PROTECTING FAMILIES OR CRONY CAPITALISTS? The FDA is getting ready to squash cigar makers.

Normally when we discuss the intersection of the FDA, government regulations and tobacco we’re talking about cigarettes. (Or vaping in more recent days.) But this week Uncle Sam is getting into full retro mode and going after cigar manufacturers. The most recent spate of moves in the Food and Drug Administration aimed at saving the nation from itself is based on a bit of legislation passed more than six years ago known as the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This act was supposed to be targeted towards the prevention of tobacco advertising geared toward minors and enforcement of labeling requirements and a few other details. It also included a rather ominous provision described as the authority “to take further action in the future to protect public health.”

Apparently “the future” has arrived and some of those further actions will be geared toward traditional manufacturers of cigars rather than the cigarette market which is the major concern when it comes to children and families.

Read the whole thing.

The real weight of the FDA’s hand will come down on small cigar manufacturers, who simply won’t be able to afford complying with the new regulations while still creating innovative new products. Big cigar makers will absorb the costs, or pass them on to consumers as the small fry are forced out of business.

Imagine a regulatory scheme protecting Anheuser-Busch InBev’s mediocre beers, while forcing your local brewpubs out of business — that’s what the FDA is doing to the cigar industry.