San Bernardino County, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

0308 of the County Code, part of the Chapter 3 smoking ordinance adopted by Ordinance 4212 in 2013, makes it unlawful for any retailer to sell tobacco products or electronic cigarettes by any means other than vendor assisted sales, meaning a store employee physically hands the product to the customer only after purchase. Open, self-service shelving and displays are prohibited unless the retailer deals exclusively in tobacco products and paraphernalia and never permits minors to enter the premises at all, a status that effectively limits the exemption to dedicated adult tobacconists.

Any self-service display already in place when the ordinance took effect had to be removed within one year. Subsection (c) separately bans tobacco vending machines entirely, county-wide, for any tobacco product, paraphernalia, electronic cigarette or similar device, with no exemption for adult-only locations. 0302, defines a self-service display as open display accessible to the public without retailer assistance, and defines vendor assisted sales as sales in which only the retailer or its employee has access to the product until it is purchased. 0309 falls to the County Health Officer or a designee, and any peace officer or code enforcement official may also enforce the Chapter. Residents can register a complaint directly with the Health Officer's office to trigger enforcement review.