Smoke shops in unincorporated Santa Clara County must hold a Tobacco Retail License and comply with Ordinance NS-300.913, which bans the sale of all flavored tobacco and vape products including menthol, predating California's statewide ban.
Ordinance NS-300.913 (originally adopted 2010, expanded later) bans the sale of all flavored tobacco products in unincorporated Santa Clara County, including menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars, flavored chew, hookah tobacco, and flavored vape liquids. The ordinance defines flavor broadly to include any characterizing taste or smell other than tobacco. Smoke shops, vape stores, and head shops must hold the county Tobacco Retail License (NS-300.789) and pass routine flavor-product inspections. Zoning rules typically restrict smoke shops to commercial corridors with buffers from schools and other smoke retailers. SCC's flavor ban predates statewide SB 793 and remains broader where it overlaps.
Selling any flavored tobacco or vape product, operating without a Tobacco Retail License, locating within school or retailer buffers, or sales to anyone under 21 trigger fines, product seizure, and license suspension or revocation.
See how Palo Alto's smoke shop rules rules stack up against other locations.
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