MUSKEGON, Mich. — The U.S. Spending bill signed by President Donald Trump Friday pushed the legal age to buy tobacco products up, from 18 to 21.
The new law went into effect immediately and local businesses are keeping up with the sudden change.
There’s a new sign on the door of the Humidor Cigar Lounge in Muskegon letting customers know they now have to be 21 and older to buy.
Manager Janelle Wever says they saw the age raise coming, when they opened the lounge last year.
“There’s been a tobacco regulation in Congress lately, I know a lot of other states have already passed the 21 age limit, Michigan hadn’t yet. We figured if it didn’t happen on a national level it was going to happen on a state level at some time, we didn’t really anticipate it quite soon,” Wever said.
The Humidor services an older demographic, so Wever says their business will not be impacted as much as others.
“We just had a small handful of customers who were in that 18 to 21 range, we’ve had to turn one away so far,” Wever said. “I guess the unfortunate thing is we’ve had some good customers who were in that age range and now they can’t come in,” she added.
Though there are still a few unknowns that come with the nationwide change.
“Once the bill got passed we certainly didn’t see it going into effect this quickly, that’s what surprised us,” Wever explained. “I still haven’t heard anything from the state or local levels about how they are going to enforce it."
