Today is all about cigar industry news here on Puff.com, and we have three separate items to share.  Keep reading for more on a judge’s decision regarding graphic labels and warnings on tobacco packaging, the seizure of some counterfeit cigars in sunny Florida, and the addition of a new member to the General Cigar team.

Graphic Tobacco Packaging Labels Put to a Halt for the Time Being

The tobacco industry received some good news recently, and it has U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to thank.  Leon granted an injunction that brought FDA regulations requiring the placement of graphic anti-smoking labels on tobacco product packaging to a standstill, much to the delight of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.

As for the reasoning behind the injunction, Leon stated that some of the graphic labels fell beneath the standard of what is considered to be “purely factual and uncontroversial information” since they appeared to have been digitally retouched.  In addition, Leon was noted as being in agreement with claims by tobacco companies that their First Amendment rights were being violated by the FDA.

Set to go live in September 2012, the nine new graphic warnings introduced by the FDA last June were urged by Congress to be a part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.  Even though Congress issued guidelines on the sizing and placement of the new labels, Judge Leon warned that “doing so does not enable this requirement to somehow automatically pass constitutional muster.

Bill Spann, CEO of the IPCPR, thanked Judge Leon for his actions in the association’s official press release on the story, stating: “We certainly agree with this judge and his interpretation of constitutional law.  Today it’s cigarette packaging and tomorrow it could be artisan cigar boxes.  When does all this over-regulation end?  Businesses as well as people have rights that are too often disregarded because of someone else’s prohibitionist agenda.  Too many people want to tell you how to live your life.  Where does the ‘Nanny State’ end?  Americans are sick and tired of being told what they can do and where they can do it when it comes to using legal products.”