California Vape Ban Begins January 1st, 2025

Attention adult vapers in California: Starting on January 1, 2025, you will no longer have access to any flavored vaping products, through retail or online sales.

No Crisis, Just Expanded Restrictions

The two new laws, AB 3218 and SB 1230, were not passed due to a public health crisis. It has been a half-decade since EVALI lung disease was  traced to cannabis cartridges with vitamin E acetate and now teen vaping has fallen to its lowest levels in a decade.

Vape Flavor Bans Increase Cigarette Sales

The two new laws are simply an outright prohibition on the products most popular with adult vapor consumers. The inconvenient reality is that prohibition and government enforced abstinence policies are creating a future public health crisis. Vape flavor bans increase cigarette sales.

The California vape flavor ban will not only bar the sale of flavored e-cigarettes with nicotine but expands the definition of nicotine to include nicotine analogs such as 6-methyl, meaning substitutes like Metatine in Spree Bar e-cigarettes will also be affected.

The law further empowers the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to seize flavored tobacco and vape products during routine inspections. This new law will eliminate flavored vapes from the market at the end of the year. We recommend stocking up now.

New California Flavor Ban Laws

Here are the two new laws completely deny adults access to the flavored nicotine alternatives of their choice.

AB 3218

AB 3218 emerges as a pivotal piece of legislation banning ALL flavored nicotine and nicotine analogue vaping products in California. AB 3218 law mandates the creation of an "Unflavored Tobacco List" by the Attorney General, comprising tobacco products devoid of characterizing flavors.

Any flavor other than artificial tobacco is considered characterizing. The tobacco-industry and their expensive pod systems and combustible cigarettes will enjoy a monopoly on store shelves. Those adult vapers who choose tolerate fake tobacco vape flavors rather than being funneled back onto combustible cigarettes will end up paying far more per month. Online sales will be prohibited by law.

To feature on the Unflavored List, manufacturers must submit a legally binding declaration affirming that their products are unflavored. Any vapor product not on this list will be considered illegal, and manufacturers and distributors face substantial penalties for non-compliance.

AB 3218 extends existing restrictions to encompass online sales, thereby prohibiting the delivery and sale of flavored tobacco products, including nicotine analogs, to California residents starting January 1, 2025.

SB 1230 (Strengthen Tobacco Oversight Programs and Seize Illegal Tobacco Products Act)

SB 1230 expands state enforcement capabilities to guarantee the January 2025 vape flavor ban cannot be circumvented. It grants increased authority to seize flavored vapes, from both physical and online markets during routine tax inspections. The bill also amends the definition of nicotine and now reads: “nicotine means any form of the chemical nicotine, including any salt or complex, regardless of whether the chemical is naturally or synthetically derived, and includes nicotinic alkaloids and nicotine analogs.”

Can You Buy Flavored Vapes In California?

Adult nicotine consumers in California no longer have access to flavored vaping products, flavored ZYN and nicotine pouches, as well as most flavored tobacco products. Premium cigars, pipe tobacco and shish/hookah tobacco is exempt.

There are several classes of product that are exempt. The wealthy and powerful rarely curtain their own liberties, so premium and expensive cigars are not impacted.

While your preferred vape shop is likely doomed, indoor smoking is still permitted at cigar bars, as is the sale of flavored premium tobacco. Mi-Pod does carry a selection of tobacco vapes and some unflavored nicotine pouches, but clearly a ban on the flavors that adult consumers prefer will remove many popular options. 

What Flavored Tobacco Products Are Outlawed In California?

The sale of these flavored tobacco products is eliminated.

• Flavored e-cigarettes or vapes that deliver nicotine or another vaporized liquid, e-juice, pods, or cartridges
• Menthol cigarettes
• Flavored little cigars and cigarillos
• Flavored smokeless tobacco products
• Flavored blunt wraps
• Flavored loose-leaf roll-your-own tobacco
• Flavored tobacco rolling papers
• Tobacco product flavor enhancers

Which Flavored Tobacco Products Were Protected By Lobbyists?

• As it is unconstitutional to restrict commerce based on income level, the expedient of permitting flavored premium cigars with a wholesale price of $12 or more allows wealthier Americans to still obtain their preferred tobacco products unencumbered.
• Flavored loose-leaf pipe tobacco is an old form of consuming tobacco. As it is not an alien habit to geriatric politicians, it is not swept up in the moral panic that is denying millions of Californians access to superior cigarette alternatives.
• Flavored shisha/hookah tobacco is something of a third rail when it comes to denying adults access to nicotine. Communities where hookah tobacco is a cultural tradition are more likely vote against politicians stripping them of access to flavored tobacco, as opposed to vapers and nic pouch users who are simply funneled back onto cigarettes. In California, it may only be sold in licensed stores that only allow people 21 or older on the premises at any time.

What is a Characterizing Flavor?

An astute observer may note that vaping e-liquids and nicotine pouches are not actually tobacco and do not taste like tobacco. The faux-bacco and fake tobacco flavors in a disposable vape or nicotine pouch are every bit as artificial as the blue raspberry or citrus flavors found in alternative nicotine products.

An especially observant individual might also note that the ""child appealing" flavors might be more accurately described as human appealing. Sweet, tart and sour artificial flavors mimicking fruits, beverages and desserts are simply the appealing formulations for almost every human's palate. Look at the grocery store and you will find the dread "kid-friendly" flavors in hard seltzers, carbonated beverages, breath mints, gums, and of course all manner of cannabis edibles- which are not only flavored by candy but are in candy form.

Who is Harmed By the California Tobacco Ban?

Marginalized groups suffer heavily when flavor bans are imposed on alternative nicotine products. This is why the Center for Black Equity called for the widespread approval of flavored nicotine products. A litany of new studies has shown that flavor bans increase cigarette sales. Independently, Tobacco-21 and shipping restrictions have slashed teen vaping rates.

Adult nicotine users, regardless of income or demographics, suffer the most under a flavor ban. Every survey has shown that tobacco vapes are not appealing to adults. The tobacco industry's pod kits like Juul, Vuse Alto, MyBlu and the NJOY Ace are priced like a premium product and are equivalent to a car note is used daily.

The Center for Black Equity (CBE) today called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Center for Tobacco Products to grant broad approval to a full range of nicotine e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, in a major step toward closing the significant harm-reduction and health equity gaps perpetuated by current FDA tobacco policies. The approval of vaping products would benefit Black and LGBTQ+ populations disproportionately impacted by the negative health effects of smoking, including cancer.

Business owners are the second group that suffers most. No longer able to stock the products that adult nicotine customers prefer, vape shops, smoke shops and convenience stores have fewer skus available. Many of these businesses will be forced to close and their adult customers cast adrift. While tobacco industry products like cigarettes or their fake tobacco flavored vapes may be expensive, this profit is all heading back to the corporate headquarters.

Who Does the California Tobacco Flavor Ban Benefit?

The tobacco industry is the lone beneficiary of vape flavor bans, but some companies benefit more than others. Altria's cigarette sales dropped 8.8% in Q4 of 2024. Their unappealing and obsolete vaping products cannot possibly compete on a level field play with a Geek Bar. Their pouch options are being decimated by ZYN, which just received a green light from the FDA.

In a case of total regulatory capture, the FDA has approved only a handful of obsolete tobacco-flavored vaping products while during the same time frame have approved several hundred cigarette products. Under scrutiny thanks to a Supreme Court case, they finally approved a single

The only other potential winner is fly by night manufacturers. The tobacco industry has dedicated a lot of money to paint large and respected global manufacturing concerns like Lost Mary or Geek Bar as "illicit”, but these are top-tier facilities creating cutting edge products for adults globally. A future black market would be much bleaker and more inaccessible to adult vapor consumers seeking legal, satisfying and enjoyable combustible tobacco alternatives.

What Can Be Done?

At this point, it is clear that the concerns of small businesses and the adult consumers who use flavored vapes as an alternative to combustible cigarettes are of little concern to lawmakers, nicotine abstinence zealots, or the tobacco-industry lobbyists eager to remove any and all threats to their bottom line.

Considering the embrace of harm-reduction measures for illicit narcotics in cities like San Francisco, at the state and local level California has been aggressive in their efforts to deny adult vapers access to the products they prefer. Clearly, they have no qualms about funneling these adults back into the arms of the tobacco industry and what that looks like from a public health perspective.  

The legal system is the chief recourse, although if you vape you should make your voice heard to your local representative.

Existential threats to adult access are not new and the deadly threat they pose is consistently underestimated, despite myriad studies showing than vape flavor bans increase cigarette sales.

Consider donating to CASAA to fund court challenges to these onerous and freedom stripping laws.