On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously decided to uphold their ban on the sale of flavored tobacco, which means that it will be the voters that will get the final say next summer.

After the ban was passed earlier this summer, a group called Let’s Be Real San Francisco organized a petition seeking its repeal, gathering more than the nearly 20,000 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. As part of the repeal process, the proposal must first go to the Board of Supervisors to give them the opportunity to repeal the issue. With that not happening on Tuesday, voters will get their opportunity to repeal it either as part of a special election or at the next scheduled election, which is June 5, 2018.

The ban has yet to go into effect, as during the legislative process the effective date was amended to April 1, 2018 in order to give retailers time to sell off existing stock and prepare for the change.

The ban defines a flavored tobacco product as one where the manufacturer or any of the manufacturer’s agents or employees make a statement or claim to consumers or the public that the product has a characterizing flavor via the product’s packaging. The ban would apply to both cigarettes and other tobacco products.

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Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for MLB.com, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.