Moving forward, the court will need to determine what constitutes a "premium cigar."
The US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to regulate premium cigars subject to the same federal law as other tobacco products was “arbitrary and capricious.”
Judge Amit P. Mehta said FDA’s decision to regulate premium cigars was “not reasoned decision-making” and faulted FDA for its “nonresponsive, circular reasoning” and “waving away evidence of actual, current usage patterns” of premium cigars. He also pointed out that FDA’s “Final Deeming Rule obscures the real math” about a study on youth usage of premium cigars, which shows 0.1% of all youth studied preferred premium cigars. Judge Metha requested briefs from FDA, the Premium Cigar Association, and Cigar Rights of America in order to decide whether to overturn FDA's judgment or merely remand the case to the agency. FDA’s regulations are currently on hold.
Moving forward, the court will need to determine what constitutes a "premium cigar.” Previously, FDA proposed an eight-part definition of "premium cigar" that, with the significant exception of flavored cigars, would apply to the majority of cigars sold in retail humidors. Mehta previously utilized this term, but this does not mean it will necessarily continue to be used. Then, once the definition is determined, the court would need to determine what the remedy is.
The ruling does not change any cigar laws now. Companies that produce or import premium cigars are still required to pay user fees on the cigars, giving away samples is still prohibited, and a few other minor parts of the regulations are still in place. The premarket approval criteria, often known as "substantial equivalence," continue to be unenforceable for premium cigars due to a Mehta decision from August 2020 that is still in force.