The use of blended and concept flavors aligns with historic tactics of modifying product characteristics, labeling, or packaging to maintain sales and subvert flavor restrictions designed to deter youth use. Concept flavors, in particular, pose a challenge for enforcement of flavored tobacco restrictions, as they make it difficult for enforcement agencies to determine whether a tobacco product meets the legal definition of a flavored tobacco product.
In 2021 the popular disposable e-cigarette brand BIDI Stick unveiled nearly a dozen new concept flavor names as direct translations from its previous flavors, a move researchers say appears designed to subvert future restrictions on the sale of flavored disposable e-cigarettes. More recently, as California’s law eliminating flavored tobacco, including menthol cigarettes, went into effect in late December, R.J. Reynolds rolled out two new cigarette brands, Camel Crisp and Newport EXP, marketing them as “non-menthol” even though they still have synthetic cooling agents.
Researchers recommend that restrictions on flavored e-cigarettes be expanded to include all device types “to address the continued proliferation of flavors with youth appeal,” and that policies to eliminate menthol should be expanded to include other cooling additives.