Seventeen U.S. Senators have sent a letter to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb urging the agency to consider exempting premium cigars from regulation by the FDA.

The letter lays out criteria for what a premium cigar should be defined as in order to be considered for exemption. The definition comes from the Traditional Cigar Manufacturing and Small Business Jobs Preservation Act of 2017 and includes:

(a) any roll of tobacco that is wrapped in 100-percent leaf tobacco, bunched with 100-percent tobacco filler, contains no filter, tip or non-tobacco mouthpiece, weighs at least 6 pounds per 1,000 count, and—
(1) has a 100-percent leaf tobacco binder and is hand rolled;
(2) has a 100-percent leaf tobacco binder and is made using human hands to lay the leaf tobacco wrapper or binder onto only one machine that bunches, wraps, and caps each individual cigar; or
(3) has a homogenized tobacco leaf binder and is made in the United States using human hands to lay the 100-percent leaf tobacco wrapper onto only one machine that bunches, wraps, and caps each individual cigar.

The seventeen Senators all are co-sponsors of S 294, a bill that proposes a premium cigar exemption. These Senators include:

Marco Rubio (R-FL)
Bill Nelson (R-FL)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Bob Casey (D-PA)
Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Cory Gardner (R-CO)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Dean Heller (R-NV)
Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
John Kennedy (R-LA)
Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Jon Tester (D-MT)
Pat Toomey (R-PA)

The four Senators who are currently are co-sponsors of the bill who did not sign the letter include:

Steve Daines (R-MT)
Lindsay Graham (R-SC)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
David Perdue (R-GA)

Photo Credit: U.S. Capitol Facebook Page