Menthol cigarette

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A menthol cigarette is a cigarette flavored with menthol. Some cigarette brands are manufactured as menthol-only. Others come in both regular and menthol versions. KOOL and Salem are menthol-only brands. A regular, non-menthol version of Newport — the #1 selling menthol cigarette brand — was introduced recently. Marlboro, the #1 selling regular cigarette brand, now has three mentholated versions — Menthol, Mild, and the newly-released Smooth. In Canada, various brands carry the menthol variety: Craven A, Peter Jackson, More, Kool, and a few others.^{[citation needed]}

Most African American smokers smoke menthols.^{[citation needed]} Approximately 3 out of 4 Black smokers prefer menthols^{[citation needed]}, and among Black youth who smoke, some reports indicate that more than 9 out of 10 choose menthols.^{[citation needed]} Among whites, approximately 1/4 of smokers prefer menthol—mostly women and young, beginning smokers.^{[citation needed]}

Menthol brands are selling well.^{[citation needed]} In the mid-1990s, sales of mentholated cigarettes were growing at about 4-5% a year according to the Winston-Salem Journal (12/1/96). Newport menthol is still doing quite well despite the overall decline in cigarette sales and has been called "the fastest growing cigarette in the country" according to the Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area (4/19/99).^{[citation needed]}

Menthol in cigarettes does not make the cigarettes safer. Even though the menthol is the same ingredient that is used in medicines like cough drops, in cigarettes it is used as a flavoring agent with no medicinal properties.^{[citation needed]}

Menthol in cigarettes has never been officially sanctioned. Although the U.S. Food & Drug Administration regulates menthol in other products as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) the FDA is not allowed to regulate the ingredients in cigarettes and so nothing is known of the properties of menthol when it is mixed with tobacco and ignited.^{[citation needed]}

Here are what some top researchers say about menthol in cigarettes:

"Smokers of menthol cigarettes tend to inhale more deeply because menthol has an anesthetic and cooling effect." (Dr. Karen Ahijevych, The Ohio State University)^{[citation needed]}

"Because menthol alters the metabolism of carcinogens in tobacco smoke, it may be the reason for greater mortality and morbidity among menthol smokers." (Dr. Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, University of Kansas)^{[citation needed]}

"Mentholated cigarettes are associated with higher nicotine levels and carbon monoxide concentrations than non-mentholated cigarettes." (Dr. Pamela I. Clark, Journal of Chest Physicians)^{[citation needed]}

"Research has shown that smokers of low- and medium-nicotine menthol cigarettes have as much as three times the exposure to toxic and cancer-inducing agents as smokers of non-menthol cigarettes with comparable nicotine content." (Dr. Karam El-Bayoumy, American Health Foundation)^{[citation needed]}

It is also argued that menthol cigarettes are more difficult to quit smoking.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Further reading

• Gardiner, Phillip. The African Americanization of menthol cigarette use in the United States (pdf). Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Retrieved on March 8, 2007.
• Sutton, Charyn and Robinson, Robert. The marketing of menthol cigarettes in the United States: Populations, messages, and channels (pdf). Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Retrieved on March 8, 2007.