When used in this chapter the following words shall have the meanings herein indicated:
1. "Cigarette." Any roll for smoking made wholly or in part of tobacco or any other substance, irrespective of size or shape and whether or not such tobacco or substance is flavored, adulterated or mixed with any other ingredient, the wrapper or cover of which is made of paper or any other substance or material but is not made in whole or in part of tobacco. "Cigarette" shall not include a research tobacco product.
2. "Person." Any individual, partnership, society, association, joint-stock company, corporation, estate, receiver, trustee, assignee, referee or any other person acting in a fiduciary or representative capacity, whether appointed by a court or otherwise, and any combination of individuals.
3. "Sale or purchase." Any transfer of title or possession or both, exchange or barter, conditional or otherwise, in any manner or by any means whatsoever or any agreement therefor.
4. "Use." Any exercise of a right or power, actual or constructive, and shall include but is not limited to the receipt, storage, or any keeping or retention for any length of time, but shall not include possession for sale by a dealer.
5. "Dealer." Any wholesale dealer or retail dealer as hereinafter defined.
6. "Wholesale dealer." Any person who sells cigarettes or tobacco products to retail dealers or other persons for purposes of resale only, and any person who owns, operates or maintains one or more cigarette vending machines in, at or upon premises owned or occupied by any other person.
7. "Retail dealer." Any person, other than a wholesale dealer, engaged in selling cigarettes or tobacco products. For the purposes of this chapter, the possession or transportation at any one time of more than four hundred cigarettes or little cigars, or more than fifty cigars, or more than one pound of loose tobacco, smokeless tobacco, snus or shisha, or any combination thereof, by any person other than a manufacturer, an agent, a licensed wholesale dealer or a person delivering cigarettes or tobacco products in the regular course of business for a manufacturer, an agent or a licensed wholesale or retail dealer, shall be presumptive evidence that such person is a retail dealer.
8. "Package." The individual package, box or other container in or from which retail sales of cigarettes or tobacco products are normally made or intended to be made.
9. "Agent." Any person authorized to purchase and affix adhesive or meter stamps under this chapter who is designated as an agent by the commissioner of finance.
10. "Comptroller." The comptroller of the city.
11. "Commissioner of finance." The commissioner of finance of the city.
12. "City." The city of New York.
13. "Tax appeals tribunal." The tax appeals tribunal established by section 168 of the charter.
14. "Cigar." Any roll of tobacco for smoking that is wrapped in leaf tobacco or in any substance containing tobacco, with or without a tip or mouthpiece. Cigar does not include a little cigar as defined in this section.
15. "Little cigar." Any roll of tobacco for smoking that is wrapped in leaf tobacco or in any substance containing tobacco and that weighs no more than four pounds per thousand or has a cellulose acetate or other integrated filter.
16. "Loose tobacco." Any product that consists of loose leaves or pieces of tobacco that is intended for use by consumers in a pipe, roll-your-own cigarette, or similar product or device.
17. "Smokeless tobacco." Any tobacco product that consists of cut, ground, powdered, or leaf tobacco and that is intended to be placed in the oral or nasal cavity.
18. "Snus." Any smokeless tobacco product marketed and sold as snus, and sold in ready-to-use pouches or loose as a moist powder.
19. "Tobacco product." Any product which contains tobacco that is intended for human consumption, including any component, part, or accessory of such product. Tobacco product shall include, but not be limited to, any cigar, little cigar, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, snus, bidi, snuff, shisha, or dissolvable tobacco product. Tobacco product shall not include cigarettes or any product that has been approved by the United States food and drug administration for sale as a tobacco use cessation product or for other medical purposes and that is being marketed and sold solely for such purposes. "Tobacco products" shall not include research tobacco products.
20. "Shisha." Any product that contains tobacco and is smoked or intended to be smoked in a hookah or water pipe.
21. "Research tobacco product." A tobacco product or cigarette that is labeled as a research tobacco product, is manufactured for use in research for health, scientific, or similar experimental purposes, is exclusively used for such purposes by an accredited college, university or hospital, or a researcher affiliated with an accredited college, university or hospital, and is not offered for sale or sold to consumers for any purpose.
(Am. L.L. 2017/145, 8/28/2017, eff. 6/1/2018; Am. 2020 N.Y. Laws Ch. 55, 4/3/2020, eff. 12/20/2019)
Editor's note: For related unconsolidated provisions, see Appendix A at L.L. 2013/097 and L.L. 2017/145.