Free checker · 50 states + DC · 50 city rule sheets · rules checked October 23, 2026
Your state, your city, your product mix. The checker computes your license stack with fees, names every restriction on what you may sell — state vape directories, flavor bans, hemp bans — and hands you the city verification steps that decide your address. Before you sign a lease, not after.
Free, no email. The checker never approves an exact address — it gives you the state answer and the city steps that decide the address.
Worked filing packs for the 10 most-searched states, product-legality tables for all 50 states + DC, the lease red-flag checklist, the city verification worksheet and zoning letter, the opening timeline, the stocking list, and the renewal calendar.
Which licenses and permits, from which offices, at what fee, renewing when. Forty-seven states license tobacco retailers; the stack on top of the license is where plans drift.
What you may legally stock: 16 states run approved-vape directories, 6 ban flavored vapes, and the hemp shelf is banned outright in a growing list of states.
Distance rules measured property line to property line — 1,000 ft from schools, a full mile from another shop in Akron. No website can bless an address; our city sheets show you how to verify yours.
Clear to open Your stack is standard and nothing in your mix is restricted. Open with restrictions You can open — with named limits: stock only directory-listed vapes, re-cut a flavored plan, license the hemp shelf. Hard blockers Part of the plan as picked cannot legally happen in that state — delta-8 in Texas since July 31, 2026, disposables in California since January 1, 2026.
The honesty rail: this checker never prints "you can open at this address." Cities decide addresses with parcel measurements and, in places, public hearings. What we give you is the verified state answer, rule sheets for 50 metros, and the exact worksheet the zoning office wishes you had run before signing.
The ENDS Directory started enforcement on October 19, 2026 with 159 approved products from 6 manufacturers — and per-product, per-day fines. The full story
From October 1, 2026 a retail tobacco permit is mandatory in Virginia; selling without one is a misdemeanor. What changed, twice
The license fee rose from $265 to $450 on July 1, 2026, and every disposable vape was banned on January 1, 2026. California page
Since July 31, 2026. Any Texas guide still describing a legal delta-8 shelf is describing a felony. The two Texas changes
Included in the $49 Opening Compliance Pack
The worked filing packs, the lease red-flag checklist keyed to distance rules, the city verification worksheet and the zoning-verification letter template are in the Opening Compliance Pack.
Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming
Two city dealer licenses on top of the state license.
City tobacco retailer's permit required.
Tobacco licenses are the new liquor licenses: 35–90 days.
1,000 ft from community locations.
One full mile from another smoke shop.
City license since September 1, 2025.
All 50 metro sheets — 10 with verified ordinance rules, 40 with the verification worksheet
The license-first sequence for opening a smoke shop: state stack, product legality, city verification, then the lease — with the mistakes that close new shops.
State tobacco license fees from primary sources — California $450, New York $300, Texas e-cigarette permit $180 — plus the local layer nobody budgets for.
Typical openings run $50,000–$150,000. Where the money goes — inventory, lease, build-out — and the compliance line items that decide whether the rest survives.
Sixteen states now run PMTA registries / approved-vape directories. How they work, the full dated state table, and why Pennsylvania's 159-product list changed everything.
Typical openings run $50,000–$60,000, full budgets $50,000–$150,000, with inventory near $30,000 (incumbent guides, 2025–2026). Permits are the small line; the mistakes are the big ones. The budget anatomy
No — and any tool that claims to is guessing with your deposit. Cities measure parcels and hold hearings. We give you the verified rules and the worksheet; the zoning office gives the answer, in writing.
Yes — the full state verdict, the stack, the restrictions and the city steps are free with no email gate. The $49 Opening Compliance Pack holds the filing packs, worksheets and templates for doing the work.
Every page carries its checked date (October 23, 2026) and its sources. Directory and hemp rules move fastest; we re-verify quarterly and date every change.
Included in the $49 Opening Compliance Pack
The worked filing packs, the lease red-flag checklist keyed to distance rules, the city verification worksheet and the zoning-verification letter template are in the Opening Compliance Pack.