Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2111 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2111
5	5	To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to exempt the premium
6	6	cigar industry from certain regulations.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH14, 2025
9	9	Mr. D
10	10	ONALDS(for himself, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. PANETTA)
11	11	introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on En-
12	12	ergy and Commerce
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to
15	15	exempt the premium cigar industry from certain regulations.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 3
19	19	The Congress finds the following: 4
20	20	(1) Premium cigars comprise only 1 percent of 5
21	21	all cigars sold in the United States. 6
22	22	(2) Most manufacturers of premium cigars are 7
23	23	family-owned small businesses. 8
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26	26	•HR 2111 IH
27	27	(3) Premium cigars are typically sold in age- 1
28	28	controlled retail establishments, such as tobacco spe-2
29	29	cialty shops or cigar bars. 3
30	30	(4) At the request of the Food and Drug Ad-4
31	31	ministration and the National Institutes of Health, 5
32	32	the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, 6
33	33	and Medicine (in this section referred to as the 7
34	34	‘‘NASEM’’) convened an expert committee to exam-8
35	35	ine 4 premium cigar topics: product characteristics, 9
36	36	patterns of use, marketing and perceptions, and 10
37	37	health effects. 11
38	38	(5) The NASEM expert committee produced a 12
39	39	resulting report, published in 2022 and titled ‘‘Pre-13
40	40	mium Cigars: Patterns of Use, Marketing, and 14
41	41	Health Effects’’, which among other things, identi-15
42	42	fied numerous facts regarding premium cigar use. 16
43	43	(6) The NASEM expert committee found that 17
44	44	premium cigars are only used by about 1 percent of 18
45	45	the United States adult population. 19
46	46	(7) The NASEM expert committee found that 20
47	47	premium cigar use is less common among youth 21
48	48	than among other users and only 0.6 percent of 22
49	49	those who reported smoking a premium cigar were 23
50	50	under 18 years of age. 24
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54	54	(8) The NASEM expert committee found that 1
55	55	premium cigar use is less common among women, 2
56	56	non-Hispanic Black persons, and persons with less 3
57	57	than a high school education than other users. 4
58	58	(9) The NASEM expert committee found that 5
59	59	premium cigar users are less likely to smoke ciga-6
60	60	rettes or other cigar types concurrently than other 7
61	61	cigar type users. 8
62	62	(10) The NASEM expert committee found that 9
63	63	the frequency and intensity of smoking is lower for 10
64	64	premium cigars compared to other types of cigars 11
65	65	and cigarettes. 12
66	66	(11) The NASEM expert committee found that 13
67	67	as compared to users of other types of cigars, pre-14
68	68	mium cigar users are more likely to be never or 15
69	69	former cigarette smokers. 16
70	70	(12) The NASEM expert committee found that 17
71	71	there is strongly suggestive evidence that the health 18
72	72	consequences of premium cigar smoking overall are 19
73	73	likely to be less than those of smoking other types 20
74	74	of cigars because the majority of premium cigar 21
75	75	smokers are nondaily or occasional users and be-22
76	76	cause they are unlikely to inhale the smoke. 23
77	77	(13) The NASEM expert committee found that 24
78	78	premium cigars are used virtually exclusively by 25
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82	82	adults, premium cigar use is extremely limited, and 1
83	83	premium cigar use poses less physical risk than the 2
84	84	use of other tobacco products. 3
85	85	(14) The definition of premium cigar used by 4
86	86	the NASEM expert committee is broader and would 5
87	87	encompass a larger class of cigars than the defini-6
88	88	tion adopted by Judge Amit P. Mehta, of the United 7
89	89	States District Court for the District of Columbia, 8
90	90	in a recent decision striking the latest attempt by 9
91	91	the Food and Drug Administration to regulate pre-10
92	92	mium cigars. 11
93	93	(15) The narrower definition adopted by Judge 12
94	94	Mehta is the definition that would apply if this bill 13
95	95	were enacted. 14
96	96	(16) The District Court concluded that the few 15
97	97	health risks posed by premium cigars can be regu-16
98	98	lated at the State level. 17
99	99	SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF PREMIUM CIGARS FROM CERTAIN 18
100	100	TOBACCO REGULATION IN FEDERAL FOOD, 19
101	101	DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT. 20
102	102	Section 201(rr) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cos-21
103	103	metic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(rr)) is amended by adding at 22
104	104	the end the following: 23
105	105	‘‘(6)(A) The term ‘tobacco product’ does not mean 24
106	106	a premium cigar. 25
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110	110	‘‘(B) In clause (A), the term ‘premium cigar’ means 1
111	111	a cigar that— 2
112	112	‘‘(i) is wrapped in whole tobacco leaf; 3
113	113	‘‘(ii) contains a 100 percent leaf tobacco binder; 4
114	114	‘‘(iii) contains at least 50 percent (of the filler 5
115	115	by weight) long filler tobacco (whole tobacco leaves 6
116	116	that run the length of the cigar); 7
117	117	‘‘(iv) is handmade or hand rolled, meaning no 8
118	118	machinery was used apart from simple tools, such as 9
119	119	scissors to cut the tobacco prior to rolling; 10
120	120	‘‘(v) has no filter, nontobacco tip, or nontobacco 11
121	121	mouthpiece; 12
122	122	‘‘(vi) does not have a characterizing flavor other 13
123	123	than tobacco; 14
124	124	‘‘(vii) contains only tobacco, water, and vege-15
125	125	table gum with no other ingredients or additives; 16
126	126	and 17
127	127	‘‘(viii) weighs more than 6 pounds per 1,000 18
128	128	units.’’. 19
129	129	Æ
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