Abilene, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Abilene never created a standalone tobacco or vape retailer permit, so a shop selling electronic cigarettes here operates under the same certificate of occupancy as any other retailer. What the city does regulate directly, in Division 2 of Chapter 10, is how those products are displayed and sold. Section 10-95 bars a retailer from offering electronic cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or liquid nicotine 'in a manner that permits a customer direct access,' from using self-service merchandising, or from running an open display case, unless the store bars anyone under eighteen at all times, the location holds a package store permit under the Alcoholic Beverage Code, or the display sits somewhere customers can't reach it.

Section 10-94 makes it an offense for a retailer or clerk, acting with criminal negligence, to sell or give an e-cigarette or liquid nicotine to anyone under eighteen, or to someone who intends to hand it to a minor; an employee who makes that sale is personally criminally responsible, though presenting an apparently valid government-issued ID with a photo and birthdate is a full defense. Section 10-93 separately makes it an offense for a person under eighteen to possess, buy, or accept an e-cigarette or to use fake ID to get one.

All three sections sit in the ordinance's Division 2, so a violation of any of them is a misdemeanor fined under the Code's general penalty at § 1-9, per § 10-92(c).