Alcoholic Beverages - Premium Cigar Lounge License - Establishment (Maryland Premium Cigar Lounge Act of 2025)

HB 1318 creates a new "Class C-PCL" license for premium cigar lounges in Maryland, allowing businesses that primarily sell cigars and pipe tobacco to serve beer, wine, and liquor on-site. It directly affects tobacco retailers seeking to add alcohol service, requiring them to generate at least 60% of daily revenue from cigars/accessories and install proper ventilation. The license exempts these lounges from Maryland’s Clean Indoor Air Act, but mandates visible smoking notices, employee acknowledgments of secondhand smoke exposure, and an annual $2,000 fee. Local licensing boards may issue one such license per 150,000 county residents, with a temporary ban on new alcohol licenses for tobacconists extended until June 30, 2025.