Cigar Industry Lobbies Biden Administration to Drop Proposed Ban on Flavored Cigars

The cigar industry is lobbying the Biden administration to drop the proposed ban on flavored cigars, which make up more than half the cigar market, Axios reports. The industry argues the products have wrongly been mixed in with concerns about menthol cigarettes.

In April 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced proposed product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars. The agency said these actions have the potential to significantly reduce disease and death from combusted tobacco product use, the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., by reducing youth experimentation and addiction, and increasing the number of smokers that quit. The FDA says that more than a half-million U.S. youth use flavored cigars.

In October, the FDA sent finalized tobacco bans to the White House budget office — the final step before they could be issued. Health advocates say it is important to follow through on the flavored cigar ban. Critics of the proposed ban say the products are typically used less often, and are less dangerous than cigarettes.