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Regulation and Public Health Implications of Flavors in Tobacco Products

On this page: 

How Flavors in Tobacco Products Affect Public Health 

FDA’s Regulation of Flavors in Tobacco Products 

How Flavors in Tobacco Products Affect Public Health 

Why Are Flavors Added to Tobacco Products? 

Flavors, such as menthol/mint, fruit, candy, desserts and sweets, alcoholic beverages, are added to tobacco products to improve flavor and taste by reducing the harshness, bitterness, and astringency.1-2 Tobacco products can have harmful health effects whether they are flavored or not.  

However, the use of flavors in tobacco products raises important public health questions. For example, FDA is aware of some reports that some flavors could help adult cigarette smokers switch to potentially less harmful tobacco products.3-5 However, research has also shown that sweet-tasting flavors are particularly appealing to youth and young adults.6-10 

How Do Flavors Affect Youth Tobacco Use? 

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Sweet-tasting flavors are particularly appealing to youth and young adults.6-10

Both youth and young adults in the U.S. report flavors as a major reason for current tobacco use. For example, youth who smoke are more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than older smokers.11-12 Almost half of cigarette smokers ages 12-17 smoke menthols.13 According to the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, 71.0 percent of youth (ages 12-17) and 89.6 percent of young adults (ages 18-24) who currently used ENDS endorsed flavoring as the reason for use14.

Flavoring as the reason for use

Furthermore, over 50 percent of youth and young adults who currently use filtered cigar, cigarillo or traditional cigars endorsed flavoring as the reason for use15.

The majority of ENDS, filtered cigar and cigarillo youth and young adult users also report that the first tobacco product they used was flavored15.  

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Flavored mass-produced cigars and cigarillos, which are combusted tobacco products that can closely resemble cigarettes, are disproportionately popular among youth as well.16  

More than 8 out of 10 current youth users of e-cigarettes use flavored e-cigarettes, with fruit, mint, and candy flavors among the most commonly used.17 

How Can I Quit Smoking?

If you or someone you know smoke cigarettes and want to stop smoking completely, explore and use FDA’s resources to help begin the journey to living a smoke-free life.

Read more about what it’s like to quit smoking and share the message with others. 

FDA’s Regulation of Flavors in Tobacco Products 

How Can Prohibiting Flavors in Cigarettes and Cigars Help Public Health? 

The use of flavors in cigarettes and cigars raises important public health concerns.  

Flavors are particularly appealing to youth and young adults.6-10 By reducing the availability of flavored tobacco products in the U.S., we can reduce the number of youth and young adults who start smoking and otherwise would not have started.  

Prohibiting certain flavored tobacco products can also help reduce health disparities. Communities of color, low-income populations, and LGBTQ+ individuals are disproportionately impacted by tobacco use.  

In April 2021, FDA committed to issuing new federal regulations that would prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and all characterizing flavors, including menthol, in cigars. This aims to reduce tobacco addiction, address tobacco-related health disparities, and curb preventable deaths caused by smoking. FDA’s decision is based on clear science and evidence establishing the role that these flavored products play in increasing the appeal of combusted tobacco products, particularly among youth and young adults.

What is FDA doing about flavored e-cigarettes?  

Results from the 2021 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), show among youth who currently used e-cigarettes, 84.7% used flavored e-cigarettes, including 85.8% of high school and 79.2% of middle school users.  

Ongoing efforts to address youth e-cigarette use are critical, including the FDA’s significant progress made on the unprecedented number of timely premarket applications received by the Sept. 9, 2020, court-ordered deadline for deemed new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. 

The agency has taken action on over 98% of the applications to date, including issuing marketing denial orders (MDOs) for more than one million flavored ENDS products that are so popular with young people. Generally, the MDOs were issued for products whose applications lacked sufficient evidence that such products have a benefit to adult smokers to overcome the public health concern posed by the well-documented and considerable appeal of the products to youth.  

Additionally, on Feb. 6, 2020, FDA began prioritizing enforcement against certain illegally marketed ENDS products that do not have premarket authorization, including any flavored, cartridge-based ENDS product (other than a tobacco- or menthol-flavored ENDS product). FDA issued hundreds of warning letters to online and brick-and-mortar manufacturers and retailers across the country that sell unauthorized flavored, cartridge-based ENDS products. 

Since 2014, e-cigarettes have been the most commonly used tobacco product among U.S. youth. As the tobacco product landscape continues to evolve, the sustained implementation of comprehensive tobacco control and prevention strategies at the national, state, and local levels, coupled with FDA regulations, can prevent and reduce tobacco product initiation and use among youth. 

Which Tobacco Products Cannot Have Flavors in Them?  

In 2009, FDA prohibited cigarettes with characterizing flavors other than menthol, such as fruit and chocolate, which are known to appeal to youth and young adults.18 This prohibition was an important first step for responsible tobacco regulation to protect the American public, particularly children, from the dangers of cigarettes—the product most responsible for tobacco-related disease and death in the United States.  

In Which Tobacco Products Is FDA Considering Prohibiting Flavors? 

In 2021, FDA announced that it will be proposing tobacco product standards to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and prohibit all characterizing flavors (including menthol) in cigars. Prohibiting flavors in cigarettes and cigars will help protect future generations from ever becoming addicted to the deadliest tobacco products and help current smokers quit. 

How Would FDA Enforce Prohibitions on Illegal Flavored Cigars? 

FDA’s enforcement addresses manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, importers and retailers. FDA would enforce regulations for what stores sell and what companies manufacture, market, and distribute. 

FDA does not regulate possession of any tobacco products by individuals. FDA cannot and will not enforce against individual consumer possession or use of prohibited tobacco products. For example, should a rule prohibiting menthol cigarettes go into effect, the rule would not make possession or use of menthol cigarettes a federal crime. 

Learn more about CTP’s Compliance and Enforcement.  

What Research is Being Done on Flavored Tobacco Products? 

FDA is committed to an evidence-based approach that addresses the public health questions and issues raised by menthol and other tobacco product flavors. FDA supports a wide range of research to understand the differences between menthol and nonmenthol cigarettes, as well as the full spectrum of other flavored tobacco products, such as cigars, e-cigarettes, and hookah (waterpipe) tobacco. 

New scientific research, as well as information received through public comments on these topics, will help FDA make informed decisions about appropriate regulatory actions. 

FDA is interested in new data and research about the role of flavors on tobacco product use, including initiation, cessation, and relapse, as well as on consumer perceptions of health risks and addictiveness of flavored tobacco products. 

For information on specific projects, search the portfolio of CTP-Supported Tobacco Regulatory Research Projects on flavors. 

  1. Carpenter, C.M., G.F. Wayne, J.L. Pauly, et al., “New Cigarette Brands With Flavors That Appeal to Youth: Tobacco Marketing Strategies,” Health Affairs, 24(6):1601-1610, 2005. 
  2. Cummings, K.M., C.P. Morley, J.K. Horan, et al., “Marketing to America's Youth: Evidence From Corporate Documents,” Tobacco Control, 11 Suppl 1(suppl 1):15-17, 2002. 
  3. Barbeau AM, Burda J, Siegel M. Perceived efficacy of e-cigarettes versus nicotine replacement therapy among successful e-cigarette users: a qualitative approach. Addiction science & clinical practice. 2013;8(1):1. 
  4. Farsalinos KE, Romagna G, Tsiapras D, Kyrzopoulos S, Spyrou A, Voudris V. Impact of flavour variability on electronic cigarette use experience: an internet survey. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2013;10(12):7272-7282. 
  5. Litt MD, Duffy V, Oncken C. Cigarette smoking and electronic cigarette vaping patterns as a function of e-cigarette flavourings. Tobacco Control. 2016. 
  6. Mennella JA, Pepino MY, Reed DR. Genetic and environmental determinants of bitter perception and sweet preferences. Pediatrics. 2005;115(2):e216-222. 
  7. Desor JA, Beauchamp GK. Longitudinal changes in sweet preferences in humans. Physiol Behav. 1987;39(5):639-641. 
  8. Enns MP, Van Itallie TB, Grinker JA. Contributions of age, sex and degree of fatness on preferences and magnitude estimations for sucrose in humans. Physiol Behav. 1979;22(5):999-1003. 
  9. De Graaf C, Zandstra EH. Sweetness intensity and pleasantness in children, adolescents, and adults. Physiol Behav. 1999;67(4):513-520. 
  10. King BA, Tynan MA, Dube SR, Arrazola R. Flavored-Little-Cigar and Flavored-Cigarette Use Among US Middle and High School Students. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2014;54(1):40-46. 
  11. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The NSDUH Report: Recent Trends in Menthol Cigarette Use. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality; 2011. 
  12. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2014. [Public Use Data File]. ICPSR36361-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-03-22. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36361.v1. Analysis ran on April 25, 2016 using SDA 3.5: Tables. 
  13. United States Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2019. 
  14. Villanti, A. C., Johnson, A. L., Ambrose, B. K., Cummings, K. M., Stanton, C. A., Rose, S. W., ... Hyland, A. (2017). Flavored Tobacco Product Use in Youth and Adults: Findings From the First Wave of the PATH Study (2013-2014). American Journal of Preventive Medicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.026 
  15. Rostron, B. L., Cheng, Y. C., Gardner, L. D., & Ambrose, B. K. (2020). Prevalence and Reasons for Use of Flavored Cigars and ENDS among US Youth and Adults: Estimates from Wave 4 of the PATH Study, 2016-2017. American journal of health behavior, 44(1), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.5993/AJHB.44.1.8 
  16. Chen B, Sterling KL, Bluestein MA, Kuk AE, Harrell MB, et al. (2020) Age of initiation of cigarillos, filtered cigars and/or traditional cigars among youth: Findings from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) study, 2013–2017. PLOS ONE 15(12): e0243372. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243372 
  17. Park-Lee E, Ren C, Sawdey MD, et al. Notes from the Field: E-Cigarette Use Among Middle and High School Students — National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1387–1389. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7039a4external icon. 
  18. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). A Report of the Surgeon General: Preventing Tobacco Use Among Youth and Young Adults: We CAN Make the Next Generation Tobacco-Free (Consumer Booklet). Atlanta, GA: US Dept of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health; 2012. 

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