“This week there was another development in the Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) push to regulate cigars. The agency announced it was extending the public comment period on it’s proposed regulation of cigars.”
StogieGuys continue:
In the article, an FDA spokesperson said that under an FDA regulation regime cigars “would be subject to general controls, such as registration, product listing, ingredient listing, good manufacturing practice requirements, user fees for certain products, and the adulteration and misbranding provisions, as well as to the premarket review requirements for ‘new tobacco products’ and ‘modified risk tobacco products.’”
Such regulation would be devastating to the cigar industry, and in particular to boutique cigars and the creation of new blends. And “user fees” is just a bureaucratic term for more taxes on cigars, which are already at record high rates.
The FDA spokesman’s quote also shows a complete misunderstanding of the handmade artisanal nature of premium cigars.
“Ingredient listing” would be nearly impossible beyond “100% tobacco” since blends are regularly tweaked to provide consistent flavor from one year to the next. Further, even if blends aren’t changed, the chemical composition of tobacco leaves changes from harvest to harvest, meaning any disclosure of “ingredients” beyond tobacco would be either completely stifling or totally meaningless…
What benefit would these regulations serve? Anyone who is not a complete idiot (and many who are) know that breathing smoke is not good for one’s lungs. This is the equivalent of going to the Renaissance festival and putting orange paint on the forward edge of all the swords. It in annoying, informs people of next to nothing, and gives absolutely no benefit to anyone.