“To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to exempt the premium cigar industry from certain regulations.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section sets forth 16 congressional findings on premium cigars, including their 1% share of U.S. cigar sales, predominance among family-owned small businesses sold in age-controlled retail, and patterns of use per a 2022 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report (e.g., used by 1% of adults and 0.6% of youth users under 18; lower frequency, intensity, and inhalation than other cigars or cigarettes; less common among women, non-Hispanic Black persons, and those with less than high school education; more likely never/former cigarette smokers). The findings conclude premium cigar use poses lower health risks than other tobacco products, is virtually exclusive to adults with limited prevalence, and can be regulated at the state level, noting the report's broader definition exceeds the narrower one from a recent U.S. District Court decision striking an FDA regulation (which aligns with this bill's definition).
This section excludes premium cigars from the definition of tobacco product under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). A premium cigar is defined as a cigar that (1) is wrapped in whole tobacco leaf; (2) contains a 100% leaf tobacco binder; (3) contains at least 50% (by weight of the filler) long filler tobacco; (4) is handmade or hand rolled using no machinery apart from simple tools such as scissors; (5) has no filter, nontobacco tip, or nontobacco mouthpiece; (6) has no characterizing flavor other than tobacco; (7) contains only tobacco, water, and vegetable gum with no other ingredients or additives; and (8) weighs more than 6 pounds per 1,000 units. (Thus, premium cigars are exempt from FDA tobacco product regulations, including premarket review, labeling, advertising, and sales restrictions.)