Dear Scott,

Tobacco industry is heavily regulated both on federal and state level. If you manufacture your tobacco products (even on the level of “home-made”) and plan to sell them you would need to be licensed as a manufacturer on the federal level (TTB) and the state level.

You can then sell those cigarettes to licensed wholesalers who would pay state tax before reselling them to retailers. If you want to sell directly to retailers you would need to obtain wholesaler license in each state where you plan to sell the cigarettes and pay the appropriate state tax. Finally, if you want to sell them as retailer you would also need to obtain retailer licenses in every jurisdiction where you plan to sell them.

To learn more I invite you to read our article dealing with cigarette & tobacco licensing.