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Flavored tobacco
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Flavored tobacco
Flavored tobacco products—tobacco products with added flavorings—include types of cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars, hookahs and hookah tobacco, various types of smokeless tobacco, and more recently electronic cigarettes. Flavored tobacco products are especially popular with youth and have therefore become targets of regulation in several countries.
According to a 2013 survey of internet tobacco retailers, the most common flavors are apple, cherry, chocolate, honey, grape, menthol, mint, peach, rum, strawberry, "sweet" (including bubble gum, candy, mango, blueberry, strawberry, orange, gum mint, and toffee) and vanilla.
Cigarettes may be flavored to mask the taste or odor of the tobacco smoke, enhance the tobacco flavor, or decrease the social stigma associated with smoking. Flavors are generally added to the tobacco or rolling paper, although some cigarette brands have unconventional flavor delivery mechanisms such as inserting flavored pellets or rods into the cigarette filter. Cigarette flavors include anise, clove, cinnamon, spearmint, wintergreen, citrus, fruit, and alcoholic drinks (especially rum and cocktails). Flavors may be added to the tobacco, cigarette paper, filter, or even to the foil wrapper. Some tobacco companies have developed unconventional flavor delivery systems, including polymer pellet technology, using a flavored filter pellet (polyethylene bead), flavor micro-encapsulation in the paper or packaging technology, flavor fibers inserted into the filter, and flavored tips. Flavorings are typically added at the end of the cigarette manufacturing process. Flavored cigarettes are heavily preferred by youth,[better source needed] with research in 2004–2005 finding that United States adolescents and young adults used major brands of flavored cigarettes at 2 to 3 times the rate of adults aged 25 and older.
One common type of flavored cigarettes are beedis, a small, thin, hand-rolled cigarette originally from India, where they outsell regular cigarettes by a ratio of eight to one. Another is kretek, a cigarette made with a blend of tobacco and cloves that is popular in Indonesia. No flavored cigarettes, including menthol, beedis, and kreteks, are safe. Indeed, many flavorings produce increased levels of acetaldehyde when combusted, enhancing dependence and toxicity. Additionally, some flavorings in cigarettes contain toxic compounds such as alkenylbenzenes.
The most popular cigarette flavor by far is menthol, which represents 10% of the global cigarette market and over 25% of the market in countries including the United States, Singapore, the Philippines, and Chile. Menthol is a chemical found in plants of the mint family that produces a cooling sensation in the throat. It is often used as a cigarette additive to mask the flavor and feel of the tobacco smoke or to improve the throat and mouth feel of the cigarette. Menthol increases the addictive properties of the nicotine in cigarettes, in part by increasing the density of nicotine receptors in the brain.
In the United States, menthol cigarettes are used disproportionately by African Americans: more than 70% of African-American smokers primarily use menthols, compared to approximately 30% of White American smokers. In fact, menthol tobacco marketing is specifically targeted to African Americans; it is a subject of research and it has been a subject of litigation on discrimination grounds. This high use by African Americans is largely the result of deliberate marketing campaigns by tobacco companies, which exacerbated small racial differences in menthol cigarette preferences into large ones. Racial marketing strategies changed during the Fifties. The civil rights movement led to the rise of African-American publications, such as Ebony. This helped tobacco companies to target separate marketing messages by race. Tobacco companies supported civil rights organizations, and advertised their support heavily. Industry motives were, according to their public statements, to support civil rights causes; according to an independent review of internal tobacco industry documents, they were "to increase African American tobacco use, to use African Americans as a frontline force to defend industry policy positions, and to defuse tobacco control efforts". There had been internal resistance to tobacco sponsorship, and some organizations are now rejecting nicotine funding as a matter of policy. Tobacco company Lorillard even gave out free menthol cigarette samples to children in black neighborhoods in the U.S. in the 1950s.
In addition to high use by African Americans, menthol cigarettes are used disproportionately by adolescents, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. LGBT Americans are twice as likely as straight ones to use menthol cigarettes, according to CDC research. Where these demographics overlap, menthol use is especially high: most female LGBT smokers use menthols, as do 80 percent of African American youth smokers and 70 percent of LGBT youth smokers. Tobacco companies have targeted the LGBT community with advertising for menthol cigarettes, most notably through Project SCUM.
Little cigars, both cigarette-sized ones as well as mid-sized cigarillos, are typically flavored, unlike full-size, hand-wrapped premium cigars. Studies describe little cigars and cigarillos as cigarette-like products whose flavorings and packaging can make them more appealing and palatable, particularly to young adults. Small cigars and cigarillos are disproportionately used by lower income and less educated people, young people, African Americans, Hispanics, LGBT people, and men. Usage of flavored cigarillos has grown explosively, with sales in U.S. convenience stores up 50% between 2008 and 2015, after tripling between 1997 and 2007. Among adult and youth cigar users, about 40 percent use flavored cigarillos. The most popular flavors for cigarillos are fruit (38.8 percent), sweet or candy (21.2 percent), and wine (17.0 percent). Flavored cigarillos are popular with lower income and younger people in part because they are inexpensive and are promoted by tobacco companies as affordable alternatives to cigarettes. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos can be sold in small packs of one or two each for around 99¢ for two. In many jurisdictions, cigarillos and other cigars are taxed at lower rates than cigarettes, making them more appealing to low-income populations, including youth, young adults, and the unemployed.
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Flavored tobacco
Flavored tobacco products—tobacco products with added flavorings—include types of cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars, hookahs and hookah tobacco, various types of smokeless tobacco, and more recently electronic cigarettes. Flavored tobacco products are especially popular with youth and have therefore become targets of regulation in several countries.
According to a 2013 survey of internet tobacco retailers, the most common flavors are apple, cherry, chocolate, honey, grape, menthol, mint, peach, rum, strawberry, "sweet" (including bubble gum, candy, mango, blueberry, strawberry, orange, gum mint, and toffee) and vanilla.
Cigarettes may be flavored to mask the taste or odor of the tobacco smoke, enhance the tobacco flavor, or decrease the social stigma associated with smoking. Flavors are generally added to the tobacco or rolling paper, although some cigarette brands have unconventional flavor delivery mechanisms such as inserting flavored pellets or rods into the cigarette filter. Cigarette flavors include anise, clove, cinnamon, spearmint, wintergreen, citrus, fruit, and alcoholic drinks (especially rum and cocktails). Flavors may be added to the tobacco, cigarette paper, filter, or even to the foil wrapper. Some tobacco companies have developed unconventional flavor delivery systems, including polymer pellet technology, using a flavored filter pellet (polyethylene bead), flavor micro-encapsulation in the paper or packaging technology, flavor fibers inserted into the filter, and flavored tips. Flavorings are typically added at the end of the cigarette manufacturing process. Flavored cigarettes are heavily preferred by youth,[better source needed] with research in 2004–2005 finding that United States adolescents and young adults used major brands of flavored cigarettes at 2 to 3 times the rate of adults aged 25 and older.
One common type of flavored cigarettes are beedis, a small, thin, hand-rolled cigarette originally from India, where they outsell regular cigarettes by a ratio of eight to one. Another is kretek, a cigarette made with a blend of tobacco and cloves that is popular in Indonesia. No flavored cigarettes, including menthol, beedis, and kreteks, are safe. Indeed, many flavorings produce increased levels of acetaldehyde when combusted, enhancing dependence and toxicity. Additionally, some flavorings in cigarettes contain toxic compounds such as alkenylbenzenes.
The most popular cigarette flavor by far is menthol, which represents 10% of the global cigarette market and over 25% of the market in countries including the United States, Singapore, the Philippines, and Chile. Menthol is a chemical found in plants of the mint family that produces a cooling sensation in the throat. It is often used as a cigarette additive to mask the flavor and feel of the tobacco smoke or to improve the throat and mouth feel of the cigarette. Menthol increases the addictive properties of the nicotine in cigarettes, in part by increasing the density of nicotine receptors in the brain.
In the United States, menthol cigarettes are used disproportionately by African Americans: more than 70% of African-American smokers primarily use menthols, compared to approximately 30% of White American smokers. In fact, menthol tobacco marketing is specifically targeted to African Americans; it is a subject of research and it has been a subject of litigation on discrimination grounds. This high use by African Americans is largely the result of deliberate marketing campaigns by tobacco companies, which exacerbated small racial differences in menthol cigarette preferences into large ones. Racial marketing strategies changed during the Fifties. The civil rights movement led to the rise of African-American publications, such as Ebony. This helped tobacco companies to target separate marketing messages by race. Tobacco companies supported civil rights organizations, and advertised their support heavily. Industry motives were, according to their public statements, to support civil rights causes; according to an independent review of internal tobacco industry documents, they were "to increase African American tobacco use, to use African Americans as a frontline force to defend industry policy positions, and to defuse tobacco control efforts". There had been internal resistance to tobacco sponsorship, and some organizations are now rejecting nicotine funding as a matter of policy. Tobacco company Lorillard even gave out free menthol cigarette samples to children in black neighborhoods in the U.S. in the 1950s.
In addition to high use by African Americans, menthol cigarettes are used disproportionately by adolescents, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans. LGBT Americans are twice as likely as straight ones to use menthol cigarettes, according to CDC research. Where these demographics overlap, menthol use is especially high: most female LGBT smokers use menthols, as do 80 percent of African American youth smokers and 70 percent of LGBT youth smokers. Tobacco companies have targeted the LGBT community with advertising for menthol cigarettes, most notably through Project SCUM.
Little cigars, both cigarette-sized ones as well as mid-sized cigarillos, are typically flavored, unlike full-size, hand-wrapped premium cigars. Studies describe little cigars and cigarillos as cigarette-like products whose flavorings and packaging can make them more appealing and palatable, particularly to young adults. Small cigars and cigarillos are disproportionately used by lower income and less educated people, young people, African Americans, Hispanics, LGBT people, and men. Usage of flavored cigarillos has grown explosively, with sales in U.S. convenience stores up 50% between 2008 and 2015, after tripling between 1997 and 2007. Among adult and youth cigar users, about 40 percent use flavored cigarillos. The most popular flavors for cigarillos are fruit (38.8 percent), sweet or candy (21.2 percent), and wine (17.0 percent). Flavored cigarillos are popular with lower income and younger people in part because they are inexpensive and are promoted by tobacco companies as affordable alternatives to cigarettes. Unlike cigarettes, cigarillos can be sold in small packs of one or two each for around 99¢ for two. In many jurisdictions, cigarillos and other cigars are taxed at lower rates than cigarettes, making them more appealing to low-income populations, including youth, young adults, and the unemployed.
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