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Category: News This Week

  • J.C. Newman Restoring Part of Tampa’s Cigar Heritage

    J.C. Newman Restoring Part of Tampa’s Cigar Heritage

    J.C. Newman Cigar Company announced that the final phase of construction began last week on the historic Sanchez y Haya Hotel in Tampa’s Ybor City. Built in 1910, the building was once a hub for cigar workers, located across the street from J.C. Newman’s famed El Reloj factory, but has fallen into disrepair after decades of neglect.

    Now owned by J.C. Newman, the building has been structurally stabilized, stripped to its bones, cleared of a long-running bat infestation, and prepared for total revival. Backed by $18 million in public and private investment, including major support from Hillsborough County and Tampa’s CRA, it is scheduled to open as a boutique hotel and cigar destination in November 2026.

    J.C. Newman president Drew Newman said the project is a “responsibility and tribute to Tampa’s cigar story.”

    Click here to see coverage of the story on Tampa Bay’s Fox 13.

  • Young Children Gaining Access to Nicotine Products: Kenyan Survey 

    Young Children Gaining Access to Nicotine Products: Kenyan Survey 

    According to the 2024 Data on Youth and Tobacco in Africa survey, Kenya is facing a rise in tobacco experimentation among extremely young children, claiming that smokeless tobacco and roll-your-own cigarettes are reaching children as young as 5 years old. According to the survey, 6.5% of adolescents had tried tobacco at least once, and 2.5% used it within the past 30 days.

    Researchers said children as young as 6 had tried manufactured cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and/or shisha, while vape use was found by age 9. Only 5.4% of the youth surveyed reported being denied purchase of e-cigarettes, and 8.7% were blocked from purchasing cigarettes.

  • Using Tobacco with Cannabis Tied to Unique Brain Changes: Study

    Using Tobacco with Cannabis Tied to Unique Brain Changes: Study

    A small study from McGill University suggests that people who use both tobacco and cannabis show distinct brain chemistry changes compared to cannabis-only users. Published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports, the study said brain scans revealed higher levels of the enzyme FAAH, which regulates the endocannabinoid system and has been linked to addiction and anxiety. This may help explain why co-users often report worse mental health outcomes.

    While the study did not include tobacco-only users and remains preliminary, researchers say the findings highlight a possible molecular mechanism behind the risks of combined use and could inform future treatments for cannabis use disorder.

  • Malaysian Raid Seizes $2.7M in Illicit Vapes

    Malaysian Raid Seizes $2.7M in Illicit Vapes

    Malaysia’s Customs Department detailed the seizure of more than RM13 million ($2.7 million) worth of illicit vape devices and liquids during an October raid on a storage warehouse in Padang Besar. Officers discovered 719,250 units, including over 211,000 devices and 508,000 liquids, all of which were believed to be undeclared and lacked the required Health Ministry import permits.

    The products, imported from China, had arrived via Kuala Lumpur International Airport before being transported to Perlis. A man in his 40s is under investigation, and authorities are probing whether the stock was intended for domestic sale or re-export.

  • Korea Busts Cigarette Smuggling Operation

    Korea Busts Cigarette Smuggling Operation

    Seoul Regional Customs referred three people to prosecution for smuggling packs of cigarettes and falsifying customs declarations to evade taxes. Authorities said the suspects re-imported 1.75 million exported cigarette packs by claiming they were being sent to a third country, while concealing the goods in a warehouse in Busan and declaring shipments as water bottles and newspapers. The scheme reportedly avoided around 6.1 billion won ($4.2 million) in taxes.

    According to The Korea Times, the ringleader, already on trial for a similar smuggling case, had amassed significant assets, including a high-value Seoul apartment, which authorities have seized in coordination with prosecutors.

  • Supreme Court Told Cannabis Ban is Outdated

    Supreme Court Told Cannabis Ban is Outdated

    Two libertarian advocacy groups — the Cato Institute and Pacific Legal Foundation — filed amicus briefs supporting a petition in Canna Provisions Inc. v. Bondi/Garland, which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the federal marijuana ban under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). They argue that the Court’s 2005 ruling in Gonzales v. Raich, which upheld federal authority over intrastate cannabis activity, is outdated given widespread state legalization and shifting federal enforcement.

    A third group, the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, has also filed a brief urging the Court to take the case, claiming the CSA’s application to state-regulated, intrastate marijuana markets exceeds Congress’s commerce-clause powers.

    A recent federal appeals court decision rejecting a similar challenge reaffirmed that Raich remains controlling — underscoring that only the Supreme Court can revisit the precedent.

    The justices will consider the petition at their December 12 conference and announce on December 15 whether they will hear the case. A ruling limiting federal authority over intrastate cannabis activity could have broader implications for federal-state regulatory power, potentially affecting future oversight of nicotine products, heated tobacco, and other controlled substances.

  • Charlie’s Holdings’ New Factory to Serve Texas Market

    Charlie’s Holdings’ New Factory to Serve Texas Market

    Yesterday (December 1), Charlie’s Holdings, Inc. announced the opening of its first U.S.-based manufacturing facility in Huntington Beach, California, which will exclusively produce the company’s own brands, including the Pachamama 25K line. The move ensures full compliance with Texas’ new law banning certain vape products imported from China and other restricted countries.

    “We originally expected our US-filling facility to mitigate Far East shipping delays and to lessen tariff costs, but Texas’ new domestic manufacturing requirements have also created a massive sales opportunity for Charlie’s,” Charlie’s president Henry Sicignano III, said. “Demand is so great, we now plan to devote 100% of our current U.S. manufacturing capacity to the state of Texas; if all goes well, and if we expand our U.S. manufacturing initiative in the coming months, we believe Texas could double Charlie’s sales forecasts for 2026.”

    This week, 300 retail accounts across Texas will begin receiving shipments of Charlie’s U.S.-filled disposables.

    “To my knowledge, Pachamama is the only vapor products brand that has been on the market for more than a decade and is now fully compliant with Texas domestic manufacturing requirements,” said Ryan Stump, Charlie’s co-founder and Chief Operating Officer.

  • Kenya Stays Defamation Case Based on ‘Tobacco Bribes’

    Kenya Stays Defamation Case Based on ‘Tobacco Bribes’

    Kenya’s Court of Appeal temporarily halted the defamation case filed by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula against the BBC, which he accused of defaming him in the 2015 documentary Panorama: The Secret Bribes of Big Tobacco. Wetang’ula seeks damages and costs over allegations that British American Tobacco bribed him while he served as Bungoma Senator.

    The BBC argued that continuing the High Court case would undermine its appeal and block access to crucial evidence from UK courts. Wetang’ula opposed the request, calling it procedurally flawed and delayed.

    The appellate court agreed the BBC raised an arguable point, noting the delay was not excessive and emphasizing the constitutional right to a fair trial. It granted the stay, pausing the High Court proceedings until the appeal is resolved, with costs to follow the outcome.

  • FDA Deploys Agentic AI to Assist Regulatory Reviews

    FDA Deploys Agentic AI to Assist Regulatory Reviews

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced the deployment of agentic AI capabilities to all agency employees, a move expected to streamline complex, multi-step regulatory tasks — including pre-market reviews, post-market surveillance, inspections, and compliance activities that would be of interest to those in the tobacco and nicotine industries.

    The new systems allow staff to build multi-model AI workflows capable of planning, reasoning, and executing tasks under human oversight. The tools are optional and operate within a secure GovCloud environment, with no training on industry-submitted data.

    In an email to StatNews, an FDA spokesperson called the tool “exploratory” and said that the AI agents do not make regulatory decisions. “All outputs from AI are reviewed and validated” by FDA staff “before being incorporated into any official regulatory action, ensuring that the AI remains a support tool rather than a decision maker,” he wrote.

    The deployment follows the success of Elsa, an internal LLM tool launched in May and now used by more than 70% of FDA personnel. The agency is also launching a two-month Agentic AI Challenge, with selected projects to be showcased in January 2026.

    FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the upgrades mark a major step in modernizing regulatory operations, while Chief AI Officer Jeremy Walsh highlighted the potential to accelerate and validate safety assessments across all FDA-regulated sectors — including tobacco.

  • EU Document Leak Raises Questions Over COP11 Push

    EU Document Leak Raises Questions Over COP11 Push

    According to The European Times, industry observers are questioning the EU’s conduct at the WHO’s COP11 meeting after a leaked document showed Brussels pushing for far stricter language on novel nicotine products than member states had approved.

    “A leaked internal document later revealed that EU officials had encouraged the delegation to support language promoting prohibitions or strict limitations on all novel nicotine products,” the article said. “Once the document circulated among delegations, several member states described the situation as a procedural breach and questioned whether the Commission and the Danish EU Council Presidency were attempting to secure outcomes in Geneva that lacked consensus among governments at home.”

    WHO officials and aligned NGOs advocated sweeping restrictions on vapes, heated tobacco, and nicotine pouches, including flavor limits, packaging rules, environmental mandates, and broader liability tools. According to the leaked text, EU officials privately urged support for prohibitions or severe limits on manufacturing, import, sale, and use of all emerging nicotine products—despite such wording having been removed from the EU’s formal mandate during internal negotiations.

    Many of the most restrictive COP11 proposals were ultimately scaled back or made voluntary, with broader measures postponed to COP12 in 2027. However, the controversy has intensified scrutiny over the EU’s role within WHO processes and the transparency of its negotiations on nicotine policy, according to The European Times.