Walmart Raises Minimum Age for Purchasing Tobacco Products

by Christina Matthews

Updated: July 23, 2020

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Table Of Contents

1. What Is Changing?
2. Why Walmart Raises Minimum Age, and Who Will It Affect?

Starting on July 1st of 2019, every Walmart and Sam’s Club across the nation are raising the required age for buying tobacco products. Plus, this is not the only change.

What Is Changing?

In the past, individuals could choose to purchase tobacco merchandise, including electronic cigarettes at 18. Recently though, major market player Walmart, which owns both Walmart and Sam’s Club chains, will be changing their policies.

Starting July 1st of 2019, people will now have to be 21 to buy any traditional tobacco products or vaping devices. In addition to raising their minimum age from 18 to 21 to purchase tobacco products, they are also reducing their flavor variety. Fruit and dessert flavors are going to be cut from the list of flavors that Walmart and Sam’s Club will sell.

Why Walmart Raises Minimum Age, and Who Will It Affect?

Walmart is making these changes as a joint effort with the FDA to keep these commodities out of the hands of minors. By increasing their minimum age, they are trying to prevent, for example, of-age high school students buying merchandise for their underage classmates. By cutting yummier flavors, they are attempting to reduce the appeal of using e-cigarettes for pure-enjoyment as many minors do. The good news, though, is that there are still many places not installing these changes.

Christina Matthews

I love the written word, and in my career as a journalist, I strive to provide the facts about everything I write about. There are too many false and alarmist stories out there about life and vaping mainly. My mission is to make e-cigarettes less scary to people with informative articles and extensive research on not only the possible evils of cigarettes and Big Tobacco, but the objective side of e-cigs.

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