Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars

Decades of tobacco industry documents show how the tobacco industry has deliberately targeted Black Americans with menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, as well as LGBTQ+ and limited-income communities. Menthol flavoring makes it easier to start smoking and harder to quit. Ensuring that more people smoke and fewer people quit means more money in Big Tobacco’s pockets.

ACS CAN urges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement a comprehensive and swift prohibition on menthol in cigarettes and all flavors in cigars. Additionally, ACS CAN will continue to advocate for the prohibition of all flavors in all tobacco products at all levels of government until they are no longer available to addict new consumers. Any flavored product left on the market will allow Big Tobacco to continue to target youth, communities of color, the LGBTQ+ community and others with its deadly products.

Take Action

Smoke

Urge the FDA to say "no" to Big Tobacco's use of flavors in their products!

For years, Big Tobacco has used flavored products and predatory marketing practices to lure kids and communities of color to their deadly products. This needs to stop. 

EXPLORE MORE ABOUT MENTHOL CIGARETTES AND FLAVORED CIGARS


Latest Updates

May 18, 2023

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to consider an appropriations bill to fund the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other related agencies for Fiscal Year 2024. The bill includes several provisions that would keep the FDA from fulfilling its duty to protect public health and threaten its efforts to combat the harmful impacts of tobacco.

May 4, 2023
National

Cigarette smoking declined from 12.5% in 2020 to 11.5% in 2021, but one in five, or 46 million, U.S. adults continues to use tobacco products in 2021 according to new data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

May 1, 2023
New York

ALBANY, NY – MAY 1, 2023 – Earlier today New York State leaders released details on the agreed upon 2023-24 budget and will soon adopt each of the budget bills—the contents of which are a mixed bag at best in the fight against cancer. While the state made sound investments

April 26, 2023
National

Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its proposed rules to eliminate menthol cigarettes and eliminate all flavors in cigars. Now, nearly one year later, the rules are still not final. This inaction has allowed Big Tobacco to continue targeting these products to the Black community, who consistently reports the highest prevalence of menthol cigarette use.

Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars Resources

Cigars, cigarillos, and little cigars pose a real danger to the long-term health of all Americans – especially young people – yet government regulation of these products lags behind that of cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

While overall smoking rates have declined in recent years, smoking rates remain higher among specific subpopulations, including African Americans. These differences are in large part due to the tobacco industry’s targeted marketing through advertising, price discounting and other strategies.