IQOS Smoking Room at Manila International Airport

Panamanian authorities are seeking to establish a single regulatory framework aimed at prohibiting the use of e-cigarettes, vaporizers and heated tobacco products in public and private spaces, as well as restricting their advertising and promotion.

Reynolds American said American Snuff Company will add more than 50 manufacturing roles at its Clarksville, Tennessee facility as part of its wider U.S. manufacturing investment plan. The company said the hiring is one of the latest developments under its plan to invest more than USD 3.2 billion across U.S. operations by 2030.

Fontem US, the maker and seller of Zone nicotine pouches, has voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which it had accused of unfairly delaying its market application.

Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections says it will begin allowing inmates to buy single-use nicotine vapes and nicotine pouches through prison canteens in 2026, framing the move as a strategy to reduce contraband-driven debts and prison violence. Officials say inmates will be barred from using personal nicotine products, the devices will be disposable and non-cartridge-based, and the program will be self-funded through inmate purchases rather than taxpayer money.

The Philippine Department of Health reiterated Saturday that vaping should not be promoted as an alternative to cigarette smoking, Health Secretary Teodoro “Ted” Herbosa said in a radio interview, according to the Tribune. Herbosa said both vaping and smoking pose irreversible health risks and cited E-cigarette or Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury (EVALI), claiming it led to the death of a 22-year-old male with no smoking history in 2025.

A proposal by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to impose a steep tax on nicotine pouches has drawn opposition from law-enforcement officials and business groups, who say it could expand the state’s illicit tobacco market. The measure was included in Hochul’s preliminary two-year USD 260 billion budget plan and would treat nicotine pouches like other tobacco products.