TOB Magazine

into Florida premium cigars, as well as the corporate

location for this new working farm and the Florida Sun

Grown corporation.

Cigar Tourism:

Tampa, West Palm Beach, Miami,

Jacksonville, Fort Lauderdale and Ybor City are each

home to major regional and national cigar-themed fes-

tivals and events that attract tourists to Florida from all

over the nation.

Retail:

Florida is among the top three bases of

operations in the nation for premium retail tobacco-

nists, with more than 400 retail operations for the retail

cigar trade representing nearly 2,000 employees.

New efforts to convey this message on the economic impor-

tance of the industry to the state are taking on a new sig-

nificance in the fight to protect premium handmade cigars

from the heavy hand of the federal bureaucracy. Members

of the Florida congressional delegation are planning new

communications to the administration of President Don-

ald Trump on the adverse economic consequences on the

state if the FDA is allowed to move forward.

There have been new overtures to the office of Gov.

Rick Scott to facilitate his support and advocacy with

the administration and to mitigate the threat of the rule.

Gov. Scott had previously gone on record with his con-

cerns, but with the impending actions and timetables for

the regulation by the agency new measures are needed at

the highest levels of state government.

We need the cigar consumers of Florida to play an

active role in this process. If you do business in Florida,

urge your customers to contact members of the state leg-

islature, members of Congress and Gov. Scott. Thank

them for their support, and then ask that they redouble

their efforts to protect Florida jobs, Florida businesses

and the producers of your favorite cigars.

J. Glynn Loope is

executive director

of the Washington,

D.C.-based Cigar

Rights of America.

CIGAR & PIPE ADVOCACY GROUPS

WIN RULE DEFERMENT

The approach to combating the negative conse-

quences of new federal regulations imposed by the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on cigars

and pipe tobacco recently took a new direction fol-

lowing discussions and negotiations between the

primary cigar advocacy organizations and represen-

tatives of the U.S. Department of Justice and the

Department of Health and Human Services.

Joint motions were filed in the U.S. District Court for

the District of Columbia where the parties—including the

Cigar Association of America, the International Premi-

um Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) and Cigar

Rights of America—in agreement with the Department

of Justice on behalf of the Department of Health and

Human Services, and the FDA, agreed to a three-month

extension of all pending deadlines, “to allow new lead-

ership personnel at the Department of Health and Hu-

man Services to more fully consider the issues raised

in this case.”

This mutual agreement for the three-month ex-

tension suspends, for the time being, the advance-

ment of the regulations on cigars and pipe tobacco,

including the upcoming submission of warning la-

bel plans to the FDA. It also pushes the hearing be-

tween the parties from August to October.

The agreement specifically stipulates that “the

FDA will extend and defer enforcement of all future

compliance deadlines under the rule” for cigars and

pipe tobacco for the three-month period. The FDA

must issue new guidance documents addressing

this extension.

“This is certainly good news for our retail and

manufacturing community, given the nature of the

rules the industry is facing and the uncertainty they

create,” stated IPCPR Chief Executive Officer Mark

Pursell. “This gives everyone, the industry and the

administration alike, time to revisit the regulation to

determine the best path forward.”

This extension speaks to the questions raised in

the suit and the recognized need by the new ad-

ministration to review the nature and impact of the

proposed regulations. It also speaks to the virtue

of a multifront strategy in mitigating the threat of

these regulations. It spans both ends of Pennsylva-

nia Avenue and a courthouse in between.

The next eight months will be critical to the fu-

ture for your passion for great cigars. Outreach to

the Trump administration and engagement with

congressional allies to support that message, as

well as inclusion of language to protect premium

handmade cigars in legislation and the noted litiga-

tion will all be critical to future progress.

You need to be a part of that process. Call and pe-

tition your legislators at all levels. Attend their local

meetings and briefings and organize calls to their

district and national offices. Now is the time for all

cigar voters to unite and act.

Governor Rick Scott

Senator Marco Rubio

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CRA Corner

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