Will e-cigarette tastes increase smokers' interest in disposable vapes?

E-cigarettes have become a new situation worldwide as an alternative to paper cigarettes. But there are plenty of people who argue that the variety of disposable vape flavors will increase people's dependence on e-cigarettes and make quitting smoking a hindrance, so let's see if that's the case.

Many vape users find the variety of e-cigarette flavors appealing. We examined whether preferences for e-liquid flavors and the total number of flavors preferred differed between samples of adolescent and adult disposable vape users. We also examined whether these preferences were associated with vape use frequency for adolescents or adults, respectively.

Participants reported which e-liquid flavors they preferred to use from the following categories: “tobacco, menthol, mint, fruit (like strawberry, blueberry, or peach), vanilla, candy/dessert (like apple pie, chocolate, or Jolly Rancher), spice (like clove, cinnamon, or nutmeg), alcohol (like piña colada, strawberry daiquiri, or bourbon), coffee (like espresso, latte, or cappuccino)”, “other”, and “I don’t know.” Participants could select as many flavors as were applicable. For all participants, a summary score was created reflecting the total number of flavors preferred (range 0–10). Participants who indicated that they did not know what flavor they preferred or who did not indicate a preference were assigned a score of zero for the total number of flavors preferred.

In this cohort study with 17 929 participants, multivariable analyses of nationally representative, longitudinal survey data evaluated differences in smoking initiation and cessation subsequent to vaping uptake among those who used flavored vs unflavored disposable vapes, separately by age group. Relative to vaping tobacco flavors, vaping nontobacco-flavored e-cigarettes was not associated with increased youth smoking initiation but was associated with an increase in the odds of adult smoking cessation.

In this study, adults who vaped flavored e-cigarettes were more likely to subsequently quit smoking than those who used unflavored e-cigarettes. Disposable vape tastes can’t increase smokers' interest in e-cigarettes.