Sacramento will ban sales of flavored tobacco on Jan. 1. Here’s what you need to know

Starting Jan. 1, stores in the city of Sacramento will no longer be permitted to sell flavored cigars, vape liquid, menthol cigarettes, hookah tobacco and other flavored tobacco products. Here’s everything you need to know about the city’s new flavored tobacco ban:

How many stores will be affected?

The city has 352 stores that sell tobacco, said Jose Mendez, the city’s code enforcement manager. Of those, 52 said more than 70 percent of their revenue is generated from the sale of tobacco products.

City officials visited the 52 tobacco shops in the last month. Some said they will replace the tobacco products with other merchandise, like T-shirts, while others said they planned to move their businesses outside the city, Mendez said.

They might encounter the same problem, though.

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider a tobacco flavor ban in January, a county spokeswoman said.

What if a store is caught?

The city randomly inspects stores that sell tobacco once a year, and will increase the frequency once the ban takes effect, Mendez said. If city inspectors catch a store selling flavored tobacco products, they could give them a warning, or could suspend them from selling all tobacco products for 30 days.

For the second offense, stores will face 90-day suspensions, followed by a tobacco license revocation. Shops that have their licenses revoked will not be able to get them back if another store that sells tobacco is within 1,000 feet.

The city urges people who see a shop selling flavored tobacco products after Jan. 1 to call 3-1-1.

Have businesses closed because of the ban?

The city did not order any businesses to close, but several business owners said the ban would cause them to lose so much business they would be forced to shut their doors.

In April, when the City Council approved the ban, the city had 383 shops that were licensed to sell tobacco products. Today, there are 352, Mendez said. The Briar Patch in downtown Sacramento closed in May, citing the city’s ban as one reason. The shop, opened in the 1970s and located near the Capitol, sold cigars, pipes and other smoking items.

What counts as flavored tobacco?

Anything with a taste or aroma, other than the taste or aroma of tobacco, a city web page says. But the city is still figuring out the details.

Most of the time it’s obvious, but sometimes, like in the case of the Swisher Sweets Diamonds small cigars, it’s unclear, Mendez said. The city is talking with other cities with established flavor bans, such as San Francisco, Richmond and Berkeley, to get their input.

For more information on the flavor ban, visit this city web page.