A federal court has prevented the city of Philadelphia from implementing its ban on flavored cigars.

While the Philadelphia City Council passed the ban last December, it has not been enforced due to a lawsuit from the Cigar Association of America (CAA) along with manufacturers like ITG, Swedish Match and Swisher International as well as local retailers. The city had agreed to not enforce the ban until after the legal challenge was resolved.

While it has not been resolved completely, Philadelphia is now barred by an injunction from enforcing the flavored cigar ban. Judge Gene E.K. Pratter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that Philadelphia’s ban on flavored was preempted by Pennsylvania state law. As such, the city cannot carry out its ban.

Update (Dec. 24, 2020) — Philadelphia has appealed the injunction.

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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.