US
Two of the largest cigar trade associations, International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) and Cigar Rights of America (CRA), filed a joint comment on the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) on premium cigar regulation.
In their joint comment, IPCPR and CRA provided recently published data, collected and analyzed by federal agencies and scientists at FDA as evidentiary-based justification for why premium cigars should be regulated differently from how FDA has thus far chosen to regulate it via the deeming rule imposed in 2016.
Some key points in the data included:
- Premium cigars are luxury items that are smoked infrequently by adults;
- The average premium cigar consumer smokes as little as 1.1 days per month;
- Youth engagement with premium cigar products is so minimal that it was determined to be statistically insignificant;
- Premium cigars are not used by consumers as an alternative or supplemental source of nicotine.
CRA’s executive director, Glynn Loope, said, “The studies and comments filed by the premium cigar industry last night provide substantive answers to the FDA solicitation for comment, with analysis and recommendations for relief from rules that [many legislators] have stated are burdensome.”