7.40.130 Sale of Flavored Tobacco Prohibited

(a) The sale or offer for sale, by any person or tobacco retailer of any flavored tobacco product is prohibited and no person or tobacco retailer shall sell, or offer for sale, any flavored tobacco product.

(b) There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a tobacco product is a flavored tobacco product if a manufacturer or any of the manufacturer's agents or employees, in the course of their agency or employment, has made a statement or claim directed to consumers or to the public that the tobacco product has or produces a characterizing flavor including, but not limited to, text, color, and/or images on the product's labeling or packaging that are used to explicitly or implicitly communicate that the tobacco product has a characterizing flavor.

(c) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall govern:

(1) "Characterizing flavor" means a distinguishable taste or aroma or both, other than the taste or aroma of tobacco, imparted by a tobacco product or any byproduct produced by the tobacco product. Characterizing flavors include, but are not limited to, tastes or aroma relating to any fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, menthol, mint, wintergreen, herb, or spice. A tobacco product shall not be determined to have a characterizing flavor solely because of the use of additives or flavorings or the provision of ingredient information. Rather, it is the presence of a distinguishable taste or aroma, or both, as described in the first sentence of this definition, that constitutes a characterizing flavor.

(2) "Constituent" means any ingredient, substance, chemical, or compound, other than tobacco, water, or reconstituted tobacco sheet that is added by the manufacturer to a tobacco product during the processing, manufacture, or packing of the tobacco product.

(3) "Distinguishable" means perceivable by either the sense of smell or taste.

(4) "Flavored tobacco product" means any tobacco product that contains a constituent that imparts a characterizing flavor.

(5) "Labeling" means written, printed, pictorial, or graphic matter upon any tobacco product or any of its packaging.

(6) "Packaging" means a pack, box, carton, or container of any kind or, if no other container, any wrapping (including cellophane) in which a tobacco product is sold, or offered for sale, to a consumer.

(7) "Tobacco product" is defined as set forth in subsection (l) of Section 7.40.020 of this Code.

(8) "Tobacco Retailer" means any person that engages in the retail sale or exchange of tobacco products.