Information regarding recent bans and regulations on vaping and e-cigs

The PACT Act / Jenkins Act and Tax Compliance Info

Due to the recent addition of vapor products to the Pact Act, you may notice some changes on your future orders as follows

All Shipments will require Adult Signature by someone 21 years old or older along with valid ID for delivery.
An Adult Signature/ID Fee of $7.00 will be added to all orders
Applicable Excise and Sales Taxes will be charged for orders being delivered to states in which they apply
Orders are limited to a maximum weight of 10lbs. Orders weighing more than 10lbs will have to be split into separate orders before you are allowed to checkout

What is the Pact Act:

The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act was a 2009 amendment to the 1949 Jenkins Act, and was passed primarily to combat online sales of untaxed cigarettes. The law prohibits U.S. Mail delivery of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, and requires online sellers to register with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), U.S. Attorney General, as well as the tax administrators of each state.

The PACT Act mandates collection of state and local taxes by online sellers, creates standards for private carriers delivering cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to residential and business customers, and imposes strict rules regarding tax collection, payment and reporting to states and the federal government.

The Preventing Online Sales of E-Cigarettes to Children Act that became law in December of 2020 amends the PACT Act to include vaping products along with cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. While the original law’s goal was to police tax compliance, the inclusion of vaping products is supposedly intended primarily to prevent online sales to minors.

Online retailers will be required to:

Verify age of customers using a commercially available database
Use private shipping services that collect an adult signature at the point of delivery
Register with the ATF and the U.S. Attorney General
Register with state and local tax administrators in all states and localities where business is done
Collect and pay all applicable local and state taxes, and affix any required tax stamps to the products sold
Each month, a list of all transactions must be sent to each state’s tax administrator that includes the names and addresses of each customer sold to, the quantities and type of each product sold, and the name, address, and phone number of the person delivering the shipment to the recipient

Vape Mail Bans coming soon!

All major shipping providers have notified MFS of their intent to stop delivering vape products in the near future as a result of the inlcusion of the PACT Act in the 2021 Omnibus speding bill signed into law on December 27th, 2020. As of now, this will affect both consumer and wholesale customers. Also, we expect Free Shipping for orders over $50 to no longer be available as the cheaper shipping options such as USPS First Class Mail and FedEx Ground Shipping are removed. More details regarding each shipping service can be found below

USPS Vape Mail Ban Info

The new law, included in the federal Omnibus Spending Bill, requires the U.S. Postal Service create regulations within 120 days effectively banning U.S. Mail delivery of vaping products and related products from vaping retailers. USPS has not issued its new rules yet as the deadline has not been reached, but it is expected to stop shipping vape mail sometime in March or April.

FedEx Vape Mail Ban Info

FedEx has already announced that it will stop accepting shipments of vape mail and related products from vaping reatailers on March 1st, 2021. This will affect both consumer and wholesale customers.

UPS Vape Mail Ban Info

“Effective April 5, 2021, UPS will not transport vaping products to, from, or within the United States due to the increased complexity to ship those products”

These are the states that have enacted vaping bans and regulations so far:

Arkansas

Arkansas implemented new taxes and licensing requirements for retailers and distributors of vaping products. Until we are able to properly comply with the new requirements we will be banning the sale of products to customers within the state.

California

EDIT: California’s flavored tobacco ban will not take effect on Jan. 1, 2021. When, or if it takes effect remains to be seen. The Superior Court for the County of Sacramento approved an agreement between the parties in its case which will suspend the Jan. 1, 2021 date of enforcement until, at the very least, after the signatures are verified for a ballot measure proposal that seeks to repeal the law.

The governor of California signed SB 793, a bill that banned the sale of tobacco and vapor products in flavors other than “tobacco” on August 28, 2020. Flavored premium cigars, pipe tobacco and hookah are exempt from the law. The ban takes effect on January 1, 2020.

Kentucky

In late July 2020, Kentucky implemented new taxes and licensing requirements for retailers and distributors of vaping products. Until we are able to properly comply with the new requirements we will be banning the sale of products to customers within the state of Kentucky.

Maine

Maine defines vapor products as “tobacco products.” Tobacco products may not be shipped to anyone other than a licensed retailer or distributor in the state, effectively banning out-of-state online/phone sales.

Massachusetts

A statewide ban on the sale of all non-tobacco flavored tobacco and vapor products was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Baker. The ban took effect immediately on November 27th, 2019, while a ban on menthol cigarettes took effect June 1, 2020.

Michigan

A statewide ban by emergency order of Governor Whitmer took effect October 2, 2019 until March 30, 2020. Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens issued a preliminary injunction on October 15, 2019. Governor Whitmer’s motion to reinstate a ban on flavored vaping nicotine products was denied by the Michigan Supreme Court on December 27, 2019, effectively leaving flavored products legal to sell.

New Jersey

On January 21, 2020, Governor Murphy signed S3265, prohibiting the sale of all flavored vapor products except tobacco flavor (including menthol). The law took effect on April 20, 2020 and does not ban low risk flavored tobacco products, such as snus. It also leaves many flavored combustible products on the market, such as the flavored “little cigars” popular with minors.

New York

Update: As of December 1st, 2019 New York has implemented a 20% Vapor Tax on all vapor products.

Update: New York implemented new taxes and licensing requirements for retailers and distributors of vaping products. Until we are able to properly comply with the new requirements we will be banning the sale of products to customers within the state of New York.

Online sales of e-liquids are banned (vapor products are folded into the same provision that bans shipment of cigarettes to consumers). This does not include components or devices. The penalty for selling or shipping a vapor product to a consumer in NY is a Class A misdemeanor and carries a fine of $5000 or $100 per vapor product. New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, officially signed into law a ban on the sale of all flavored vapor products. The ban went into effect on July 1, 2020, and included flavored e-liquids in wintergreen, mint and menthol flavors. The city of Yonkers and Nassau County also prohibit the sale of all flavored vaping products, except those that are tobacco, mint or menthol flavored.

Effective May 18, 2020: Sales of vapor products in flavors other than tobacco are prohibited. The prohibition does not apply to any flavored product that has received a premarket approval order (PMTA) from the Food and Drug Administration (this provision does NOT defer to the federal standard allowing manufacturers to market products for one year following FDA’s acceptance of their PMTA application).

Rhode Island

A statewide flavor ban (excluding tobacco flavor) is in effect as of March 26, as a result of the following regulation: Licensing of Electronic Nicotine-Delivery System Distributors and Dealers (216-RICR-50-15-6)

South Dakota

The shipping of tobacco products to any consumer in the state is prohibited, whether the seller is located within or outside the state under South Dakota codified law 10-50-99. Vapor products are included in the definition of “tobacco product.” under South Dakota codified law 34-46-20.

Utah

Tobacco and vapor product sales must be made “face-to-face” (no internet, mail or phone purchase permitted due to Utah Code 76-10-105.1.) State banned sale of flavored vapor products, excluding only stores licensed as specialty tobacco shop.

Washington

A statewide flavor ban for all vapor products passed by executive order began on October 10, 2019 and lasted until February 2020

Australia

Australia was temporarily banned from receiving placing orders due to a policy in place that requires a signature upon delivery. Due to Covid-19 our shipping partners would not allow signature required delivery for a short period of time and instead denied all shipments to Australia. Therefore, we implemented a temporary ban to avoid this negative outcome for our customers. Currently we have removed the ban and are monitoring the situation.