Tobacco Corporations' Lure Youth With Flavored Cigarettes

They sounded like the flavor of the day at the neighborhood ice cream parlor: Mandarin Mint and Cherry Cheesecake.

But they're actually flavored cigarettes, an expanding product niche being aggressively promoted by tobacco companies eager to shore up declining sales.

Now, just one month after a second major manufacturer launched a line of flavored smokes, the cigarettes are facing unprecedented scrutiny in Massachusetts and in Washington.

Today, the state Department of Public Health is expected to call on companies to stop peddling their flavored brands in Massachusetts, arguing that the products represent a blatant attempt to lure teenage smokers and constitute a violation of the sweeping 1998 legal agreement that prohibited marketing cigarettes to youth.

And, in an attempt to reinvigorate the crusade to more tightly control tobacco, US Senator Edward M. Kennedy is expected to introduce legislation today that would allow the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate cigarettes and that would impose a national ban on the flavored varieties.

``We clearly see them repositioning their brands to go after the youth market,'' said Greg Connolly, a scientific adviser to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health. "By masking the natural toxic products of smoke with these candy flavors, they're basically trying to turn a blow torch into rice pudding. It's unconscionable." But tobacco company representatives said yesterday that the flavored cigarettes are no different than hazelnut coffee or rum with a twist and that manufacturers are responding to adult consumers seeking an alternative to standard cigarettes.

"The surveys we have done among adults show that they want and desire flavored products," said Mark Smith, spokesman for Brown & Williamson Corp., which about a month ago introduced fruit-flavored Kool cigarettes. "American consumers are hooked on variety and different choices.

"If you ask me: `Aren't you appealing to youth?' My response would be, `I don't think so.' But we don't survey kids for a very good reason: No one, including us, should market to kids, and we don't."

Tobacco companies intend to continue selling the products, spokesmen said, but are willing to discuss concerns the Department of Public Health has.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. began selling "exotic" versions of the Camel brand in October 1999, company spokeswoman Carole Crosslin said. Among the exotic smokes now on the market: Twist, with a citrus flavor, and Dark Mint, which hints of chocolate and mint.

Reynolds also rolls out limited editions linked to events or seasons of the year. Bayou Blast celebrated Mardi Gras, while Midnight Madness, with its burst of champagne essence, was tied to the arrival of a new year.

The flavored brands, Crosslin said, are "premium priced," with a tin selling for a national average of $6, making them about 50 percent more expensive than regular cigarettes. Industry critics such as Connolly concede that young smokers can be especially sensitive to higher cigarette prices, but he and other industry opponents said that some youths will gravitate toward the flavored brands precisely because they are viewed as high end, giving them an irresistible allure. Wall Street analysts said that the flavored cigarettes, produced by small companies in addition to major manufacturers, make up a negligible share of the US cigarette market and that the sales of specific varieties of a brand such as Camel are not tracked by product watchers.

"Tobacco manufacturers both in the US and outside the US look at providing variety as a way to attract smokers and strengthen their brands," said David Adelman, a managing director at Morgan Stanley who tracks the industry. "Essentially, with any innovative effort to drive the business today, you get accused of marketing to minors. In my personal opinion, some taste variant isn't what's going to make the product alluring to young people."

Public health authorities fervently dispute that assessment, and their assault on flavored cigarettes represents the latest chapter in the long-running jousting match between Big Tobacco and its opponents, including medical associations and attorneys general across the nation.

Much of that battle hinges on this question: Have tobacco companies, through marketing strategies such as the Joe Camel character, attempted to attract underage smokers and hook them on a lifelong habit?

The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement that ended a four-year legal battle between state law officers and major tobacco companies prohibited marketing cigarettes to youngsters. Now, Christine C. Ferguson, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, accuses tobacco makers of breaking their word -- and she points to the flavored cigarettes as exhibit A.

Ferguson and other adversaries of the tobacco industry said the hip names and brightly hued packaging of the flavored cigarettes are clearly targeted at impressionable youngsters, and Ferguson yesterday afternoon sent a letter to the National Association of Attorneys General asking it to review whether the products violate the master agreement.

"Have you smelled this stuff? It's amazing," Ferguson said. "When I first smelled that stuff, all I could think of was candy. I think that this really is targeted at young people."

Angelita Plemmer, spokeswoman for the attorneys general association, said yesterday that the organization had just received Ferguson's letter and that its attorneys did not yet have an opinion on whether the settlement had been breached.

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell, chairman of the tobacco committee of the National Association of Attorneys General, said he was reluctant to conclude without legal review that the flavored cigarettes are a clear violation.

"But let's put it this way," Sorrell said. "I think that strong arguments can be made that flavored cigarettes are essentially being used to appeal to the youth market, and that's wrong."

Flavor is introduced into cigarettes through a variety of methods, manufacturers said. Smith, the Brown & Williamson spokesman, said his company sprays on the taste.

At Reynolds, a polyethylene pellet placed in the filter of some of the exotic brands delivers the flavor, said Crosslin, who added that the pellet is made of the same material used in milk jugs. Crosslin said Reynolds scientists had determined that the pellets and flavoring do not present a heightened health threat to smokers. Still, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is asking the companies to provide detailed information on the flavor-delivery systems, and legislation in the state Senate would force disclosure of the ingredients. Connolly said that if those substances prove toxic, the state may move to ban the flavored cigarettes.

© 2004 Boston Globe

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