New state law puts small smoke, vape shops at risk – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper

NATCHEZ — Some Natchez vape shop owners fear a new state law could force them to close.

HB 916, signed into law by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on March 20, will soon require all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vapes, to be regulated on a state-level registry in order to be legally sold in the state.

The bill, which received unanimous votes from both the House and Senate before receiving the governor’s signature in recent weeks, requires the Commissioner of Revenue to establish directories to regulate the sale of all tobacco products, including Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS).

It requires manufactures with products sold in Mississippi to file an annual certification and prohibits shops from selling items not listed on the state directory.

Part of the registry law requires “Verification that the manufacturer possesses all orders required by the United States Food and Drug Administration, which must be current, for the manufacture and sale of the cigarettes included in the manufacturer’s brand families.”

Annual certification forms must also be accompanied by a fee of an unspecified amount prescribed by the Commissioner of Revenue.

The new law takes effect on Oct. 1 or when the Commissioner of Revenue publishes a directory of approved products for public inspection — whichever comes later — and allows 60 days for sellers to sell or remove the unapproved products from their inventory.

However, there are only three manufacturers of e-cigarettes with FDA authorization as of January 2025, including Logic Technology Development LLC, NJOY LLC, and R.J. Reynolds Vape Company. And flavored vape and tobacco products that are not on the FDA-approved list make up a vast percentage of sales in smoke and vape shops

According to one vape store manager in Natchez, who asked to remain anonymous, “It’s just big tobacco companies pushing back against the little guys.” the store manager said. “Big Tobacco is losing trillions and billions of dollars-worth of sales to smaller smoke shops and have been pushing governments for years to enact legislation like this. They’re trying to make us lose the sales they could be making. I’d say it is make or break for us. I have six employees at one location and it’s the same with all of the other shops — people with jobs and a life. I don’t know if they get it. What’s going to happen is these shops will have to close and people will have to go back to buying cigarettes, which is worse than vaping.”

An argument for regulating flavored vape products is to prevent youth populations from using tobacco products. However, no one under the age of 21 is legally allowed to enter a vape or smoke shop or purchase the products.

“It’s the same thing with cigarettes,” the manager said. “We can’t stop an adult from buying it for someone underage but no one under 21 is even allowed in the store. But anyone can enter a gas station and anyone over 21 can buy cigarettes for someone underage. You’re laying off a bunch of people for nothing. It’s mind boggling.”

Under the new law, any retailer or distributor found selling products not included in the directory is subject to a civil violation and a $500 per day fine for each violating “style of cigarette in a brand family which is offered for sale” until the offending product is removed from the market or properly listed on the directory. Subsequent violations within a 12-month period by the same seller, whether involving the same or a different style of cigarettes in a brand family, can result in increased fines between $750 and $1,000 per day for the second offense and between $1,000 and $1,500 for the third offense.

A manufacturer whose cigarettes are not listed in the directory and who causes the products to be sold is also subject to a civil penalty of $10,000 per day for each style of cigarette in a brand family which is offered for sale in violation.

Each retailer is also subject to two unannounced compliance checks annually.

Of the three FDA-approved manufacturers of e-cigs, at least two have been actively lobbying legislators in various states to adopt such laws requiring FDA authorization of all tobacco products. All FDA-approved products are either tobacco or menthol flavored.

FDA’s stance on e-cigarettes, vapes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems, according to FDA.gov, is that “While e-cigarettes can generally be a lower-risk alternative for adults who smoke cigarettes, the use of e-cigarettes is not risk-free. These products deliver harmful chemicals and contain nicotine, which is highly addictive. Moreover, given the harmful chemicals found in e-cigarettes, further high-quality research on both short- and long-term health outcomes is needed.”