Sponsor
This work was supported by an award from the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with funding from the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (Grant #125086).
Published In
Tobacco Control
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2021
Subjects
Cigarette smoke -- Composition
Abstract
Background Tobacco companies are offering cigarettes with ‘concept’ descriptor names that suggest sensation and/or flavour properties (eg, Marlboro ‘Velvet Fusion’). Little has been known about the identities and levels of flavour chemicals in such cigarettes.
Methods Thirty-three filter cigarette variants from 27 packs (including two sampler packs with four variations each) from Canada and Mexico were analysed (rod + filter) for 177 flavour chemicals plus triacetin, a filter plasticiser and possible flavourant. Five brands of US mentholated filter cigarettes were also analysed.
Results Twenty-seven of the 33 cigarettes (all were Mexican variants) were categorised as ‘menthol-plus’: significant menthol (3.0–11.9 mg/cigarette), plus varying amounts (0.32–3.4 mg/cigarette) of total other flavour chemicals (TOFCs) (excludes triacetin). For 10 of the 27, TOFCs >1.0 mg/cigarette. For 7 of the 27, the TOFCs profile was categorised as containing total fruit flavour compounds (TFFCs) >1.0 mg/cigarette. One Mexican variant was categorised as ‘menthol-only’ (TOFCs ≤0.15 mg/cigarette). All menthol-plus and menthol-only cigarettes contained one or two optional-crush capsules in their filters (crushed prior to analysis). All five Canadian brand variants were ‘non-flavoured’. All five US brand variants were ‘menthol-only’.
Conclusions All but one of the ‘concept’ descriptor cigarettes from Mexico were ‘menthol-plus’. While the Canadian cigarettes complied with Canada’s flavour chemical ban, concept descriptors on the packs may increase appeal. Given the scale of the problem posed by menthol alone, health officials seeking to decrease the appeal of smoked tobacco should examine the extent to which ‘concept descriptor’ cigarettes using ‘menthol-plus’ flavour profiling together with artful descriptors are furthering the problem of smoked tobacco.
Rights
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-056173
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/36226
Citation Details
Pankow, J. F., Luo, W., McWhirter, K. J., Gillette, S., & Cohen, J. E. (2021). 'Menthol-Plus’: a major category of cigarette found among ‘concept’descriptor cigarettes from Mexico. Tobacco control.