Every Houston retailer selling cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, e-cigarettes, or alternative nicotine products must hold an annual retailer permit from the Texas Comptroller under Texas Tax Code Chapter 154 and Health and Safety Code Chapter 161. Houston has no separate city tobacco license.
Texas Tax Code Chapters 154 (cigarettes) and 155 (other tobacco), plus Health and Safety Code Chapter 161, require state-issued retailer permits before any tobacco or e-cigarette sale in Houston. Permits cost about $180 every two years for combined cigarette, tobacco, and e-cigarette retail and must be conspicuously posted. Permittees keep invoices for four years, allow Comptroller and Houston Health Department inspections, prevent self-service displays except in adult-only stores, post Tobacco 21 signage, and reject sales to anyone under 21. State preemption blocks Houston from imposing flavor bans or local fees beyond Comptroller permits. Houston Police and the Health Department conduct minor-decoy compliance checks targeting underage sales.
Selling tobacco or vapor products without a Comptroller permit, hiding the permit, missing age-warning signs, allowing prohibited self-service, or selling to underage buyers triggers Class C misdemeanor citations and Comptroller permit suspension.
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