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

480(A) defines a 'flavored electronic cigarette product' broadly as any product used in an e-cigarette that contains, as a constituent or additive, an artificial or natural flavor or herb or spice, including tobacco, mint, menthol, spearmint, wintergreen, strawberry, grape, orange, clove, cinnamon, pineapple, vanilla, coconut, licorice, cocoa, chocolate, cherry, or coffee, so long as that flavor characterizes the product or its smoke or vapor. 480(H)(4) then makes it a violation of the retailer permit for any tobacco retailer or the retailer's agents or employees to sell, offer for sale, or possess with intent to sell any such flavored product.

Because intent can be hard to prove directly, Subsection (H)(4)(a) creates a rebuttable presumption: a retailer found in possession of four or more flavored electronic cigarette products, whether counted as individual items, packages, or any combination of the two, is presumed to possess them with intent to sell unless the retailer rebuts that presumption. The ban sits inside the same permit scheme as the City's other tobacco retailer rules, so it is enforced through the retailer's permit rather than as a standalone criminal charge: compliance is checked through unscheduled inspections and youth-decoy stings, and flavored product found on the premises in violation of the Section is subject to seizure and forfeiture after notice and an opportunity to contest the seizure.