Duluth, MN Tobacco & Vaping: Flavored Tobacco Bans (2026)

Duluth Legislative Code § 11-11 flatly prohibits selling, offering for sale or otherwise distributing any flavored tobacco product in the city. The only carve-out applies to a retail establishment that prohibits persons under 21 from entering at all times and derives at least 90 percent of its revenue from tobacco or tobacco related devices; such a store must provide financial records documenting annual sales on request to prove it qualifies. The ordinance defines a flavored tobacco product broadly: any tobacco or tobacco related device carrying a taste or smell other than tobacco that an ordinary consumer can distinguish before or during use, expressly naming menthol, mint, wintergreen, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, honey, fruit, and any candy, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice flavor.

A manufacturer's or authorized representative's public statement that a product has or produces a non-tobacco taste or smell counts as presumptive evidence the product is flavored, shifting the practical burden onto the seller. The ban was adopted by Ordinance No. 10555 on February 12, 2018, and amended by Ordinance No. 10610 on January 28, 2019, the same ordinance that reworked the rest of Chapter 11's age-21 sales rules. Because the flavor ban sits inside the same licensing chapter as the general tobacco retail license, a violation exposes a Chapter 11 licensee to the administrative penalty and escalating suspension scheme in § 11-5(c): a penalty under § 31-8, a mandatory penalty for a second offense at the same location within 24 months, and a mandatory penalty plus at least a seven-day sales suspension for a third offense in that period, following notice and a hearing opportunity.