Alameda, CA Tobacco & Vaping: Flavored Tobacco Bans (2026)

110, added to Alameda's tobacco retailer licensing article (Article XVII) by Ordinance No. 3230, makes it a violation for any tobacco retailer or its agents or employees to sell, offer for sale, or possess with intent to sell any flavored tobacco product, a category that reaches menthol cigarettes, flavored vape liquid, flavored cigars, and flavored chewing tobacco under the article's tobacco-product definition. The ordinance does not require the city to prove an actual sale: possession of four or more flavored tobacco products, whether individual items or packages, or any combination of the two, creates a rebuttable presumption that the retailer possessed them with intent to sell.

A product is presumed flavored if the retailer, manufacturer, or their employees make a public claim that it imparts a characterizing flavor, use packaging text or images implying a flavor, use descriptive terms like 'sweet' or 'spicy,' or take other action reasonably expected to make consumers believe the product is flavored. 120, and a violation is found under the preponderance-of-evidence standard used throughout Article XVII, with the same escalating suspension and revocation schedule applying to a flavored-tobacco sale as to any other licensing breach.