• Augustus M White, Akira B Goden, Alyssa K Rudy, Harlean K Bajwa, Mignonne C Guy, Kristina B Hood, Caroline O Cobb, and Andrew J Barnes.
• Center for the Study of Tobacco Products, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia; Department of Health Behavior and Policy, School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia. Electronic address: whiteam25@vcu.edu.
• Am J Prev Med. 2023 Jun 1; 64 (6): 898901898-901.

IntroductionThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed new product standards regarding the availability of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars in the U.S. However, it is unclear whether limiting characterizing flavors in cigarettes and cigars as proposed, or across all tobacco products, produces differential effects on the tobacco use behaviors of African American/Black individuals who use menthol cigarettes. This study assessed whether limiting characterizing flavors in combusted products only or across all tobacco products produces differential impacts on the tobacco use behaviors of African American/Black individuals who use menthol cigarettes.MethodsAdult African American/Black individuals who use menthol cigarettes in the U.S. were recruited through Qualtrics (n=373) and in Richmond, VA (n=206) for an online experiment from September 2021 to August 2022. Participants reported how their tobacco use behaviors would change under 3 scenarios: maintenance of the status quo, limited flavor ban (ban characterizing flavors in cigarettes and cigars), and comprehensive flavor ban (ban characterizing flavors in all tobacco products). Seemingly unrelated regressions compared differences in expected responses to policy scenarios (p<0.05).ResultsBoth flavor ban scenarios resulted in higher quitting intentions for cigarettes and all tobacco products than the status quo (p<0.05). The comprehensive ban resulted in greater intentions to quit all tobacco products and lower intentions to switch to certain alternative products (e.g., E-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, heated tobacco products) than the limited ban (p<0.05).ConclusionsAfrican American/Black individuals who use menthol cigarettes appear more likely to quit smoking if characterizing flavors in combusted products (e.g., menthol cigarettes) are banned, regardless of if characterizing flavors are available in noncombusted alternative tobacco products.Copyright © 2022 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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