I would like to start offering cigarettes as part of my product line on
my United States based web site. What are the laws regarding cigarette
sales on the internet and where do I get a copy of these laws?

Hi there!

Laws for tobacco sales vary by state.  You can get summaries of the
laws for each state here:

Coalition for Responsible Tobacco Retailing
http://www.wecard.org/Pages/statelaw.html

With respect to selling tobacco online, such is currently covered
under the Jenkins Act of 1949, which deals with reporting interstate
cigarette sales tax:

COLLECTION OF STATE CIGARETTE TAXES
http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/fastweb.exe?getdoc+uscview+t13t16+1131+0++%28%29%20%20AND%20%28%2815%29%20ADJ%20USC%29%3ACITE%20AND%20%28USC%20w%2F10%20%28375%29%29%3ACITE%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20

However, in January of 2004, the Internet Tobacco Sales Enforcement
Act (originally introduced in 2003 before being sent to committee) was
sent from the House Judiciary Committee to the full House for
consideration - the text of the proposed law can be found here:

Internet Tobacco Sales Enforcement Act
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:h.r.2824:

Tech Law Journal does a good job of explaining the proposed law:

House Judiciary Committee Approves Internet Tobacco Sales Enforcement Act
http://www.techlawjournal.com/topstories/2004/20040128.asp

You may also find this to be helpful:

The Online Tobacco Retailers Association
http://www.oltra.org/

Good luck in your business endeavor!

-- Missy

Search terms:  [ online tobacco sales laws ]

The information I received arrived quickly and the content had been well researched.