32
TOBACCO OUTLET BUSINESS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012
No longer a quiet bunch, cigar manufacturers, retailers, industry
groups and consumers are shouting out their message to legislators
like never before.
stogie Folks on the offense
By Renee M. Covino
r
emember when the cigar
industry believed it was safe
from legislative threats? It used
to be “the other guys”—i.e. the cigarette
category, the smokeless arena and even
other vices or “sin” segments—that were
deemed to be over-regulated and attacked.
And it used to be that there was very little
organized cigar opposition to legislative
actions.
That’s clearly not the case anymore.
Now, cigars are part of what’s being made
into a federal case, literally.
Late this spring, the U.S. Food &
Drug Administration publicly posted its
intent to regulate cigars for the
fifth
time
(
previous postings were in the
Federal
Register
on April 26, 2010, December 20,
2010,
July 7,2011,and February 13,2012).
The latest posting announced the FDA’s
intent to issue a “deeming regulation”
sometime during the summer of 2012 to
cover other tobacco products, including
cigars, cigarillos, e-cigarettes and hookahs,
among others.
While the extent of the proposed
regulation was not known and, in fact, did
not go through as planned this summer,
its threat looms large to an industry that
is no longer immune; it knows its time is
coming and it is finally more prepared and
is taking more of an offensive stance.
“
The premium cigar industry never
thought these types of threats were looming
or targeted over them, but now they do;
so the story from both the retail level and
Decorative cigar boxes like these are
threatened by potential FDA regulation.