Nassau County, N.Y. Raises Minimum Tobacco Purchasing Age to 21 (Update)

Nassau County, N.Y. has raised the minimum age to purchase tobacco to 21.

The Nassau County legislature voted to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 19 to 21. While the new law is countywide, it effectively only changes the laws in Oyster Bay, as Hempstead and North Hempstead already raised their minimum tobacco purchasing age to 21.

It covers tobacco products, as well as e-cigarettes, liquid nicotine, rolling papers and tobacco paraphernalia.

The new rule will go into effect 60 days after it is signed by Laura Curran, the county executive, who has said she will sign it.

Nassau County, which covers the western end of Long Island, is home to an estimated 1.367 million residents.

Update (June 4, 2018) – Laura Curran, the Nassau County Executive, signed the bill today, and it will go into effect in 60 days. This story was originally published on May 24, 2018.

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.