Menthol Cigarettes and Flavored Cigars > Impact on Health Disparities
High use of menthol cigarettes and cigars are not an accident, but by design of the tobacco industry. Decades of tobacco industry documents show how the tobacco industry deliberately targeted Black Americans with menthol cigarettes and cigars, as well as LGBTQ+ and limited-income communities.
Tobacco companies disproportionately market menthol products in African American neighborhoods, magazines popular with African Americans, and events that are aimed for African Americans. Within communities of color, menthol products are given more shelf space in retail stores. Many of these groups also see lower prices and more advertisements for these products in their communities.
In the U.S.:
Non-Hispanic Black/African Americans who smoke are more than 2.5 times more likely to smoke menthol than Non-Hispanic white Americans.
Women who identify as Lesbian or Gay, or Bisexual who smoke have the highest rates of menthol cigarette use compared to heterosexual women and men of any sexual orientation.
Youth aged 12-17 years old who smoke were almost twice more likely smoke menthol cigarettes than adults over the age of 50 who smoke.
Among individuals who currently smoke cigars, non-Hispanic Black Americans were nearly twice as likely to smoke a flavored cigar compared to non-Hispanic white Americans.
Among individuals who currently smoke cigars, those with household incomes below $20,000 were more than 3 times as likely to use a flavored cigar than individuals with household incomes of more than $100,000.
Black non-Hispanic students are twice as likely to smoke cigars as their white non-Hispanic peers, and almost half of those students smoke a flavored cigar.