Yes. Menthol cigarettes are still sold in Florida, at gas stations, convenience stores, supermarkets, and tobacco shops, under the same rules as every other cigarette. No Florida law restricts menthol specifically, and the federal government withdrew its proposed menthol ban in January 2025.
Why People Ask This Question
Menthol has been the subject of on-and-off restriction talk for more than a decade. In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which banned cigarettes with characterizing flavors like strawberry, grape, clove, and vanilla. The law carved out an explicit exception for menthol and tobacco flavoring, which left menthol as the only flavored cigarette still legally sold nationwide.1U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Ban of Cigarettes Containing Certain Characterizing Flavors
In 2022, the FDA published a proposed rule that would have ended the exception and banned menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes across the country.2Federal Register. Tobacco Product Standard for Menthol in Cigarettes After a long comment period and repeated delays, the incoming administration withdrew the proposed rule entirely on January 21, 2025. No federal menthol ban is in effect, and no replacement proposal has been announced. The 2009 exemption still stands.
A handful of states and dozens of cities have moved to close that gap on their own. As of mid-2025, roughly 16 percent of the U.S. population lived in a jurisdiction with some form of menthol sales restriction in effect, concentrated mostly in California, Massachusetts, parts of the Northeast, and scattered local ordinances in the Midwest. Florida is not one of them.
What Florida Law Actually Says
Florida regulates tobacco products under Chapter 569 of the Florida Statutes, which covers sales, dealer permits, age restrictions, and enforcement.3Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 569 – Tobacco and Nicotine Products Nothing in that chapter singles out menthol, or any other cigarette flavor, for different treatment. A menthol pack follows the same sales, tax, and age rules as a non-menthol pack.
Florida cities and counties also cannot step in on their own. Chapter 386 preempts the regulation of smoking to the state level, which limits what local governments can do independently.4Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 386.209 – Regulation of Smoking Preempted to State Unlike New York City or Chicago, where city councils passed their own flavor restrictions, Florida municipalities have limited ability to go beyond state law. So the answer is the same whether you’re buying in Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, or a small town in the Panhandle.
Who Can Buy Them
You must be at least 21 to buy any tobacco product in Florida, including menthol cigarettes. Selling tobacco to anyone under 21 is a criminal offense for the retailer.5Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 569.101 – Selling, Delivering, Bartering, Furnishing, or Giving Tobacco Products to Persons Under 21 Years of Age Expect to be carded.
The statute recognizes only four forms of ID for a retailer’s good-faith defense: a driver’s license, a state-issued ID card, a passport, or a U.S. armed services ID.6Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 569.101 Many stores will not accept anything else. There is a narrow carve-out from the age 21 rule for active-duty military and reservists, and for employees working within the scope of lawful employment at a licensed tobacco entity.7Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 569 – Tobacco and Nicotine Products
Is Anything Changing Soon?
Not in Florida. During the 2026 Florida legislative session, no bills were introduced to ban menthol cigarettes or flavored tobacco. The closest tobacco-related legislation was House Bill 843 and its companion Senate Bill 980, both of which focused on inspection rules and advertising restrictions for nicotine dispensing devices, not cigarettes. Both bills died in committee in March 2026.8Florida Senate. House Bill 843 – Nicotine Products With no federal ban pending and no active state legislation targeting menthol, the Florida market for menthol cigarettes shows no signs of changing in the near term.