Troutman Pepper Locke Tobacco Practice

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In June, the Appellate Court of Illinois upheld an assessment of over $314 million against Sam’s Club for unpaid county cigarette excise taxes, including a 10% late fee, a 25% penalty, and accrued interest. The assessment arose from Sam’s Club’s alleged failure to pay taxes on cigarettes that it sold to out-of-county retailers from 2009 to 2016. Following the June ruling, the company now appears poised to bring its arguments to the state’s highest court in a case illustrating the ambiguities of state and local excise taxation laws.

Bryan Haynes, Agustin Rodriguez and Michael Jordan of the Troutman Pepper Locke Tobacco + Nicotine team will attend the Next Generation Nicotine Delivery Conference in Miami, Florida next week.

This conference will address ongoing changes at the Food and Drug Administration Center for Tobacco Products, legal updates, tax issues, product…

Bryan Haynes of the Troutman Pepper Locke Tobacco + Nicotine team will attend EVO NXT 2025 in Milan, Italy next week.

EVO NXT is an international business festival for next-generation nicotine and hemp products.  Trade visitors and decision-makers from the category will join to discover the latest trends and technologies.…

In late January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) withdrew its proposed rules to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and all characterizing flavors in cigars. Although either proposal could be revived under a future administration, the withdrawal ends both of the current rulemaking processes. The move also strongly indicates shifting FDA priorities under the second Trump administration. Amid these changes, industry may find the agency more receptive to its arguments—particularly those submitted in comments to proposed rulemaking.

Bryan Haynes and Agustin Rodriguez of the Troutman Pepper Locke Tobacco + Nicotine team will attend the Total Product Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, January 29-31, 2025.  TPE features displays from 500 plus exhibitors covering the full spectrum of tobacco and other products, including vape, modern oral nicotine…

On January 15, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a proposed rule that would set a maximum nicotine level in combusted cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products.

Maximum Nicotine Level

FDA proposes to “make cigarettes and certain other combusted tobacco products minimally addictive or nonaddictive by limiting the nicotine yield of these products.” Specifically, the proposed rule would set a maximum nicotine content level of 0.70 milligrams of nicotine per gram of total tobacco. This would represent a drastic reduction in nicotine content. By comparison, one recent study — which FDA cited in the proposed rule — reported that the average nicotine content in the top 100 cigarette brands of 2017 was 17.2 milligrams of nicotine per gram of total tobacco.

Agustin Rodriguez of the Troutman Pepper Tobacco + Nicotine team will attend the Food and Drug Law Institute 2024 Enforcement Conference on Wednesday, December 10-11, in Washington D.C.  Members of our team will also attend the FDLI Holiday Party on December 10th. 

Agustin will speak on a panel…

In October, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that a law restricting the packaging of e-cigarettes violates the state constitution’s free speech protections. The decision illustrates the utility of free speech arguments against packaging requirements and the importance of state constitutions in regulatory challenges generally.