Author: Timothy Donahue

  • Louisiana to Begin Enforcing Vaping Bans Monday

    Louisiana to Begin Enforcing Vaping Bans Monday

    Credit: Gustavo Frazao

    The Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control (ATC) announced that it will resume enforcing state laws affecting the marketing and sale of vaping and e-cigarette products on March 18, 2024.

    Beginning that day, all vapes not authorized or under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cannot be legally sold in Louisiana. The ATC will provide the V.A.P.E. Directory on their website, a list of all approved vapor or alternative nicotine products and electronic cigarettes.

    Businesses must remove all products not listed on the directory from their inventory and display.

    The enforcement of this law was put on hold when the Louisiana Convenience Store and Vape Association filed a lawsuit, saying the law was unconstitutional. A judge granted a preliminary injunction in January, temporarily halting the enforcement of the new law.

    After a permanent injunction hearing on Feb. 21, the ATC said the injunction was rendered moot, and that the vape law was now enforceable, according to media reports.

    Initially, the ATC passed a law in June 2023 to triple vape taxes in Louisiana and ban the sale of vapes not authorized by the FDA. The extra revenue was to be allocated to entities like state police. The increase is due to Act 414 HB635, which was signed into law by former Gov. John Bel Edwards.

  • Turning Point Brands Hires Flynn to Fill CFO Role

    Turning Point Brands Hires Flynn to Fill CFO Role

    Credit: Motortion

    Turning Point Brands has announced the appointment Andrew Flynn as the company’s new Chief Financial Officer, effective on or before April 1, 2024.

    Flynn is replacing Louie Reformina, who will step down to pursue other opportunities, according to a Turning Point press release.

    “Andrew has led key initiatives across all areas of finance and broader strategic planning throughout his career,” said Graham Purdy, Turning Point Brands president and CEO. “His diverse operating background and industry expertise ideally positions him to help us maximize the value of our brands, continue to modernize our organization, and grow our free cash flow.”

    Prior to joining Turning Point Brands, Flynn served as the CFO of Connected Cannabis Co. where he was responsible for bringing sustained profitable growth, expanding geographically and recapitalizing the company. Before joining Connected, Flynn served as Sr. vice president of Juul Labs.

    “Turning Point Brands is one of the most innovative and well-capitalized companies in the industry. TPB’s iconic Zig-Zag and Stoker’s brands and market-leading distribution platform set it apart in this rapidly evolving space,” said Flynn. “As CFO, I look forward to working with the Board and management team to maximize long-term shareholder value.”

  • BAT Opens Innovation Center for Reduced Risk Products

    BAT Opens Innovation Center for Reduced Risk Products

    BAT has opened a new state-of-the-art Innovation Centre at its global research and development (R&D) headquarters in Southampton. The center will be key in continuing the company’s transformation as it builds “A Better Tomorrow.”

    The £30 million ($38.55 million) facility strengthens and deepens BAT’s R&D capabilities. It provides nine specially designed technical spaces to aid the development of BAT’s portfolio of Reduced Risk Products, according to a press release.

    These spaces are dedicated to researching modern oral nicotine pouches, liquids, and flavors for vapor products, heated tobacco products, and well-being and stimulation beyond nicotine. The investment will also support work on packaging, engineering, innovation development, and system integration.

    “The opening of this new facility marks an important milestone in BAT’s transformation and will play a key role in making a smokeless future a reality. Evidence provided by objective world-class science is essential to facilitate the migration of adult smokers to smokeless products and support public health objectives,” said James Murphy, BAT’s director of Research and Science. “The investment in our Innovation Centre will support the cutting-edge research and product development efforts of our global R&D team for many years to come.”

    The new facilities will bring together cross-functional and key R&D teams – with 400 specialized scientists and engineers drawn from various advanced fields, including biotechnology and clinical trials. Intended to accelerate the development of the next generation of BAT’s New Category products, their work includes developing the robust scientific evidence necessary to encourage adult smokers to switch to less risky alternatives.

    To date, R&D carried out in BAT’s Southampton facilities has produced over 200 peer reviewed studies for smokeless products published in scientific journals and has contributed to BAT’s filing of hundreds of patents a year. BAT is listed as one of the top patent filers in Europe as the company continues to develop smokeless products.

    The new Innovation Centre is the latest example of BAT’s commitment to invest in the highest standards of scientific research and product development to support its ambition to reduce the health impact of its business and deliver “A Better Tomorrow.”

    BAT’s refined strategy has committed the company to “Building a Smokeless World” and becoming a predominately smokeless business, with 50 percent of revenue generated from Non-Combustibles by 2035.

    BAT’s site in Southampton, the home of its R&D operations since 1956, is one of the largest employers in the region, with over 1,000 current employees drawn predominantly from across the UK, and a local supply chain with over 25 suppliers based within a 30-mile radius.

    The company’s UK operations support 7,100 jobs across the wider economy and contribute over £300 million to the UK’s GDP. The opening of the Innovation Centre exemplifies BAT’s commitment to and ongoing investment in the UK, marking the first stage of an eight-part, multi-phase refurbishment program for BAT’s entire Southampton campus.

    Globally, BAT has over 1,600 R&D specialists spread across the UK, US, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. The £30 million investment in the Southampton facility follows the opening of BAT’s Innovation Centres in Trieste (Italy) in 2021 and in Shenzhen (China) in 2022, and an investment of £300 million a year in R&D to develop New Category products and establish substantiation of their reduced risk potential.

  • Protestors Want Veto of Florida Flavor Ban, Registry

    Protestors Want Veto of Florida Flavor Ban, Registry

    Credit: Kristina Blokhin

    Supporters of less harmful nicotine products want Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to again veto a proposed ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes in Florida. The legislation would also create a vape registry for the state.

    “It would kill our local businesses,” said Gary Eliasov-Hodes, managing partner of Cloud Smoke Shop, which has two locations in Tallahassee.

    Seventy percent of his business revenue comes from selling flavored nicotine vaping devices, he said. That’s $3.5 million annually for both of his shops, according to media reports.

    On Thursday, Eliasov-Hodes was among about 200 people gathered outside the governor’s mansion to protest the proposed ban, which they say they want Gov. Ron DeSantis to veto.

    The legislation would prohibit stores from selling flavored e-cigarettes, instead they would be allowed to sell from a list of 23 different tobacco-flavored vaping devices that have been approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

    Many states have also included products still currently under review by the regulatory agency.

    The bipartisan bill received pushback from some lawmakers in the House but unanimous support in the Senate before it passed earlier this week. Last year, DeSantis vetoed a similar measure, and opponents say they hope he will do the same this year.

    Proponents of the measure say removing vaping flavors from the market is aimed at keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of children.

    Lining the sidewalks on each side of W. Brevard Street, protesters chanted “Veto the vape bill” and “No to tobacco,” while holding signs with the words: “We vote, we vape.”

  • State General Assembly Kills Colorado Flavor Ban Bill

    State General Assembly Kills Colorado Flavor Ban Bill

    Credit: Christopher Boswell

    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.

  • Massachusetts High Court Upholds First Generational Ban

    Massachusetts High Court Upholds First Generational Ban

    Credit: Mehaniq41

    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.

  • Kentucky House Committee Pass Vape Registry Bill

    Kentucky House Committee Pass Vape Registry Bill

    Credit: Andreykr

    A bill co-sponsored by 20 Kentucky lawmakers aims to limit the number of e-cigarettes, vapes and other next-generation tobacco products retailers are allowed to place on store shelves.

    The Senate health services committee heard testimony on House Bill 11 on Thursday. The bill limits the sale of products to those authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and would punish retailers who sell unauthorized products or to anyone under 21 years of age.

    “These vapes are not even supposed to be offered for sale per the FDA,” said Rep. Rebecca Raymer, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, according to media reports. “We, as a state, have an obligation to offer some protection to our citizens.”

    Among other things, the bill would:

    • Require the Secretary of State to create and publish a list of certain tobacco product retailers;
    • Require the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to create and maintain a tobacco noncompliance database and reporting system;
    • Require wholesalers to verify a retailer’s presence in the database prior to transactions;
    • Establish and impose fines for wholesalers that unlawfully sell to a retailer that is in the noncompliance database;
    • Make ineligible any retailer with unpaid fines that are more than 60 days overdue from selling Tobacco Control Act-covered products until the fines are paid;
    • Direct manufacturers of Tobacco Control Act-covered products to provide safe harbor certification to wholesalers and retailers of their products;
    • Prohibit a retailer from selling Tobacco Control Act products to persons under 21 years of age.

    “What you’re going to hear from the people in opposition of this bill is that it’s going to take everything off the shelf,” Raymer said. “That is just simply not true. There’s other states that have used the same definition that we are using.”

    Troy LeBlanc, a Louisville vape retailer and distributor, traveled to Frankfort to speak against the bill, which he said would devastate dealers. In essence, LeBlanc said HB11 would create a monopoly.

    “It will ban about 98 percent of my products as well,” LeBlanc said. “Because all it’s going to do is to make sure that Altria is the main seller in every convenience store throughout the city — which is Juul.”

    LeBlanc and other like-minded retailers want lawmakers to change the bill to put the products in 21-and-older stores and even increase the fines.

    “We do not want children smoking,” LeBlanc said. “We’ve even suggested that the fines that they have — $1,000 for the first occurrence — be raised to $5,000. Because we want people who are selling to minors punished.”

    The bill passed out of committee by a 14-1 vote.

  • Study: Vapes ‘Twice as Effective’ to Quit Smoking

    Study: Vapes ‘Twice as Effective’ to Quit Smoking

    The American Consumer Institute (ACI) unveiled a study that provides a pivotal analysis of the potential for tobacco harm reduction alternative products, such as vaping and modern oral, to significantly reduce smoking-related deaths across the United States.

    Key findings from the study entitled “Transition from Tobacco to Vaping: The Health Impacts by State” by ACI Senior Policy Analyst Justin Leventhal, include:

    • A potential reduction of nearly 300,000 smoking-related deaths annually if e-cigarettes replace traditional smoking nationwide.
    • An estimated four million lives could have been saved from 2010 to 2024, surpassing deaths from the Coronavirus by a factor of four.
    • State restrictions and regulatory barriers on vaping products have been identified as significant obstacles for smokers seeking to quit, thereby increasing the annual death toll from smoking-related diseases.
    • Removing regulatory barriers on vaping products would enable a smoother transition for smokers toward safer products or kicking the habit entirely, potentially saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

    “Evidence suggests that e-cigarettes are nearly twice as effective as traditional nicotine replacement therapies like gums and patches in aiding smoking cessation,” a press release states. “Despite this, recent years have seen an increase in regulations, taxes, and outright bans on vaping products, hindering the progress toward a smoke-free future.”

    ACI calls for policymakers to reconsider these restrictive measures and focus on harm-reduction strategies that offer a pragmatic approach to reducing smoking-related mortality rates. By embracing tobacco harm reduction products as viable alternatives to smoking, states can significantly lower healthcare costs and mortality rates associated with tobacco use.

  • Analysts: U.K. Vape Tax Good for Tobacco Stocks

    Analysts: U.K. Vape Tax Good for Tobacco Stocks

    Image: Monster Ztudio

    Citi analysts have identified the UK government’s new excise tax on vaping products as an encouraging development for British American Tobacco PLC and Imperial Brands PLC.

    The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed in his Spring Budget speech that vaping products would be subject to a new tax from October 2026. According to media reports, this move is designed to maintain a financial incentive for choosing vaping over smoking, complemented by a concurrent increase in tobacco duty, according to media reports.

    The taxation framework will be based on nicotine content, with a three-tiered system imposing charges ranging from £1-3 per 10ml, in addition to the current 20 percent VAT.

    This structured approach aims to regulate the vaping market further and aligns with the government’s health strategy by providing a less harmful alternative to traditional smoking.

    Citi’s short research note said: “Although [Wednesday’s] confirmation of the planned levy on vaping comes as little surprise, we believe that alongside the proposed ban on disposable vapes from April 25, the regulatory risk/reward is skewing to the upside for both BATS and Imperial.”

  • Senators Ask Retailers to End Flavored Vape Sales

    Senators Ask Retailers to End Flavored Vape Sales

    Credit: Roland Magnusson

    The chairmen of five key Senate committees on Thursday warned the chief executives of major convenience stores and wholesalers to stop selling illicit flavored vaping products, which they called “widespread violations of federal law.”

    The senators voiced their concerns in letters to the companies, amplifying the frustration among some lawmakers in Congress over the continued availability of disposable e-cigarettes. They say the vivid colors and candy flavors only attract kids. The unchecked sales, they wrote, “pose a tremendous public health threat.”

    “F.D.A. and the industry must do more to address the youth vaping epidemic and remove unauthorized vaping products from their shelves immediately,” Senator Dick Durbin said, according to media reports.

    The letters were addressed to retailers including 7-Eleven, Circle K, bp America, Pilot, Kwik Trip and others. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had earlier issued warnings about sales of unauthorized brands like Elf Bar, E.B. Design and Funky Republic.

    “Today, millions of children use unauthorized e-cigarettes, risking nicotine addiction, respiratory illness, exacerbation of depression and anxiety, and many other harms,” read the letter to Joseph DePinto, the chief executive of 7-Eleven.

    The other senators who signed the letter were Ron Wyden, Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, and Richard Blumenthal.