Characterizing the use, preferences, and perceptions of flavors in cigars in pregnant women

Abstract

Background

Flavors contribute to the appeal of tobacco products, but less is known about flavors in cigar products. The current study is the first to focus on characterizing the use and perceptions of flavors in cigar products among pregnant women.

Methods

Pregnant women (N = 124) reported their use, preferences (liking, attractiveness, smoothness, interest), perceptions of harm (general, pregnancy-specific, fetal), and postpartum intention to use eight flavor categories (menthol/mint, spices, fruit, chocolate, alcohol, other beverages, candy/sweet, tobacco). We utilized correspondence analysis of contingency tables to investigate clustering of preferences and perceptions of flavors across the sample, and examined how preferences and perceptions of flavors may differ based on history of cigar use (none vs. lifetime vs. prenatal).

Results

Overall, 37% reported never trying cigars, 51% reported lifetime use, and 12% reported prenatal use. Fruit (37%), tobacco (36%), and alcohol (14%) were the most common cigar flavors participants reported ever trying. Correspondence analysis revealed clustering in preferences for alcohol, fruit, and candy flavors compared to other flavors, and revealed lower intentions to use menthol/mint and tobacco flavors compared to other flavors. Participants who reported prenatal cigar use also reported more positive perceptions and greater intentions to use (1) spice and alcohol flavors compared to those who reported lifetime use (ps < .05); and (2) spice, alcohol, fruit, and tobacco cigar flavors compared to participants reporting never using cigars (ps < .04).

Conclusions

Regulations to restrict the availability of flavors, especially fruit, spice, and alcohol, may reduce the appeal and use of cigar products in pregnant women.

Keywords:

• Cigar
• pregnancy
• flavors
• perceptions
• preferences

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the pregnant women who contributed to this study. We also thank the Maternal-Infant Studies Laboratory staff for their assistance with data collection.

Author contributions

Nancy C. Jao: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Data Curation, Writing – Original Draft, Visualization, Supervision; George D. Papandonatos: Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Writing – Review & Editing; Jocelyn Stanfield: Writing – Original Draft, Visualization; Katelyn Borba: Investigation, Data Curation, Writing – Review & Editing, Visualization; Laura R. Stroud: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under Grants 5R01DA036999 and 5R01DA036999-02S2 to LRS. NCJ was supported by K01HL164670. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH or FDA. NIDA, CTP, and FDA had no role in the study design, collection, analysis/interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.