major industry cigar information website. “While the rolling competition has always been a favorite part of the festival for me, getting to roll the cigars at the actual factory we were visiting took the experience to the next level.”
Many other attendees said they hope the tradition continues. The 2024 Habanos Festival is being held in Havana from Feb. 26 – March 1.
Ispire Technology Inc. has partnered with Touchpoint World Wide Inc. dba Berify, a platform specializing in linking physical products to the digital world, digital engagement and brand protection, and Chemular International Inc., a multidisciplinary regulatory consulting firm, to form a joint venture.
The joint venture will look to expedite innovation in the e-cigarette technology space, including the development of secure, user-friendly solutions for age verification and age-gating nicotine vapor devices.
Leveraging Berify’s multi-patented technology, Chemular’s regulatory consulting and premarket tobacco product application (PMTA) knowhow and Ispire’s hardware expertise, the joint venture will introduce an industry-standard age verification solution for vapor devices as well as the submission of PMTAs that incorporate technologies across the U.S. e-cigarette market, such as: next-generation e-cigarette hardware with a user-friendly point-of-use age verification and geo fencing capability that eliminates use of hardware in certain designated areas such as schools and sensitive areas; e-cigarettes with end-to-end a range of dynamic features such as authentication, direct-to-consumer engagements and exclusive offerings built on the foundations of blockchain technology; and a real-time biometric identity platform for user access controls, creating added security and reliability that deters counterfeiting.
“By combining our collective expertise in hardware, blockchain and regulatory consulting, we aim to set a new standard for age verification, security and overall quality in the e-cigarette space,” said Ispire Technology Co-CEO Michael Wang in a statement. “Our hope is that this JV [joint venture] will be a large step forward in innovative device control, safety, counterfeit prevention and enhanced user experiences that increase overall market and consumer satisfaction.”
“The U.S. market is ripe for technological disruption that addresses age verification, safety and counterfeit issues,” said Berify founder and CEO Dan Kang. “Our mission is also to create smart products that generate a new level of consumer satisfaction. We plan to achieve this by leveraging our blockchain authentication, tokenized rewards and creating true decentralization while keeping companies in control of their products and data.”
Kevin Burd, CEO of Chemular, added, “Our commitment is not only to create next-gen vapor devices but also to elevate market education. This venture includes additional partnerships that will bring together biometric identity and access control, ensure the solution is embedded into vapor devices during manufacturing and provide safety, security and privacy for consumers. It is also a testament to our dedication to positively shaping the future of vape hardware innovation.”
France has moved one step closer to a ban on disposable vapes. The Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to ban pre-filled, disposable e-cigarettes.
“The marketing of these products is intended to attract young people with colors, fruit [flavors] and aromas, and low price,” Labour and Health Minister Catherine Vautrin told the chamber.
While the Senators approved the law, they modified the National Assembly’s text to clarify the ban, according to media reports.
The text would ban the “manufacturing, marketing, sale, distribution or offering for free” of the products and prohibit owning them with the intent to sell or distribute them, with a fine of up to €100,000 ($108,000).
The two chambers will now need to combine their text and approve that version before it is sent to the European Commission, which will have six months to hand down an opinion.
The government has said it hopes the ban will come into effect in September.
Meanwhile, vaping and other recent smoking innovations are expected to be high on the agenda as country representatives gather in Panama City on Monday, tasked with revising the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the first treaty ever adopted under the auspices of WHO, entered into force.
FEELM, a leading vape solution provider, has launched the world’s first “burst power ceramic coil” vape solution. The FEELM Turbo solution leverages “cutting-edge” ceramic coil technology to deliver an explosion of flavor for consumers, according to an emailed press release.
“Like none others, it can deliver intense flavors, powerful vapor in the shortest time, and enduringly long product life. Compared to other high-powered vapes, products equipped with FEELM Turbo have smaller sizes yet deliver even higher bursts of vapor,” FEELM states. “This technology is also perfectly adapted to the two major vape categories, the disposables, and the pod-system, suitable for customers to create differentiated products to seize the market.”
Despite its small size, the Turbo can deliver a 200 percent improvement in taste intensity. It efficiently atomizes large molecules while enhancing e-liquid aroma recovery, resulting in a richer and more satisfying hit, according to the release. “With a burst time of just 0.5 seconds, it outperforms mainstream products on the market by strides. Tests show that just one burst power ceramic coil performs more than on par with dual MESH coils,” FEELM states.
At this year’s TPE exhibition, FEELM showcased an ultra-thin burst power disposable product the 2024 TPE trade show held in Las Vegas at the end of January. With a body thickness of only 14mm, the product “impressed consumers with its elegant thinness, excellent feel, and powerful first puff. It truly lives up to its name: ‘thin yet powerful!’”
The FEELM Turbo solution delivers significantly more vapor at a lower power setting. Compared to dual Mesh products on the market, FEELM Turbo sees an 80 percent increase in performance, offering a richer flavor experience. The Turbo also boasts constant power engine technology, which ensures consistent flavor and vapor volume throughout the product’s lifespan.
“Users can enjoy the same satisfying taste with every puff, unlike mainstream products where flavor often fades to bland. Compared to the competitors, FEELM Turbo products demonstrate a 35 percent improvement in flavor consistency and a remarkable 95 percent consistency in the vapor volume,” the release states.
