This page provides descriptions and pictures of flavored tobacco product examples. It is not an exhaustive list of flavors or products. Please reach out to tobaccoeval@ucdavis.edu if you have suggestions to improve these resources.
Additional resources and trainings on flavored tobacco products are also available on Partners (login required).
The Tobacco Education Clearing House of California has a quick reference guide to flavors. Check out the TECC Flavored Tobacco Product ID Guide or click here to download a high quality file.
Common tobacco flavor categories:
- Mint/Menthol
- "Non-Menthol" Menthol (or fake menthol)
- Fruit/Sweet/Liquor
- Fusion, Solar, Jazz
- Another concept flavor
Mint/Menthol products are often green or blue, but that isn’t always the case. You want to look for the words “mint” or “menthol,” or "ice" and "frost." You can also look for words like “capsule” for products like Camel Crush or Marlboro NXT, which have a flavor capsule that makes regular cigarettes into a menthol cigarette.
"Non-Menthol" Menthol or Fake Menthol products often have packaging similar to menthol flavored products and were created by the tobacco industry to try to get around California's flavored tobacco sales restrictions.
Additional resources on "non-menthol" menthol products:
- https://tobacco-img.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/03091557/Non-MentholMarketing_3-1-2023F.pdf
- https://stanfordmedicine.app.box.com/s/sbqrl5lmhrjcciws0q9ftdx9wxk8h2z6
- https://profglantz.com/2023/05/04/california-ag-determines-that-non-menthol-cigs-are-flavored-and-so-illegal-to-sell-in-california/
- https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/commentary/230615/6/15/23-sensing-flavor-rj-reynoldss-latest-efforts-undermine-californias-flavored
Fruit/Sweet/Liquor flavors include names that refer to a sweet scent or flavor like strawberry, mocha, wine, or cocktails. This category is pretty big, because it includes so many different flavors. Grape, strawberry, and other fruits are common examples.
Fusion, solar, and jazz are all flavored tobacco that don’t seem like they’re flavors based on their name, so look for the words, “fusion” or “solar” or “jazz.”
Another concept flavor are other flavor names that don't seem like they’re flavors based on their name. In the examples, “unicorn puke" and "boosted" are actually flavored tobacco products. Don’t take too long looking for this; it should not be common to see.
