It’s Friday and today we take on a topic that has been talked about a lot over the last few weeks: donating cigars to troops. Reader Jay wanted to know: So, what do you think? Do the FDA regulations preclude Cigar Stores and Manufacturers from donating cigars to charitable events and fundraisers? What I know is that I am not an attorney. So you should take everything I have to say as nothing more than someone who spent way too much time reading dozens of documents from the U.S Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and come up with an opinion. This is in no way intended as legal advice. More on that, here. What I think is that there’s nothing in the 499-page document, or any additional documents related to the deeming regulations, that I’ve read that explicitly discusses charitable donations of deemed products. For me, two things seem pretty clear: FDA cannot prevent a private citizen from donating/giving as a gift a cigar they legal purchased to another individual who is of age. Retail establishments should not be giving cigars to any individual without charging (something) for them. The language in the deeming regulations regarding sampling, or the giving of free ...
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