Slowing Menthols Progress: Differential Impact of a Tobacco Tax Increase on Cigarette Sales

Conclusions:
Sales of menthol cigarettes declined less rapidly than non-menthol cigarettes before the price increase. Sales of menthol and non-menthol cigarettes declined at more comparable rates after the price increase. Increasing the price of tobacco may help ensure declines in consumption are more evenly distributed across menthol and non-menthol cigarettes.

Implications:
Using sales data, we found that a trend of increasing market share for menthol cigarettes was significantly reduced by a $1.75 cigarette price increase. These results suggest that cigarette price increases, a core tobacco control policy, may have a greater effect on menthol smokers than non-menthol smokers.

Source: Nicotine and Tobacco Research - April 8, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Amato, M. S., DSilva, J., Boyle, R. G. Tags: Brief Report Source Type: research