Palm Desert, CA Tobacco & Vaping: Flavored Tobacco Bans (2026)

Section 8.34.020(D) of the Palm Desert Municipal Code is the city's flavor ban, added to Chapter 8.34 by Ordinance 1443, dated 3/12/2026 in the code's history note. It reaches selling, offering for sale and possession with intent to sell, so a stockroom of flavored product is covered before any sale occurs.

The definitions in Section 8.34.010 set the scope. A characterizing flavor is a distinguishable taste or aroma other than tobacco, and the code lists fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, menthol, mint, wintergreen, herb and spice. A flavored tobacco product is one containing a constituent that imparts a characterizing flavor, or, other than looseleaf tobacco, a premium cigar or a shisha tobacco product, one not listed on the Unflavored Tobacco List established by the California Attorney General. Because the city's definition of tobacco product includes electronic devices that deliver nicotine or other vaporized liquids and their components, flavored vape products fall inside the ban.

The code also writes in a rebuttable presumption: a product is treated as flavored if the manufacturer or its agents told consumers or the public it has a characterizing flavor, including through text, color or images on the labeling or packaging.

Hookah retailers get a conditional path under Section 8.34.020(E): flavored shisha may be sold only with a valid state license from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, with no one under twenty-one allowed on the premises at any time.

The code compliance division monitors compliance, with checks during normal business hours, with or without notice, and it coordinates with the California Department of Public Health and the Department of Tax and Fee Administration.