VapeMentors, the Fat Cat Vapor Shop, and Cosmic Fog Vapors All Walk Into an Obscure White House Office...

This week appears to mark the end of an extraordinary period in the history of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), the shadowy bureau charged with reviewing and revising pending agency rules, which too often ensures they are not overly inconvenient for affected industries. For the last month and a half, a Mos Eisley-esque melange of characters has streamed through the front doors to lobby OIRA's gang of economists and political operatives over a pending rule that would establish the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) authority to regulate non-traditional tobacco products including e-cigarettes and flavored cigars the same way it does with more traditional tobacco products, such as cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. OIRA's review of the rule, which comes at the end of a rulemaking process that has already stretched more than five years, provides these groups with one last chance to influence the substance of the rule before the FDA is able to formally publish the final version and begin implementing its provisions.