Earlier this month, General Tobacco requested that the United States Supreme Court review a decision from the Arkansas Supreme Court that General Tobacco must pay Arkansas $2.45 million under the Master Settlement Agreement.  The State’s response to General Tobacco’s request for review is due early next month.

A unit of local government in West Virginia, the Wheeling-Ohio County Health Board, is currently holding hearings on whether to ban the use of electronic cigarettes (“e-cigarettes”) in certain areas.  The proposed Wheeling-Ohio County Clean Air Regulation would change the definition of “smoking” to “include[] the use of an e‐cigarette which creates a vapor, in any manner or in any form, or the use of any oral smoking device.”

In a letter to the industry dated August 16, 2011, the FDA announced that it will begin inspecting every factory engaged in the manufacture or processing of cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco.  The inspections will begin in October 2011, and pursuant to the Tobacco Control Act, inspections will be conducted at least once every two years.

On the heels of FDA’s surprising determination that dissolvable tobacco products, such as Star Scientific’s Stonewall and Ariva and R.J. Reynolds’ Camel “Orbs,” are not considered smokeless tobacco products currently subject to regulation under the Tobacco Control Act, the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee convened its first meeting to evaluate these products.

We have previously written about New York’s recent effort to collect taxes for cigarette sales on Native American reservations.  We have also written about the ongoing arbitration between the states and the major tobacco companies regarding allegations that the states have not “diligently enforced” their state escrow statutes. 

On July 26, the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by RYO Cigar Association, Inc. (“RYO”) and New Image Global, Inc. (“New Image”) seeking an injunction against enforcement of a regulation issued by the Boston public commission banning the sale of cigar wraps in Boston.

At least one issue is resolved.  The Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) will regulate electronic cigarettes (“e-cigarettes”) as tobacco products and not as drug-delivery devices.  Yet, many other issues remain unresolved as a result of the FDA’s decision, including the taxation of e-cigarettes.