Will the FDA Ban Menthol Cigarettes?

The FDA has been trying to ban menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars since April 2022 when the agency proposed a rule prohibiting menthol cigarette sales. This time around we’re not talking about vape products but actual cigarettes and cigars.

Technically it all started 10+ years ago when the FDA was granted control over the decision to implement a potential ban on menthol cigarettes. It took them all this time but it now seems like they are finally ready to act.

As of April this year, the FDA announced its intention to ban menthol cigarettes and cigars. Since then, the review of the FDA’s rule was finished in May of this year. The draft rule released was also up for public comment up until July 5th of this year.

However:

Even with this review, the FDA menthol ban is yet to go into effect. This could take up to a year or more as the FDA must still produce a final rule which usually takes up to a year to review and approve.

Even after the final rule is reviewed and approved, the actual implementation could take up to another year after that. Which is when tobacco companies are likely to sue the FDA. This would end in even further delay in the rule’s implementation. So we’re likely talking about years before anything tangible comes out of this situation. Which means that a menthol cigarettes ban in 2022 is as far from a reality as can be.

On the rule itself:

The outgoing director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products stated that the ban would only address manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers, and retailers but will not go against individual consumer possession or use of tobacco products. This pretty much means people who consume it aren’t doing anything illegal but they won’t have a legal way of buying the product per se. So, not a lot of sense there unless we’re expecting consumers to buy products illegally.

While a  final decision on the menthol cigarette ban is likely to be postponed for years until it can be implemented (if it is even implemented in the long run), this route opens up the avenue for questions regarding the legality and possibility of a ban on menthol vape products. 

So far, the FDA has not openly commented on the subject specifically but has approved bans on flavored vape products other than the tobacco flavor. The vape flavor ban is still under heavy discussion between both sides of the argument but is at least a few steps ahead of this new menthol cigarette rule. So, perhaps the vape flavor ban issue is resolved before the FDA banning menthol is a reality. We’ll just have to wait and see.