Flavors key to quitting combustibles

Restricting access to non-tobacco vaping flavors might discourage smokers from switching to e-vapor products, according to a EurekAlert story citing the results of a study involving more than 20,000 adult US vapers

The story said that peer-reviewed research published on Monday in the Harm Reduction Journal showed that flavors played a critical role in attracting smokers into and retaining them in the vaping category, directly contributing to tobacco harm reduction.

“The results show that non-tobacco flavors, especially fruit based flavors, are being increasingly preferred to tobacco flavours by adult vapers who have completely switched from combustible cigarettes to vapor products,” said Dr Christopher Russell (pictured), deputy director of the Centre for Substance Use Research (CSUR), who led the research.

The survey, one of the largest of its kind to focus on flavors, was conducted by the CSUR and funded by Fontem Ventures, a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco.

Of the 20,836 adult, frequent users of e-vapor products who took part in the survey, nearly 16,000 were said to have completely switched from smoking to vaping, while 5,000 were dual users who were smoking and using e-vapor products.

“The data suggest that US vapers’ journeys towards quitting smoking are increasingly likely to start with, progress to, or be sustained by frequent use of vaping devices containing non-tobacco flavors”, said Russell.

Meanwhile, Dr. Grant O’Connell, corporate affairs manager at Fontem Ventures, said the declining popularity of tobacco flavors among adult vapers strongly suggested that flavor bans, such as the one recently passed in San Francisco, could see vapers return to cigarette smoking and discourage other adult smokers from switching.

The full peer-reviewed article can be downloaded for free at the Harm Reduction Journal.