Flavors also make tobacco products taste good,(1-3) which is very appealing to new and inexperienced smokers.(3) The cooling and anesthetic effects of menthol mask the harshness associated with cigarette smoke, allow deeper inhalation,(4) and make tobacco toxins go down easier.(5) Flavors, especially menthol, make it harder to quit.(6, 7) Menthol actually makes cigarettes more addictive than those cigarettes sold as non-menthol.(7) Though many smokers may think flavors make tobacco and smoking safer, menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products present the same disease risk as nonmenthol cigarettes.(8) Menthol and other flavored tobacco products are disproportionately used by African Americans and other communities of color, as well as female, younger, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) smokers
Chicago, population 2.7 million, currently faces the steepest cigarette tax burden in the nation
Nitrosamines as nicotinic receptor ligands
Are Cigars Worse Than Cigarettes for Teeth
The cigarette: A political history (Harvard University Press, 2019) online