Industry News
FDA Names Bret Koplow Permanent Tobacco Director: Impact on Cigars, Hookah, and Pouches
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on September 8, 2026, named Bret Koplow the permanent director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), the office that decides which cigars, nicotine pouches, and hookah tobaccos can legally be sold in the United States.
Koplow had been running the center on an acting basis since May 2025. For shoppers, the appointment locks in the more permissive, authorization-focused approach the center has taken over the past year. For adults 21 and older. A2Z Tobacco sells tobacco and nicotine products only to age-verified adult customers.
Who is Bret Koplow?
Koplow is a lawyer and clinical psychologist who joined the FDA in 2011 and spent most of his career there in legal and policy roles, including senior counselor to the commissioner on tobacco matters, according to HHS. He became acting director in May 2025 after the previous director, Brian King, was removed. He is only the third person to lead the center since Congress created it in 2009, halfwheel noted.
The appointment was one of four senior FDA selections announced the same day, alongside new permanent heads of the drug and biologics centers and the agency's first deputy commissioner for technology and artificial intelligence, Tobacco Reporter reported. The FDA itself is still led by an acting commissioner, Kyle Diamantas, after Marty Makary resigned in May.
HHS said Koplow will pursue two priorities: expanding adult access to "less harmful alternatives" to cigarettes, and protecting minors from tobacco and nicotine.
What the Center Did Under His Acting Watch
The past sixteen months have been unusually active for a center that was long criticized for slow decisions. Trade press and the FDA's own records point to a string of actions that directly touch products sold at A2Z Tobacco:
- Nicotine pouches: In June, the FDA issued modified-risk orders for 20 ZYN products, and in August it authorized 11 ZYN Ultra pouches, including an 11-milligram strength, followed by four more on! PLUS products. CSP Daily News counts 43 authorized pouch products in total.
- Enforcement guidance: In May 2026, the center said it generally would not prioritize enforcement against unauthorized vapor and pouch products whose applications have been accepted for scientific review. The National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) has asked the agency to publish the list of covered products so retailers know where they stand.
- Flavored products: The agency authorized its first non-tobacco, non-menthol flavored vape products in May, a shift that flavor-ban advocates opposed. The proposed bans on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, meanwhile, were withdrawn in January 2025 and have not been revived.
"NATO's executive director, David Spross, told CSP the group has been 'encouraged' by these actions and hopes Koplow will now work through the thousands of pending premarket applications."
The Counterpoint
Not everyone reads the record the same way. Public-health groups have sued the FDA this year arguing it has become too lax on vapes and pouches, and the American Lung Association called the August pouch authorizations "another gamble with kids' health." halfwheel described Koplow's acting tenure as "tumultuous," shaped by White House pressure to speed up approvals. A permanent director does not end that fight; it just names the person who will be in the middle of it.
It is also worth remembering what the center does not control. State and local flavor bans, such as California's and Massachusetts', remain in force regardless of federal policy, and premium handmade cigars stay outside FDA product review under a 2023 federal court ruling.
What it Means for Shoppers
Cigarillos and Filtered Cigars
No federal flavor ban is on the table, and the center now has a leader who has shown no interest in reviving one. Availability of flavored Backwoods, Swisher Sweets, Game, or Cheyenne products will keep depending on state and city law, not Washington.
Nicotine Pouches
Expect more authorized products, including higher strengths, and clearer labeling of which pouches carry FDA orders. Pouch users in states with new taxes, such as New York's 75% wholesale levy, should still budget for price differences.
Hookah Tobacco
Shisha remains a "deemed" product that needs FDA authorization to be marketed lawfully. The center's application backlog is the reason so few hookah tobaccos have orders, and Spross specifically urged Koplow to move that backlog. Any progress there would show up as fewer supply disruptions.
The Bottom Line
Koplow's promotion is less a change of direction than a confirmation of one. The Center for Tobacco Products has spent the past year authorizing more products and enforcing more selectively, and the person who oversaw that approach now holds the job outright. For adult shoppers, that points to a wider legal selection of nicotine pouches and continued federal tolerance of flavored cigars, with the real limits still set state by state.