§ 1003. Sale of tobacco products; tobacco substitutes; tobacco paraphernalia; requirements; prohibitions

(a) A person shall not sell or provide tobacco products, tobacco substitutes, or tobacco paraphernalia to any person under 21 years of age.

(b) All vending machines selling tobacco products are prohibited.

(c)(1) Persons holding a tobacco license may only display or store tobacco products or tobacco substitutes:

(A) behind a sales counter or in any other area of the establishment that is inaccessible to the public; or

(B) in a locked container.

(2) This subsection shall not apply to the following:

(A) a display of tobacco products that is located in a commercial establishment in which by law no person under 21 years of age is permitted to enter at any time;

(B) cigarettes in unopened cartons and smokeless tobacco in unopened multipack containers of 10 or more packages, any of which shall be displayed in plain view and under the control of a responsible employee so that removal of the cartons or multipacks from the display can be readily observed by that employee; or

(C) cigars and pipe tobacco stored in a humidor on the sales counter in plain view and under the control of a responsible employee so that the removal of these products from the humidor can be readily observed by that employee.

(d) The sale and the purchase of bidis is prohibited. A person who holds a tobacco license who sells bidis as prohibited by this subsection shall be fined not more than $500.00. A person who purchases bidis from any source shall be fined not more than $250.00.

(e) No person holding a tobacco license shall sell cigarettes or little cigars individually or in packs that contain fewer than 20 cigarettes or little cigars.

(f) As used in this section, "little cigars" means any rolls of tobacco wrapped in leaf tobacco or any substance containing tobacco, other than any roll of tobacco that is a cigarette within the meaning of 32 V.S.A. § 7702(1), and as to which 1,000 units weigh not more than three pounds. (Added 1991, No. 70, § 2, eff. May 1, 1992; amended 1997, No. 58, § 3; 1999, No. 89 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2001, No. 108 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 15, 2002; 2011, No. 166 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2013, No. 14, § 3; 2015, No. 108 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 2017; 2017, No. 83, § 133; 2019, No. 27, § 2, eff. Sept. 1, 2019.)