Category: Flavors

  • Quitting made easier

    Quitting made easier

    In a study of adult smokers in Scotland given a blu PRO vaping device and liquids, more than a third completely switched to vaping while the others significantly reduced their average smoking frequency, according to a press note by Imperial Brands’ Fontem Ventures subsidiary.
    A new peer-reviewed study funded by Fontem Ventures and published in the Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health of 72 adult smokers willing to try vaping as an alternative to smoking found that after 90 days, 37 percent of them had completely replaced their cigarettes and switched to Fontem Ventures’ blu vaping products.
    “Our data show that it is possible to facilitate significant behavioural change on the part of smokers as a result of providing them with access to high quality e-cigarette products, at least for a short period of time,” said Professor Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research, who conducted the study.
    The 72 adult smokers were given access to the blu PRO open system e-cigarette and a range of commercially available blu flavors and nicotine strengths through the duration of the study.
    After 90 days the researchers found:

    • 36.5 percent of the participants had switched to vaping completely;
    • A reduction in daily smoking from 88.7 percent of participants at baseline to 17.5 percent;
    • A reduction in cigarette smoking from an average of 14.38 to an average of 3.19 per day;
    • A decrease in the average number of days per month that participants smoked, from 27.87/30 at baseline to 9.22/30 days after 90-days.
    • Non-tobacco flavor e-liquids were preferred by the majority of participants.

    ‘The number of smokers who switched to vaping completely increased from baseline to day-30 and continued to rise throughout the study duration (90 days),’ the note said. ‘The finding suggests that the use of vaping products may have additional benefits with longer use – i.e. a proportion of smokers completely switched within the first month of use, but a larger proportion needed more than two months to make the switch and gradually switch over a longer period.’
    “All participants found the flavors used were important in helping them to switch or cut down and 92.1 percent believed that the blu PRO had helped them to cut down or replace smoking completely at 90 days,” said McKeganey.
    Meanwhile, Dr Grant O’Connell, corporate affairs manager, at Fontem Ventures said that in contrast to these “impressive results”, licensed nicotine replacement therapies had been shown to be substantially less satisfying to smokers as evidenced by their modest efficacy, in some cases less than 15 percent smoking abstinence after three months use.
    “The 40 percent of UK smokers who have not even tried an e-cigarette should be encouraged to try products such as blu as an alternative to smoking. It is also clear from the data that vapers who continue to smoke, termed dual users, are undergoing a longer-term transition from smoking to non-smoking, moving through different stages of use that are not evident in snapshot surveys,” said O’Connell.
    The study can be downloaded here.

  • Switching to vaping

    The Serendipitymommy.com website is offering some advice on switching from smoking to vaping that could be useful to a wider audience than perhaps the website normally attracts.
    It gives, among other things, five tips for making the switch:

    1. Invest in a better device because one of the most common reasons why vapers have difficulty completely giving up tobacco cigarettes is down to the type of device that they are using.
    2. Find the right balance because, when choosing your ‘kit’, the trick is to strike the right balance between ease of use and an experience that provides the satisfaction that you need.
    3. Explore new flavors by thinking about what flavors you like in other products, because there’s bound to be a suitable vape juice for you.
    4. Give yourself time to make the adjustment once you have chosen your kit and flavors.
    5. Consider dual use because many vapers don’t make a straight switch immediately.
  • Flavored comments

    Flavored comments

    The ‘extraordinary and unprecedented’ flood of fake comments into the network hosting the public consultation process for the US Food and Drug Administration’s proposed regulation of flavors in tobacco products is much higher than previously was known, according to a story by Brent Stafford at regulatorwatch.com.
    With the comment period now closed, staff at Regulations.gov were said to have confirmed to RegWatch the ‘stunning revelation’ that 95 percent of the 525,000 comments received into the system were BOT-submitted comments or were otherwise duplicate in nature.
    Last month, regulatorwatch.com reported that, in a battle to destroy vaping, ‘bad actors’ had spammed more than 255,000 fake anti-vaping comments into the system overseeing the consultation process related to proposed regulations that could include restrictions on the use of flavors in e-liquids, or an outright flavor ban.
    It was said that the assault nearly brought down federal servers and so bogged-down the internal network that it became next-to-impossible to process any submissions.
    RegWatch described what happened as a massive assault on the credibility of the public consultation process.
    Meanwhile, according to a Vaping 360 story last month relayed by the TMA, the 255,000 comments originated from four IP addresses.
    At that time, the agency was said to have been able to stem the flow of comments but had not approved or published a single comment from the pending queue of hundreds of thousands of comments.
    The spammed comments were unsigned and followed one of four templates, including three that used language copied from an April Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, and another from a form letter to California mayors created by the California Department of Public Health.
    The comments were said to ‘critique the use of flavors and packaging to increase addictiveness and appeal’.

  • Flavors key to switching

    Flavors key to switching

    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.

  • Spam flavor

    Spam flavor

    In a battle to destroy vaping, ‘bad actors’ have spammed more than 255,000 fake anti-vaping comments into the system overseeing the public consultation process for the US Food and Drug Administration’s proposed rulemaking on the Regulation of Flavors in Tobacco Products, according to a story by Brent Stafford for regulatorwatch.com.
    The regulations in question could include restrictions on the use of flavors in e-liquids, or an outright flavor ban.
    FDA sources were said to have told RegWatch that the spammed entry of more than a quarter of a million fake comments was “extraordinary” and “unprecedented”.
    It was said that the assault nearly brought down federal servers and so bogged-down the internal network that it became next-to-impossible to process any submissions.
    RegWatch described what happened as a massive assault on the credibility of the public consultation process.
    Meanwhile, according to a Vaping 360 story relayed by the TMA, the 255,000 comments originated from four IP addresses.
    The agency was said to have been able to stem the flow of comments but had not approved or published a single comment from the pending queue of hundreds of thousands of comments.
    The spammed comments were unsigned and followed one of four templates, including three that used language copied from an April Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, and another from a form letter to California mayors created by the California Department of Public Health.
    The comments were said to ‘critique the use of flavors and packaging to increase addictiveness and appeal’.
    As of July 9, there were more than 517,000 submissions waiting to be reviewed and each comment on the FDA regulatory docket must be read and approved by FDA staff before inclusion.
    Vaping organizations have been encouraging comment submissions from vapers but are concerned that confusion and uncertainty over the corrupted comment docket will discourage many vapers from telling their stories.

  • A matter of timing

    A matter of timing

    A member of the European Parliament has suggested that the European Commission would be putting the commercial interests of tobacco manufacturers before the health interests of EU citizens if it issued a legal challenge to Belgium’s proposal to ban menthol cigarettes.
    In a preamble to his question, the Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts said the purpose of the EU’s Tobacco Products Directive was better to protect consumers, particularly young people, by considering new scientific knowledge and legislating on new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.
    Specifically, the TPD banned the sale of menthol cigarettes from May 20, 2020.
    ‘Tobacco use is the most common cause of premature death in the EU,’ he said. ‘On average, 700,000 smokers die each year and smokers die 14 years earlier than non-smokers. That figure is almost 20 times higher than the number of premature deaths caused by fine particulate nitrogen oxide emissions, the dangers of which came to light during the “dieselgate” scandal. Of people aged between 15 and 24 years old, 29% are smokers.’
    Lamberts said the Belgian press had reported that the Commission was threatening to bring legal action against the Belgian Government because it was seeking to ban the sale of menthol products before 2020. (See the June 18 story: Brussels threat to Belgium)
    ‘In doing so, the Commission would be putting the commercial interests of manufacturers before the public health interests of EU citizens,’ he said.
    He then asked:
    ‘What is its justification for that stance?’; and
    ‘Is the Commission’s position not contrary to Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which provides that “in defining and implementing its policies and activities, the Union shall take into account requirements linked to (…) a high level of (…) protection of human health”?’
    The Commission is due to reply in writing.

  • Vapers; here’s your chance

    Vapers; here’s your chance

    People in the US who have quit smoking by using vapor products are being offered the opportunity to submit sworn statements about their quitting to help forestall bans or restrictions on flavored e-liquids – and, thereby, allow current and future smokers the chance of taking the same route to quitting.
    In a blog last week, Brad Rodu, who is a professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville and who holds an endowed chair in tobacco harm reduction research, noted that a year and a half ago, he had blogged about government agencies ignoring federal survey data showing that 2.5 million former smokers were current vapers.
    Rodu said that when the Food and Drug Administration’s tobacco-center director Mitch Zeller dismissed this evidence as mere “anecdotal reports”, he – Rodu – had argued that such data constituted legitimate population-level evidence.
    Rodu went on to say that, in aiming to build a fresh dataset on smokers’ success in using vapor as a quitting aid, the Vapor Technology Association and Consumer Advocates for Smoke-Free Alternatives had recently launched a national campaign called I Am Not An Anecdote.
    ‘The groups are asking vapers to submit to the FDA detailed, sworn statements to “encourage Congress and federal regulators to reject any proposal that would ban OR limit flavored e-liquid products”, said Rodu. ‘The groups note that FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has said that your “personal stories are important to me”. But, he also refers to your stories of quitting cigarettes with vapor products as “anecdotes”.’
    Rodu admitted that, in scientific terminology, individual cases were anecdotal, but said that their cumulative value was considerable.
    ‘FDA should give weight to published studies, even when they do not conform to visions of a tobacco-free society,’ he said. ‘The agency should also recognize the scientific value of mass declarations of smoking cessation accomplished through vaping substitution.’

  • Brussels threat to Belgium

    Brussels threat to Belgium

    The Belgian Minister of Public Health Maggie de Block wants to ban menthol tobacco before the EU’s 2020 deadline but is being confronted with European Commission threats to take Belgium to court should it persist, according to a story in the Brussels Times quoting a report in L’Echo.
    In 2014, the EU decided to ban tobacco products delivering distinctive, non-tobacco flavors, though it delayed the imposition of the ban until May 20, 2020, in the case of products with a market share of three percent or more across the EU.
    The directive’s text requires also that the banning of flavored tobacco products ‘should extend over a long period to allow consumers enough time to switch to other products’.
    De Block apparently prepared a draft of a royal decree transposing the European directive into Belgian law, but without taking into consideration the temporary exemption granted to menthol tobacco.
    “Protection of health, especially for young people, justifies the application of this measure at the earliest,’’ said de Block.
    But the Commission sent the Belgian government a warning, threatening to take the matter to the EU Court of Justice should it not change its mind.
    A confrontation seems to be looming. The Belgium cabinet has confirmed its determination to ban menthol before the European 2020 deadline.

  • Flavors have role in THR

    Flavors have role in THR

    The Heartland Institute has urged the US Food and Drug Administration to acknowledge tobacco harm reduction (THR) products as tools that have been shown to have a positive impact on public health.
    The Institute was responding to an FDA advanced notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at obtaining information related to the role that flavors play in tobacco products.
    Lindsey Stroud, the Institute’s state government relations manager said that anti-tobacco campaigns and tax increases had tried to curb the use of tobacco products, but that they offered only a strategy of “quit or die”. There was another approach: tobacco harm reduction, which explicitly included the continued use of tobacco or nicotine, and was designed to reduce the health effects of tobacco use.
    There were numerous THR products currently on the market in the US – including snus, electronic cigarettes and vaping devices, and HNB products – all of which effectively delivered nicotine in a less harmful way than combustible cigarettes.
    ‘Flavors are an important component of THR products and vital to helping many smokers cease using combustible tobacco,’ she said.
    Stroud’s response looks in depth at the role of flavors in THR products, at youth and tobacco harm reduction, at advertising and e-cigarettes; and it presents some recommended regulatory priorities.

  • Flavor ban gets the nod

    Flavor ban gets the nod

    Photo: Larry D Crain

    Voters in San Francisco, California, have approved a city-wide ban on the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes and certain chewing tobaccos, and vaping liquids, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

    Proposition E was supported by 68 percent of voters and opposed by 31 percent.
    San Francisco supervisors last year unanimously approved the ban, but it was put on hold after R.J. Reynolds collected enough signatures to put it on the ballot. The company was said to have spent at least $12 million on the campaign opposing the measure.

    Before the ban, the Consumer Choice Center’s senior fellow, Jeff Stier, said that California law already prohibited the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under 21. As such, the ordinance would change the legal status of the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to adults exclusively.
    Stier called on the FDA to “speak out about how a local ban on the sale of flavored e-cigarettes to adults could undermine the FDA’s comprehensive regulatory plan to fight smoking, given the role flavors in e-cigarettes play in helping adult smokers quit.”

    Following the vote, Bonnie Herzog, MD Equity Research for Tobacco and C-Stores at Wells Fargo Securities, said that while she expected tobacco stocks would come under pressure because of the vote, the ban was not a “deal-breaker” for the menthol category.
    “As we have written in the past, we believe the net negative impact for major tobacco manufacturers will be limited since we expect many consumers will likely move their purchases online or cross border ultimately having the greatest negative impact on retailers,” she said.