Onslow County, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Tobacco Retail License (2026)

Section 2.2 of the Onslow County Code of Ordinances defines a "Tobacco Shop" as "An establishment or building providing a room for leisure and/or primarily engaged in selling of goods, such as but not limited to cigars, hookah, vape products, any tobacco containing products, and/or accessory or related products, for consumption on or off premise. Except if the location serves alcohol, then it will fall under the appropriate alcohol serving establishment." That last sentence matters: a vape lounge or cigar bar that also serves alcohol is classified under the applicable alcohol-serving use instead, which carries its own district rules.

The Permitted Use Table (Table 9-2) in Section 9.2 is the actual gatekeeper for where a Tobacco Shop can locate. Reading across the county's thirteen zoning districts, the Tobacco Shop row is marked "S" (Special Use Permit required) in the CB (Community Business) district and "P" (permitted by right) in the HB (Highway Business) district. Every other base district, including all six residential districts, O-I, L-IN, H-IN, and CON, is left blank, meaning the use is not permitted there at all. A Special Use Permit application in CB goes through the Board of Adjustment's quasi-judicial hearing process under Article 4, while an HB location only needs a standard Zoning Permit.

The county does not maintain a tobacco-specific business license separate from its general privilege license tax. Chapter 8, Sec. 8-3 levies an annual privilege license tax on "each business conducted within this county listed in the license tax schedule," but that rate schedule is kept on file with the county clerk rather than printed in the code, so any tobacco-specific fee is set administratively, not by ordinance text.