Cigarette and Tobacco Products Distributor
Industry Topics

California tobacco directory

It is illegal to distribute, sell, offer, or possess for sale cigarettes and roll-your-own (RYO) tobacco products in California if the manufacturer, brand family, and brand style are not listed on the Tobacco Directory. It is also illegal to affix a California tax stamp on cigarettes or pay the California excise tax on RYO tobacco unless the manufacturer, brand family, and brand style are listed on the Tobacco Directory. All cigarettes and RYO tobacco products and their manufacturers must be included on the Tobacco Directory before they may be lawfully distributed, sold, offered for sale, or possessed for sale in California.

Flavor ban

California prohibits the retail sale of flavored cigarettes, most flavored tobacco products, and tobacco product flavor enhancers. This means distributors may sell only the cigarettes and tobacco products listed on the Unflavored Tobacco List (UTL) or tobacco products that are not prohibited by California’s flavored tobacco sales law. We, or other law enforcement agencies, may seize flavored cigarettes, flavored tobacco products, or tobacco product flavor enhancers, and may issue fines for prohibited products. We may also suspend and revoke the cigarette and tobacco products license of repeat offenders.

A distributor may not sell, offer for sale, or possess with the intent to sell flavored cigarettes, flavored tobacco products, any tobacco products not listed on the UTL, or tobacco product flavor enhancers to any retailer, wholesaler, or other person in California.

Additional local restrictions may apply

Cities, counties, and local jurisdictions may have their own laws restricting tobacco access. In all cases, the stricter law applies.

Types of flavored products banned and subject to seizure

We may seize banned flavored products, including, but not limited to:

  • Electronic devices, such as e-cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or hookahs, that deliver nicotine or other vaporized liquids, containing or sold with flavored nicotine or other flavored liquid or element
  • Flavored eLiquids, eJuices, or pods
  • Components, parts, or accessories of a tobacco product that containing or sold with a product that has a flavor other than the taste or odor of tobacco
  • Flavored cigarettes, such as menthol and products that produce a cooling sensation
  • Flavored little cigars and cigarillos
  • Flavored smokeless tobacco products
  • Flavored wraps
  • Flavored looseleaf RYO tobacco
  • Flavored tobacco rolling papers
  • Tobacco product flavor enhancers (products designed, manufactured, produced, marketed, or sold to produce a flavor other than the taste or odor of tobacco when added to a tobacco product)
    • Includes eLiquid flavor enhancers that can be used with a tobacco product regardless if the flavor enhancer contains tobacco or nicotine
  • Flavored synthetic nicotine products
  • Flavored nicotine analogs and alkaloids
  • Flavored products listed on the Tobacco Directory
    Please note: Products listed on the Tobacco Directory may still be illegal to sell. The Tobacco Directory applies in addition to any state or local restrictions on the retail sale of tobacco products, including California’s flavored tobacco sales ban law. The Tobacco Directory may list flavored or mentholated products that comply with the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), but they are still illegal for sale in California under California’s flavored tobacco sales ban law.
  • Flavored tobacco products (including cigarettes) not listed on the California UTL

Types of flavored products not banned

  • Premium cigars. A premium cigar means a cigar that:
    • Is handmade,
    • Is not mass produced by mechanization,
    • Has a wrapper that is made entirely of whole tobacco leaf,
    • Has a wholesale price (retailer’s purchase price) of $12.00 or more,
    • Does not have a filter, tip, or nontobacco mouthpiece, and
    • Is capped by hand.
  • Looseleaf pipe tobacco
  • Shisha tobacco products sold by a hookah tobacco retailer who:
    • Has a valid cigarette and tobacco products retailer license at the location,
    • Only allows people 21 years of age or older to be on the premises at any time, and
    • Complies with all state and local laws related to the sale and consumption of tobacco products.

Notes

  1. The wholesale price, or in other words, the retailer’s purchase price, for flavored premium cigars includes California tobacco products excise taxes. We presume that the excise taxes have not been paid to us on tobacco products, which include cigars, in the retailer’s possession until the retailer establishes the contrary by proof of payment to us or by tax-paid purchase invoices (Business and Professions Code (BPC) section 22974.3(b)).

Unflavored Tobacco List

On December 31, 2025, the California Office of the Attorney General (OAG) published the UTL on its website. The UTL, which is updated regularly, identifies specific tobacco product brand styles that do not have a characterizing flavor (a taste or odor other than tobacco) and can be sold in California. Any tobacco product not on the UTL is prohibited under California’s tobacco sales law and can’t be sold.

  • Submit product information for the UTL
    To assist with maintaining the UTL, the OAG created a UTL Portal to allow tobacco manufacturers, importers, and the public to submit any information about a tobacco product, such as photos, reviews, or studies, relevant to the UTL.

Civil penalties

Distributors or other persons

If we discover that a distributor (if flavored products were not seized), delivery seller, or other person sold flavored products in California, they will be subject to the following penalties:

Distributors or Other Persons
Distributors or Other Persons
(BPC section 22978.3(c))
Occurrence per Location Civil Penalty
First offense A warning notice
Second offense License suspension
Third offense License revocation

Resources

Enacted legislation

Master Settlement Agreement

The MSA is a legal contract between 46 states, including California, and five U.S. Territories, and participating tobacco manufacturers. The contract was entered into in 1998 in settlement of various lawsuits and provides for the allocation of funds to states and certain territories. The MSA restricts cigarette advertising and marketing by participating tobacco manufacturers in various ways, including a ban on cartoons in tobacco advertisements, youth exposure to sampling, certain sponsorships, and most outdoor advertisements.

Revenue and Taxation Code (RTC) section 30165.1 requires the OAG to compile and publish a directory of cigarette and RYO tobacco manufacturers and brand families. A person may not sell, offer, possess for sale, or import for personal consumption any cigarettes or RYO tobacco in California unless the manufacturer and brand family are listed in that directory (except if the product is solely for sale out-of-state). In addition, it is illegal for any person to affix or cause to be affixed any tax stamp or meter impression to a pack of cigarettes or pay the tax on RYO tobacco unless the tobacco products manufacturer and brand family are listed in the directory. Cigarettes or RYO tobacco not listed on that directory are subject to seizure by CDTFA and law enforcement agencies. You can subscribe to receive Tobacco Directory Notices by providing your email address on the OAG’s Tobacco Directory webpage or by sending an email to their directory subscription mailbox. You will receive an email acknowledging that the OAG has received and recorded your email address.

The OAG must provide distributors and wholesalers with written notice of any changes to the directory after it is first published (RTC section 30165.1(c)(3)). Distributors and wholesalers are required to provide the written notices received from the OAG to their customers. For more information, visit publication 407, Master Settlement Agreement.

Anyone who violates these provisions may be subject to civil and criminal penalties and the seizure of any noncompliant product. In addition, we may revoke or suspend your license. For additional information on the citation process under this Licensing Act, visit publication 152, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Inspections, and publication 161, Criminal Citations Include A Civil Administrative Process.

Retail stock for distributors

Regulation 4001 further clarifies and defines retail stock for cigarette and tobacco products excise tax purposes. The excise tax on cigarettes and tobacco products is imposed on the distribution of untaxed cigarettes and tobacco products in this state. A distribution includes, among other things, the placing of untaxed cigarettes and tobacco products in retail stock for purposes of selling the products to consumers.

What is considered retail stock?

  • Retail stock includes cigarettes and tobacco products that are stored in the area where retail sales are made and available for sale to consumers by a person who holds a retailer’s license.
  • If you hold both a California distributor’s license and a retailer’s license, purchase untaxed products, and only make retail sales to consumers, then all cigarette and tobacco products in your inventory are considered retail stock, distributed in this state, and you will owe excise tax (regardless of where the product is placed or stored). All cigarette packs placed in retail stock must have a California cigarette tax stamp affixed.
  • If you hold both a California distributor’s license and a retailer’s license, purchase untaxed products, and make sales to licensed distributors, wholesalers, or retailers, then the untaxed cigarette and tobacco products that are placed or stored in the area where retail sales are made are considered to be retail stock, distributed in this state, and you will owe excise tax. All cigarette packs placed in retail stock must have a California cigarette tax stamp affixed. However, untaxed cigarettes and tobacco products that are securely stored away from the area where retail sales are made are not considered retail stock. The untaxed products must be in the original manufacturer’s packaging, with an unbroken seal, and they must be secured, segregated, and separated from your entire retail inventory, including any tax-paid products that you store or hold in areas not accessible to consumers.

Examples of spaces considered secured, segregated, and separated from retail stock include, but are not limited to:

  • A secured store room or closet,
  • A secured back office,
  • Inside a locked cabinet, safe, or other similar storage container, or
  • Behind a locked wire-cage door or similar encumbrance.

Walk-in humidors

Tobacco products placed inside a walk-in humidor displayed for sale to consumers are considered retail stock. If you hold both a California distributor’s license and a retailer’s license, purchase untaxed tobacco products, and only make retail sales to consumers, your entire inventory inside your walk-in humidor is considered retail stock, whether or not the untaxed tobacco products are separately stored away. The excise tax is due immediately upon placing the untaxed tobacco products in the humidor.

If you hold both a California distributor’s license and a retailer’s license and you sell to other tobacco products licensees in addition to consumers, untaxed tobacco products are not considered retail stock if the product is placed in a walk-in humidor in the original manufacturer’s packaging with an unbroken seal, secured, segregated, and separated from retail stock, and not on display for sale to consumers.

Presumption of distribution

We will presume that all cigarettes and tobacco products acquired by a distributor that are untaxed and no longer in the distributor’s possession have been distributed. This presumption includes instances where cigarettes or tobacco products have been lost through an unexplainable disappearance.

You can rebut this presumption by demonstrating that an explainable disappearance, such as theft, has occurred. However, if you place product in retail stock, we presume it to be distributed, and you may not rebut that presumption.

Examples of evidence that may overcome the presumption that cigarette and tobacco products have been distributed include, but are not limited to:

  • Timely police reports (required)
  • Insurance claims
  • Insurance reimbursements
  • Cigarette and tobacco purchase invoices (required)
  • Video surveillance footage
  • Photographs
  • Detailed tobacco inventory reports
  • Proof of prosecution for theft of cigarettes or tobacco products

Tobacco products sales by an out-of-state licensed distributor to an in-state licensed distributor

The sale of tobacco products by a California-licensed tobacco products distributor located outside of California to a California-licensed tobacco products distributor located in California is not considered a distribution of tobacco products in California by the distributor located outside of California. Instead, the licensed distributor located in California who purchases the tobacco products from a location outside of California and who makes the distribution of tobacco products in California owes the applicable excise tax.

A distribution includes the sale, use, or consumption of untaxed cigarettes or untaxed tobacco products in California and the placing of untaxed cigarettes or untaxed tobacco products into a vending machine or retail stock in California.

Inspections

We conduct routine inspections to ensure compliance with California state laws governing the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products. These inspections are authorized by the California Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003 (Licensing Act), Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law (CTPTL), and the California Cigarette Fire Safety and Firefighter Protection Act.

Our inspectors make sure that:

  • You have a valid cigarette and tobacco products license according to the Licensing Act and CTPTL and any other business permits or licenses that may be required.
  • You keep purchase and sales invoices at each licensed location for at least one year after the date of purchase.
  • You bought your cigarettes and tobacco products from a CDTFA-licensed cigarette and tobacco products manufacturer, importer, or other distributor and have purchase invoices to support your inventory.
  • The cigarettes in your inventory:
  • Your untaxed tobacco products are segregated from your tax-paid tobacco products.
  • Your unstamped cigarettes are stored securely, away from your stamped cigarette inventory.
  • You do not sell or have cannabis or cannabis products, or presumed cannabis products, such as items containing or appearing to contain a synthetic cannabinoid, like gummies, or other cannabis products, such as creams, dust, crystals, and so on.

California cigarette distributors may be in possession of flavored cigarettes and tobacco products distributors may be in possession of flavored tobacco products and tobacco product flavor enhancers, if sales and delivery of these products are made only to customers located outside of California. Distributors may possess flavored cigarettes and flavored RYO tobacco that are illegal for sale in California due to the flavor ban, but the brands must be listed on the Tobacco Directory.

For more information on the inspection process, watch the What To Know About Your Cigarette and Tobacco Products Inspection video to learn the process, visit publication 152, Cigarette and Tobacco Products Inspections, and visit the Cigarette and Tobacco Products Inspections Program webpage. For information on enforcement and penalties, please visit the Resources guide.