Riverside County, CA Tobacco & Vaping: Flavored Tobacco Bans (2026)

(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply: (1) 'Characterizing flavor' means a taste or odor, distinguishable by an ordinary consumer either prior to or during the consumption of a tobacco product, other than the taste or odor of tobacco, including, but not limited to, tastes or odors relating to any fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, candy, cocoa, dessert, alcoholic beverage, menthol, mint, wintergreen, herb, or spice, or a cooling sensation distinguishable by an ordinary consumer during the consumption of a tobacco product. [...] (6) 'Flavored tobacco product' means any tobacco product that contains a constituent that imparts a characterizing flavor. 'Flavored tobacco product' includes any tobacco product, other than looseleaf tobacco, a premium cigar, or a shisha tobacco product, that is not listed on the Unflavored Tobacco List established and maintained by the Attorney General pursuant to Section 104559.1. [...] (b)(1) A tobacco retailer, or any of the tobacco retailer's agents or employees, shall not sell, offer for sale, or possess with the intent to sell or offer for sale, a flavored tobacco product or a tobacco product flavor enhancer. (2) There is a rebuttable presumption that a tobacco product is a flavored tobacco product if a manufacturer or any of the manufacturer's agents or employees, in the course of their agency or employment, has made a statement or claim directed to consumers or to the public that the tobacco product has or produces a characterizing flavor, including, but not limited to, text, color, images, or all, on the product's labeling or packaging that are used to explicitly or implicitly communicate that the tobacco product has a characterizing flavor. (c) Subdivision (b) does not apply to the sale of flavored shisha tobacco products by a hookah tobacco retailer if all of the following conditions are met: [...] (i) This section does not preempt or otherwise prohibit the adoption of a local standard that imposes greater restrictions on the access to tobacco products than the restrictions imposed by this section.