Pico Rivera, CA Tobacco & Vaping: Flavored Tobacco Bans (2026)

Section 5.75.010 defines a flavored tobacco product as any tobacco product carrying a taste or smell distinguishable by an ordinary consumer other than tobacco itself, expressly naming fruit, menthol, mint, wintergreen, chocolate, cocoa, vanilla, honey, molasses, candy, dessert, alcoholic beverage, herb, or spice flavors, and the definition extends to electronic smoking devices and any substance they aerosolize or vaporize. Section 5.75.030 then bars any tobacco retailer or its agents or employees from selling, offering for sale, or possessing with intent to sell any flavored tobacco product anywhere in the city.

The section builds in two rebuttable presumptions to ease enforcement: possessing four or more flavored tobacco products, individually or in packages, presumes intent to sell, and a product is presumed flavored if the retailer or manufacturer has made a public claim of a non-tobacco taste or smell, used packaging text or images suggesting one, or taken any action reasonably expected to lead consumers to believe the product tastes or smells like something other than tobacco. Because the ban sits inside the tobacco retail license chapter, a violation exposes the retailer to the same enforcement tools as any other license violation, including inspection, suspension, and revocation under Sections 5.75.110 through 5.75.130.