Given that there is a new Congress, the legislative attempts to limit the effects of the Food and Drug Administration on the cigar industry needed a new bill. On Friday, they got one, H.R. 792.

Introduced by Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) the bill replaces H.R. 1639, which was part of the 112th Congress, and also introduced by Posey. The texts of the bills are identical:

To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify the Food and Drug Administration’s jurisdiction over certain tobacco products, and to protect jobs and small businesses involved in the sale, manufacturing and distribution of traditional and premium cigars.

Currently, H.R. 792 has 13 bipartisan cosponsors, H.R. 1639 had 220 cosponsors by last count. S. 1461, the Senate bill, finished the session with 13 cosponsors, as of now no bill has been introduced to replace it.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.