Image credit: TBEC Review, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The study was funded by Public Health England and was motivated by a recent policy debate. Several countries have implemented policies restricting flavoured e-cigarette products, citing concerns about e-cigarette uptake among youth. However, the impact on smokers is unknown, and there may be unintended consequences. Non-tobacco flavoured e-liquids appear to be important for smoking cessation, but how and why are currently unclear.

84 UK participants used a tank-style e-cigarette with either fruit/sweet flavoured (blackcurrant, strawberry, caramel, vanilla) or unflavoured freebase e-liquids for one-week instead of smoking cigarettes. E-liquid nicotine concentration was tailored to need. Each day, participants reported their cigarette cravings and any smoking lapses in a brief survey. After one week of use, participants completed a ‘cue-exposure task’ designed to elicit cigarette craving via exposure to audio and visual smoking cues. Finally, participants were phoned one week later to see if there were any differences in vaping and smoking behaviours after study completion.

Contrary to the authors predictions, e-liquid flavouring did not appear to affect cigarette craving, experiences of e-cigarette use, and smoking cessation intentions and motivations after one week of use. These findings suggest that, during an initial switch from smoking to using e-cigarettes, there may be little impact of using unflavoured e-liquids on cigarette craving if fruit/sweet-flavoured e-liquids are restricted.

However, the authors acknowledge that additional questions must be addressed before attempting to inform policy. For example, further research is needed to establish if differences in cigarette craving and vaping experiences emerge over longer periods of exposure, among smokers attempting to quit, and whether there are any effects on smoking cessation outcomes.

The research paper can be accessed here:

https://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2021/11/16/tobaccocontrol-2021-056769.full

‘Effects of Electronic Cigarette E-Liquid Flavouring on Cigarette Craving’ by Dr Maddy Dyer, Dr Jasmine Khouja, Dr Abigail Jackson, Michelle Havill, Martin Dockrell, Professor Marcus Munafò, and Dr Angela Attwood.