Possible Deregulation of Premium Cigars - Anyone else hear about this?

[DatGOOSEwaddup]

This could be pretty big news:

https://halfwheel.com/cigar-industry-fda-brief-court-over-potential-deregulation-of-premium-cigars/4...

tldr;

If you forgot or haven't been following, six years ago the FDA passed deeming regulations on premium cigars, that (long story very short) tried to lump them in with vapes and similar products and would've seriously crippled the cigar industry in the US. Naturally cigar rights groups filed lawsuits that have been ongoing, but the industry scored a massive win early last month. From the article:

"Specifically, [Judge] Mehta ruled that during 2014-2016, while the FDA was finalizing its “deeming regulations” for other tobacco products, including cigars, the agency failed to evaluate evidence about whether “premium cigars” might pose less public health risks or might be less attractive to underage smokers than other cigars. In 2014, the agency announced its proposed rules and asked the public to submit comments regarding the risks of premium cigars and Cigar Rights of America (CRA), an industry trade group, submitted a comment with evidence that indicated that most “premium cigar” consumers use less than one cigar per day and do not inhale.

Mehta found in response that FDA ignored such comments"

I haven't seen much news on it since then, but it's clearly not gonna get resolved any time soon. It is very unlikely that regulation of premium cigars will just up and vanish one day, but there's a lotta hope on the horizon for AT LEAST seeing some sensible, fact and science-based legislation. Finally, a judge has stepped up to say let's actually study whether cigars are less harmful to your health than other forms of tobacco. 

Here's part of Judge Mehta's statement:

"In the end, instead of addressing the relevant data before it, the agency resorted to a common refrain to obscure the issue: '[T]here were no data provided to support the premise that there are different patterns of use of premium cigars and that these patterns result in lower health risks.' 81 Fed. Reg. at 29,020. That statement was not accurate then, and despite litigation counsel’s efforts, it is not accurate now."

As for me I'm gonna go have a Fuente Anejo on this beautiful morning 😁

[KevinI]

This will be a long battle! I must have missed this article so thanks for sharing!