Flavors are entry vectors in nicotine products, both tobacco and vaping.

JUUL’s sales expansion coincided with an expansion in fruit flavor sales through October 2018. After a sales decline following the withdrawal of flavored products from stores (but still available online), JUUL sales recovered within weeks to peak thanks to a shift in consumption towards menthol/mint and tobacco flavors which remained on the shelves. The percentage of sales of these fruity flavors (for those products still sold on the Internet) fell from 33% to 9.1%[1] of the company's overall revenues between November 2018 and April 2019, products with mint and menthol flavors have at the same time almost doubled going from 33% to 62.5%. Similarly, the “tobacco” flavor increased from 16.6% to 22.3%. Following investigations into flavored pods, it was established that fruity flavors encourage young people to start vaping. In response to this criticism, Juul announced in January 2020[2], that the company would stop selling the flavored pods to Canadian distributors, nearly two years after pulling them from stores in the United States. But a new study[3], led by researchers at the American Cancer Society, suggests that removing these sweet flavors is probably not enough to deter young people from vaping. They –Juul– left products with mint, menthol and tobacco flavors on the shelves, and they continued to sell flavors like mango, crème brûlée, cucumber and mixed fruit online. " says Alex Liber, chief scientist for health and economic policy research at the American Cancer Society. Flavored and mentholated products appeal to children, adolescents and young adults. Studies show that flavors play a major role in youth initiation and use of tobacco and vaping products. While there has been significant progress in reducing youth initiation of nicotine-containing products in recent years, overall use of these products remains high due to the popularity of flavored products.. 6.2 million middle and high school students in the US reported current use of nicotine-containing products (tobacco and vaping) in 2019, including 4.3 million consumers of flavored products:

• 81% young people who have already used this type of product started with a flavored product[4].
• 72.3% of young consumers have used a flavored product in the past month[5].

Industry documents show that tobacco companies have long had a strategy of developing and marketing flavored products as loss leaders, "starters" that appeal to children.. For tobacco products, flavors mask the harshness of the smoke. They give a taste that makes the product more attractive by referring to worlds such as confectionery. This greatly facilitates the entry into the consumption of these products and young people who are introduced to them quickly fall into addiction. In addition, certain flavors have particular characteristics. Thus, menthol gives a sensation of freshness and "numbs" the throat, reducing the harsh side of cigarette smoke.[6]-[7]. Menthol and mint can give the false impression that a tobacco product is less harmful than it actually is[8]. In Europe, under the 2014 European Tobacco Directive, which banned "attractive flavours" in cigarettes and rolling tobacco, the ban on menthol will come into force on 20 May. However, there are concerns that this provision, which only applies to these products, will be circumvented by an aggressive strategy of shifting consumption to new products.[9]. ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/16/health/juuls-minty-vape-products-surge/index.html [2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/juul-canada-flavoured-vaping-pods-1.5426832 [3] Alex Liber, Zachary Cahn, Aidan Larsen, Jeffrey Drope, “Flavored E-Cigarette Sales in the United States Under Self-Regulation From January 2015 Through October 2019”, American Journal of Public Health, no. (): pp. e1-e3.https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305667 [4] Ambrose, BK, et al., “Flavored Tobacco Product Use Among US Youth Aged 12-17 Years, 2013-2014,” Journal of the American Medical Association, published online October 26, 2015. [5] Rose, S, et al., Flavor types used by youth and adult tobacco users in wave 2 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study 2015-2015,” Tobacco Control, published online September 21, 2019. Additional national data from the 2018 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) found that 64.1% of current middle and high school tobacco users had used a flavored tobacco product in the past month. Cullen, KA, et al., “Flavored Tobacco Product Use Among Middle and High School Students—United States, 2014-2018,” MMWR, 68(39): 839-844, October 4, 2019, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/68/wr/pdfs/mm6839a2-H.pdf [6] See eg, Marketing Innovations, “Youth Cigarette - New Concepts,” Memo to Brown & Williamson, September 1972, Bates No. 170042014; RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, “Conference report #23,” June 5, 1974, Bates No. 500254578-4580; RJ Reynolds Inter-office Memorandum, May 9, 1974, Bates No. 511244297-4298. [7] 4 FDA, Preliminary Scientific Evaluation of the Possible Public Health Effects of Menthol versus Nonmenthol Cigarettes, 2013 [8] Huang, L.-L., et al., “Impact of Non-menthol Flavors in Tobacco Products on Perceptions and Use Among Youth, Young Adults and Adults: A Systematic Review,” Tobacco Control, 26(6):709-719, 2017 [9] https://www.generationsanstabac.org/actualites/pression-du-cigarettier-philip-morris-pour-developper-son-tabac-chauffe/   ©National Committee Against Smoking |