AWMA has received several inquiries regarding the prohibition of mailing cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products through the U.S. Postal Service, particularly to military personnel serving overseas.

The PACT Act makes cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products generally non-mailable to consumers through the U.S. Postal Service, but it includes an exception for non-commercial mailings only from one adult to another.  The exception for person-to-person mailings is recognized in the U.S. Postal Service regulations that implement the PACT Act and clearly applies to care packages sent to military personnel.  The following are some of the specifics of the new law as it pertains to this area:
 

• The exception permits the mailing of small quantities of cigarettes or smokeless tobacco by individual adults to businesses or to other adults.  Such shipments may include cigarettes and smokeless tobacco exchanged as gifts between individual adults.
• These adult-to-adult mailings can be made through the U.S. Postal Service to military personnel via normal routing to the Army Post Office (APO), Fleet Post Office (FPO), and Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) serving those personnel so long as those locations do not otherwise restrict such products.
• Such mailings are subject to a limit of 10 per 30-day period, with each mailing limited to 10 ounces.  This limit would allow for about 50 (5 cans per mailing) standard sized cans of smokeless tobacco to be sent per month to a member of the military.