More Than Cigarettes

New Tobacco Products to Target New Consumers

Tobacco companies continue to develop products like e-cigarettes and IQOS to encourage new consumers and younger audiences to try their products. They spend billions of dollars each year on a variety of marketing strategies, many of which appeal to youth and promote continued use of tobacco products.

Well-Ahead Louisiana provides organizations with education, resources and technical assistance to combat tobacco industry marketing efforts. You can play an active role in the Louisiana Tobacco Coalition to support policy changes at the state and local levels and provide education and resources for tobacco prevention and cessation for all our residents, including youth.

Less Harm, Not Harmless

A recent CDC study found that many adults are using e-cigarettes in an attempt to quit smoking.1 Well-Ahead endorses the public health strategy of harm minimization. While these new products may be beneficial to Louisiana residents who smoke and completely switch from combustible tobacco, we also recognize the health risks of using tobacco in any form and encourage residents who don’t smoke to never use them.2,3 E -cigarettes are not currently approved by the FDA as a smoking cessation aid.

Most adults do not stop smoking cigarettes when using e-cigarettes as a cessation tool. Instead, they continue to use both products (known as dual use). Dual use is not an effective way to safeguard health, whether you’re using e-cigarettes, smokeless tobacco or other tobacco products in addition to regular cigarettes.

For more information, read the tobacco cessation recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a group of preventive healthcare experts.

New Tobacco Products

E-cigarettes, or electronic cigarettes, produce an aerosol by heating a liquid that typically contains nicotine, flavorings and other chemicals that help create the aerosol vapor. Users inhale the vapor into their lungs and expose bystanders to this aerosol upon exhaling. This process and the use of e-cigarettes is often called vaping. While these products most often contain a mixture of nicotine, flavorings and chemicals, they are sometimes used to administer marijuana and other drugs.

Some of these devices look like regular cigarettes, cigars or pipes, but others look like USB flash drives, pens and other everyday items. Most operate using a battery, heating element and liquid capsule. The JUUL device is an example of an e-cigarette.

According to the manufacturer, a single JUUL pod contains as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes!²

IQOS are electronic heat-not-burn tobacco products, or heated tobacco products, that heat tobacco to produce an inhalable aerosol instead of burning tobacco like traditional cigarettes. These devices have not been FDA-approved, and are regarded as part of the tobacco industry’s efforts to deal with increasing regulation.

Disposable e-cigarettes are designed to be thrown away once they run out of charge or e-liquid and are offered in many youth-appealing flavors. Federal policy restricts flavors for closed-system e-liquid cartridges, like JUUL and its pods, but it does not apply to refillable cartridges or disposable products. Examples of disposable e-cigarettes include blu® or Puff Bars.



The Truth About Vapes

Research shows that most young people who vape do not know that e-cigarettes contain nicotine, or that the e-cigarettes’ aerosol in vape products is not harmless water vapor. E-cigarette flavors make it seem like these products are less harmful than cigarettes. But in 2018, the FDA declared teen vaping an epidemic as e-cigarette use increased by 78% in one year.

Vapes – also known as e-cigs, e-hookahs, vape pens and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) – are a type of e-cigarette that usually contain nicotine and other harmful ingredients, including:

  • Ultrafine particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs
  • Flavorants such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to a serious lung disease nicknamed Popcorn Lung
  • Volatile organic compounds
  • Heavy metals such as nickel, tin and lead

The Surgeon General provides even more information about the risks of e-cigarettes.

Citations

1 CDC, QuickStats: Cigarette Smoking Status Among Current Adult E-cigarette Users, by Age Group—National Health Interview Survey, United States, 2015, 2016. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6542a7.htm.

2 Truth Initiative, Emerging Tobacco Products, 2023. https://truthinitiative.org/research-resources/topic/emerging-tobacco-products.

3 Caraballo RS, Shafer PR, Patel D, Davis KC, McAfee TA. Quit Methods Used by US Adult Cigarette Smokers, 2014-2016, 2017. https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2017/16_0600.htm