Today, the Food and Drug Administration announced their commitment to ban menthol cigarettes and cigars with “characterizing flavors.”
It’s unclear what the FDA considers a characterizing flavor as all cigars are blended to accomplish a specific taste for its user.
Like wine enthusiasts , cigar aficionados make use a flavor wheel to describe notes and flavors that range from literally salt to grass.
The Biden Administration is likely doesn’t have its eyes set on high-end cigars and is targeting products like Swisher Sweets that are commonly stripped of their tobacco and used to roll blunts.
Swisher Sweets currently holds 30% of the market share in the large cigar category.
The FDA has made this ban based upon identify politics and race, saying “ address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals.”
In the FDA announcement they made a point of citing a statistic that states that 85% of black smokers use menthol cigarettes while only 30% of white smokers consumer them.
In essence, the Biden Administration is saying that if you’re black, poor or gay, you’re too stupid to make your own choices.
The FDA rule appears to make no impact on flavored marijuana products that use extracts to produce fruit and other flavors. Also not impacted are flavored drops and sprays like Tasty Puff’s “Chillin’ Cheesecake” or “Bangin’ Birthday Cake” flavors.
