New FDA Rules

On Monday (8/8/16), some of the new Food and Drug Administration regulations came online for cigar and pipe tobaccos. I will not go into the details of it all; one, because it is complex and I do not understand it all and two, it is complex and I don't understand it all.

In a synopsis, the FDA was given the power to regulate tobacco (no longer the ATF. I wonder when the power to regulate guns will be passed on?... Lets not go there right now) by The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. Some are trying to blame President Obama, but he did not co-sponsor this act and as a smoker himself, not sure how personally he was behind the Act. It was passed by Congress 298-112 and 57-43, so it had enough votes to override any veto, so it was cost and time saving for Mr. Obama to just sign and move on. So lets point fingers where they belong, at your representatives...

The thrust of the measure was to prevent children and young adults from smoking. There has been strong regulation in place for awhile on cigarettes and advertising of cigarettes. This new act is aimed more at the vaping and e-cigs, but they threw a tent over the whole issue and included cigars and pipes. The FDA reasoning was manufacturers and retailers were targeting children and adolescence.

I can understand that with vape and e-cigs there are a gazillion different flavors like pina-colada mango bubblegum hazelnut or juicy steak lime popcorn, and the powers are worried that this is 'enticing' to the impressionable ones. There are also may infused gas station smokes in small cigars that maybe a lure to today's youth. As a seasoned cigar and pipe user, I am not sure why any of these flavors are palatable let alone a draw into the smoking world, but OK...so go after the things that are 'appealing' to the demographic you are trying to protect.

I work at a brick and mortar tobacco establishment, have been there almost five years, and I can count on one hand the number of times an obviously under age person has come in looking for high end cigars (we card anyone that looks under 27, even have a sign above the register that says exactly that, so yea we have caught a few that are a few months short of the legal age), that would be nothing, nada, zilch, zero...same with pipes and pipe tobacco. Granted I work in the top shop in my state and carry most of the pricey stuff and children can just not afford what we have to offer...so why regulate this part of the industry where there is not a shred of evidence to support the stiff oversight.

Now here is the real irony, a beautiful candy store located across the street from an open campus high school which carries a plethora of old fashioned candies is still allowed to display and sell candy cigarettes, chocolate cigars, and bubble pipes. This is not the gateway into dangerous habits? Didn't the FDA already have jurisdiction over candy before the Tobacco Act of 2009? Where is the overreach in the candy industry? Let that all sink in...