A large-scale undercover operation caught 11 smoke shops selling flavored vapes and other illegal tobacco products, the San Francisco city attorney’s office said Wednesday.
The investigation revealed that two owners were flouting laws restricting e-cigarettes and flavored tobacco products and operating without a permit after health inspectors found vapes and flavored pouches at a Mission Street smoke shop.
The Department of Public Health in March 2024 ordered the owners of Bass Gift Shop at 5196 Mission St. to stop selling tobacco and make the shop accessible to inspectors. The owners sold an illegal vape to a department decoy investigator in May and refused an inspection in June.
“These smoke shop owners blatantly disregarded laws established to protect young people from the harms of tobacco use,” City Attorney David Chiu said in a statement. “Not only were they selling banned flavored tobacco products, but they didn’t even have a San Francisco tobacco permit.”
Investigators from Chiu’s office carried out a decoy operation last October, buying vapes and flavored tobacco pouches at 10 other businesses:
- Exotic Vapes, 711 Kains Ave., San Bruno
- Exotic Puff n Stuff, 484 San Mateo Ave., San Bruno
- Grand Tobacco Shop, 338 Grand Ave., South San Francisco
- Diamond Gift Shop, 6198 Mission St., Daly City
- 420 Glass and Gift Shop, 2502 Telegraph Ave., Oakland
- Smoke and Gift Shop, 646 Hegenberger Rd, Oakland
- Fast Fill Gas and Market, 449 Hegenberger Rd., Oakland
- Cigarettes Cheaper!, 20930 Mission Blvd., Hayward
- Smoke Shop, 6193 Santa Teresa Blvd., San Jose
- Delauers Gift Shop, 1412 Park St., Alameda
The Tobacco Endgame 
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