‘Young Vapers More Likely to Start Cigars’

A new study from the Truth Initiative revealed that people aged 15 to 21 who use e-cigarettes or have ever used Juul have over three-time higher odds of initiating use of cigars, little cigars or cigarillos (CLCCs) compared with those who never vaped.

The study is the first to find that using e-cigarettes strongly predicts future use of CLCCs and flavored CLCCs.

Young people who had ever used Juul had 3.3 times higher odds of using CLCCs for the first time from 2018 to 2019 compared to those who had not used e-cigarettes by 2018. This group had 2.5 times higher odds of using flavored CLCCs compared to nonflavored CLCCs. Many CLCCs are available in an array of flavors, such as mint, menthol and fruity flavors, which are similar to those found in many e-cigarette brands.

“We have long known that young people who vape are more likely to go on to smoke cigarettes, but these new data make it clear that e-cigarette usage can also predict other types of equally dangerous tobacco product use, including cigars, little cigars and cigarillos,” said Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, in a statement.

“E-cigarettes like Juul and its competitors have some of the highest nicotine content among e-cigarettes as well as youth-appealing flavors and as this study shows, create an easy on-ramp to nicotine addiction that can swiftly progress to smoking combustible tobacco, which is still the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. That is how the tobacco industry is initiating a new generation into a lifelong addiction and why Truth Initiative is working to help hundreds of thousands of young people in their journey to quit nicotine.”