Potential bans on flavored nicotine products have caused some shops to purge their shelves while others are worried that new laws may cause them to shutter.
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In the fall, Summit County Public Health started encouraging municipalities to consider nicotine-related regulations that are targeted at banning the sale of flavored or discounted nicotine products. The county is seeking to ban all flavors, including mint and menthol, for any tobacco or nicotine product, including vapes, cigarettes, nicotine pouches and more. Only tobacco-flavored products will be allowed under the ordinance being presented to governmental entities in Summit County.
Discouraging teenagers from using nicotine was a pillar of the initiative, which has so far been driven by a health promotion and prevention specialist with Summit County government.
After county representatives presented statistics at town council meetings across Summit County regarding the impacts of nicotine and the current state of usage among youth, towns showed support for implementing new regulations that would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.
Dillon solidified a ban, which will go into effect in January 2026, during a March 11 meeting.
Breckenridge officials are set to review an ordinance town staff members put together at a March 25 meeting.
Silverthorne officials expressed interest, and its town council is slated to vote on an ordinance soon.
Frisco officials also showed support for the initiative, and stores that previously sold flavored nicotine said they have gotten rid of them because the town notified them of the upcoming changes.
Keystone officials also showed support.
A Summit County government representative previously told Silverthorne officials that the county attorney thinks implementing these regulations in unincorporated areas of Summit County could get tricky, noting there's uncertainty on how that will work.
Luis Castillo, a regional manager for various vape shops in Colorado, including Breck Smoke and Vape, said he's already had to close a shop he managed in Breckenridge because of increased nicotine taxes. He said the closed shop, Vaportoke, couldn't keep up with voter-approved nicotine tax increases that started in 2019, which raise by 10 percentage points each year. The tax on nicotine raised to 80% in 2024. Breckenridge currently has an even heftier tax of 88.875%, which includes the county's 80% tax.
Castillo said he's "100%" sure the proposed flavor ban will put Breck Smoke and Vape out of business.
"Selling glass and CBD is just not enough to make it up here. ... I will be having to fire three different employees," he said.
Austin Haldorson is the third generation owner of A-B Petroleum, a gas and convenience retailer with around 10 locations in Colorado, said the flavor ban will have "quite a bit of a financial effect on" his Breckenridge location. According to Haldoroson, flavored nicotine products alone account for 15% of yearly sales made in the convenience store, outside of gas.
"It's a little frustrating from our point of view because one big driver and a huge chunk of our sales for flavored nicotine are those flavored pouches that people have switched to," he said, noting there's been a trend of people swapping chewing tobacco for the pouches.
Similarly, Smok N" Bra's owner Ste-V Day said the flavor bad is "going to take away a lot of revenue" from her Frisco-based smoke shop. Day cleared her shop of flavored nicotine products and swapped them for cigars, tobacco-less smoke devices and more to try and fill the revenue hole.
Castillo said he fears unintended consequences of the bans.
"The impact that I think is going to happen is they will create a bridge for the black market to pop," he said.
"More likely than not someone is to stock up in Denver and just sell it under the table," he added.
He said he's all for moving youth away from nicotine usage, but he thinks they are targeting the wrong player in the game. He said the tobacco companies should be held more accountable and there should be more oversight at the county level to ensure places in Summit aren't selling nicotine to minors.
Haldorson said there's no doubt some of the flavors out there like bubble gum are drawing youth to tobacco. He said there should be regulation around those types of flavors which are usually correlated with vape companies on the market that dodge federal regulations.
"They're talking about all these different flavored cotton candy vapes and all that, and it's just unfortunate because we don't sell any of those," he said.
He also wants to see more oversight in ensuring Summit County stores aren't selling these flavors and they aren't selling to kids. Other proposed regulations Summit County Public Health is suggesting include a cap on the amount of retailers who can sell tobacco products in a municipality and how close nicotine vendors can be to youth-serving facilities like schools.
According to Summit County's 2025 adopted budget, it anticipates collecting around $3.3 million in nicotine tax in 2025. These funds mostly go to prevention and education programs.
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