( March 10, 2025, 8:55 AM EDT) -- TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A divided Florida First District Court of Appeal panel affirmed the state’s imposition of $1.4 million in excise taxes and surcharges on sales by a North Carolina-based hookah distributor, finding that hookah sales fall within the statutory definition of “loose tobacco” in the statute at issue, and on the same day affirmed a separate related appeal challenging a state policy applying the tax to hookah....