Cigarette and Tobacco Products Manufacturer & Importer
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 manufacturers and importers 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. Please keep in mind that 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 manufacturer or importer may not sell, offer for sale, possess with the intent to sell, or offer for sale flavored cigarettes, flavored tobacco products, or tobacco product flavor enhancers 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, which includes California’s flavored tobacco sales ban law. The Tobacco Directory may list flavored or mentholated products that comply with the Master Settlement Agreement 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
Note: Routine inspections may be conducted anywhere where cigarette and tobacco products are sold, produced, stored, or where there is evidence of tax evasion.
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
- 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 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 an 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
Other persons
When we discover that any person, such as a delivery seller, sold flavored cigarettes, flavored tobacco products, any tobacco products not listed on the UTL, or tobacco product flavor enhancers in California, the person will be subject to:
| 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
- California Department of Public Health
- OAG
- CDTFA
- L-1018, Flavored Tobacco Ban Where to Find the Latest Information (February 2026)
- L-965, Flavored Cigarettes, Tobacco Products, and Tobacco Product Flavor Enhancers Are Subject to Seizure (November 2024)
- L-885, New Law Prohibits Retail Sales of Menthol Cigarettes and Most Flavored Tobacco Products (December 2022)
- United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Enacted legislation
- Assembly Bill 3218 (Stats. 2024, ch. 849)
- Senate Bill 1230 (Stats. 2024, ch. 462)
- Assembly Bill 935 (Stats. 2023, ch. 351)
- Senate Bill 793 (Stats. 2020, ch. 34)
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.