Menthol cigarettes continue to be smoked in UK despite ban

A study indicates that, three years after the ban on menthol cigarettes, 14 % of smokers continued to consume this type of cigarette in 2023, compared to 16 % in 2020. Different hypotheses explain these results, but the idea of an increase in the illicit trade of these cigarettes is ruled out. To better enforce the ban on menthol cigarettes, the authors recommend banning all menthol accessories and additives.

In reference to the 2014 EU Tobacco Products Directive, the sale of menthol cigarettes was banned in the UK in May 2020. This provision should have logically led to a drastic drop in the prevalence of menthol cigarette consumption. A British study counters this idea and indicates that this prevalence remained relatively stable between 2020 and 2023[1].

Purchases made through the usual sales channel

The study draws on data from the Smoking Toolkit Study, a national survey conducted monthly. The sample consisted of 66,868 adult smokers, including 7,660 aged 18 to 24. Information on where cigarettes were purchased was collected from 6,757 smokers.

The results show that the prevalence of menthol cigarette consumption fell only slightly between October 2020 and March 2023, from 16 % to 14 %, and that it still concerns one in seven adults. However, there were significant disparities between British nations: this prevalence would have fallen by two thirds in Wales, from 23 % to 8 %, while it would have remained fairly stable in England (16.2 % to 14.2 %) and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland (12 % to 11.3 %). A drop in prevalence was also noted among 18-24 year-olds, from 26 % in 2020 to 19 % in 2023, or one in five young people.

The purchasing channels identified for menthol cigarettes did not differ from those for non-flavoured cigarettes. Menthol cigarette smokers obtained their supplies mainly from the official point-of-sale channel (mainly grocery stores and supermarkets). In 2023, only 14.8 % of menthol smokers turned to parallel sources (12.5 % among non-flavoured cigarette smokers) and 11.5 % to purchases abroad (9.9 % among non-flavoured cigarette smokers). The ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes will therefore not have led to an explosion in the illicit trade in these products, as the tobacco industry had predicted. These data are consistent with similar studies conducted in Canada and the Netherlands, showing that the ban on menthol did not result in a massive recourse to illicit trade.

Several strategies to circumvent the menthol ban

This study particularly highlights the difficulty of determining the reality of sales of menthol cigarettes. These cigarettes have been banned in principle since 2020, but this measure only applies to cigarettes mentioning a "characteristic aroma".

Some manufacturers have thus changed the name of menthol cigarettes, for example by adding the term "Dual". They would have maintained the presence of menthol in a lesser proportion, sometimes in the form ofsynthetic agents refreshing, and without presenting it as a characteristic aroma. Cigarette manufacturers also launched, after the ban on menthol cigarettes, accessories to add a menthol aroma to tobacco – and thus circumvent the law. These accessories include aroma cards to be inserted into cigarette packets, aroma beads to be inserted into cigarette filters, or cigarettes whose filter is already fitted with an aroma bead. However, the study did not allow us to identify precisely the products, accessories and types of cigarettes that gave smokers this impression of the presence of menthol.

To better enforce the ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes, the study authors recommend banning menthol-like substances, as well as all menthol derivatives and their accessories.

To learn more about the menthol ban, check out our case.

Keywords: United Kingdom, menthol, cigarettes, flavour cards, flavour beads, flavour bead filters, circumvention strategy, illicit trade.

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[1] Buss VH, Tattan-Birch H, Cox S, et al., Smoking prevalence and purchasing of menthol cigarettes since the menthol flavor ban in Great Britain: a population-based survey between 2020 and 2023, Tobacco Control, Published Online First: 12 March 2024. doi: 10.1136/tc-2023-058390