Guide · checked October 23, 2026
Texas is the most-searched smoke-shop state in America — and the state where 2025–2026 changed the answer the most. Two changes, eleven months apart, redrew the Texas shelf.
SB 2024 bans disposable vapes manufactured in China — which, in the real market, sweeps in most of the popular disposable brands — plus cannabinoid vapes generally. Violations are a Class A misdemeanor. Texas also licenses e-cigarette retail separately: the Comptroller's E-Cigarette Retail Permit runs $180 for two years (industry guides, 2026), on top of the tobacco permit. A Texas shop files both.
After the Texas Supreme Court ruled on May 1, 2026 that the health department (DSHS) could schedule manufactured cannabinoids, the 2021 definitions were reinstated effective July 31, 2026: delta-8, delta-10, THCP and THC-A are Schedule I controlled substances. What survives: hemp-derived delta-9 products at 0.3% or less, sold by DSHS-registered retailers — and smokable hemp stays banned under its own rule. Any Texas guide that still describes a legal delta-8 shelf is describing a felony.
Watch Austin separately: a fall-2026 council proposal would add a 1,000 ft school/daycare buffer for new shops (pending — see the Austin sheet). Texas's state page carries the full stack as checked.
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.