California Passes New Flavored Vape and Pouch Restrictions

Two new California laws will further restrict the sale of vaping products and nicotine pouches in the state by banning non-menthol coolants, nicotine analogs like Metatine, and online sales of flavored vapes and pouches. 

California state bills AB 3218 and SB 1230 passed both houses of the State Legislature in August and were signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in September. The laws will take effect Jan. 1, 2025.

The new laws strengthen the state’s existing ban on flavored vapes and tobacco products, and add several new restrictions and additional enforcement powers. Here is a summary:

• Changes the definition of nicotine to include synthetic nicotine and nicotine analogs like Metatine and Nixotine
• Changes the definition of a characterizing flavor to include synthetic coolants
• Creates a master “unflavored tobacco list” of legal products (to be published by the attorney general no later than Dec. 31, 2025). No product not on the list can be sold in California, including online. (This provision takes effect once the state list is published)
• Empowers the attorney general to exclude from the list any vaping product not authorized by the FDA
• Empowers state agencies and state and local law enforcement agencies to seize products that violate the law and impose on-the-spot fines for each seized item
• Preserves the power of local governments to pass laws more restrictive than the state’s

The “unflavored tobacco list” concept is borrowed from the newly popular PMTA registry laws passed by several states. Those laws have been written by and lobbied for by Big Tobacco companies to protect their cigarettes and ineffective vapes from competition. 

To have products included on the California list, manufacturers must certify under penalty of perjury that they are unflavored. The attorney general is given broad authority to deny products from inclusion on the list, including any vaping product not on the FDA’s list of authorized products. 

Retailers selling any product not on the list would be instant targets for enforcement, which can be carried out by any state or local tax or law enforcement agency. Fines for violating the flavor ban rules range from $2,000 to $50,000.

The laws exempt cannabis and hookah products.

These are believed to be the first state laws to address nicotine analogs, which include both natural and synthetic substances that are chemically distinct from nicotine but mimic its effects.

The laws, cheered by tobacco control groups, will create a vast black market in the nation's most-populous state, including legitimate retailers willing to risk fines and new informal sellers operating from social media sites and local for-sale groups. They will also add to California’s existing cross-border cigarette smuggling problem.