# The impact of menthol and mint e-liquid bans on menthol cigarette smokers

> **NIH NIH R03** · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2020 · $155,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Cigarette smoking contributes to nearly 30% of all cancer-related deaths.3 Menthol cigarettes comprise almost
one-third of the U.S. market share and are disproportionately smoked by racial minorities.1 Tobacco control
policies targeting menthol flavoring in tobacco could have significant public health outcomes, especially among
black smokers. One key challenge of tobacco regulation is weighing the risks and benefits of potential policies
across different populations (i.e., users and non-users).4 Tension arises between policies intended to prevent
adolescent and young adult (AYA) tobacco initiation and those intended to reduce harm among current tobacco
users. Specifically, menthol flavored e-liquid restrictions aimed at reducing AYA vaping may unintentionally
discourage menthol cigarette smokers from switching to potentially less harmful products. E-cigarette use or
vaping has increased dramatically among AYA and vaping devices with nicotine pods (e.g., JUUL) account for
a large proportion of AYA use.5,6 These devices are available in many e-liquid flavors including menthol and mint,
with mint being a popular flavor among AYA.2,7 The Food and Drug Administration and many states have
announced intentions to limit all flavored e-liquids, including menthol and mint, in an effort to reduce AYA vaping.
Alternatively, vaping devices, like JUUL, may be ideal substitution products for adult smokers who are unable to
quit using nicotine. From a harm reduction perspective, moving smokers away from combusted tobacco
(cigarettes) to non-combusted products (e-cigarettes) will likely result in a net positive public health impact.8 The
availability of menthol e-liquids may be important for encouraging menthol cigarette smokers to switch to e-
cigarettes, but mint e-liquids, which are appealing to AYA, may be unnecessary to facilitate switching. Including
mint e-liquids in flavor bans but allowing menthol e-liquids to remain on the market as potential substitution
products for menthol smokers may be an optimal policy approach. Behavioral economics is an ideal framework
for answering this question because it applies economic constructs, such as product substitution, to individual
decision-making. We are proposing a lab study and field assessment to determine how including menthol and
mint e-liquids in e-liquid flavor bans or sales restrictions affects tobacco product purchasing and use among
menthol cigarette smokers (N=80; 40 black, 40 white). At lab sessions, participants will complete the
Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) task, a behavioral economics task in which they receive account
balances to an online store and can buy menthol cigarettes at escalating costs or buy e-liquids, non-menthol
cigarettes, or nicotine replacement gum at fixed costs. They will complete the task under three marketplace
conditions: (1) only tobacco e-liquids available, (2) menthol and tobacco e-liquids available, and (3) menthol,
mint, and tobacco e-liquids avai...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10046746
- **Project number:** 1R03CA252767-01
- **Recipient organization:** WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Rachel Denlinger-Apte
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $155,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-07 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10046746

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10046746, The impact of menthol and mint e-liquid bans on menthol cigarette smokers (1R03CA252767-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10046746. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*