Cigarillos: A Local Perspective on an Emerging Public Health Problem

Audience: This poster will benefit tobacco control researchers/evaluators, policy planners/organizers, and program directors/managers working in local public health departments and CBOs.

Key Points: Although prevalence of cigarette smoking among youth has decreased over the past decade, smoking prevalence cigarillos has increased. Prevalence rates of these products appear to be highest among 18-25 year olds. It appears that use of cigarillos has been exacerbated by gaps in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FDA Act), which bans the sale of single cigarettes and most flavored cigarettes. However, these restrictions do not apply to cigarillos.

Educational Experience: The overarching goal of this poster is to provide easily understandable and practical information about  the rising  marketing of cigarillos in Los Angeles County (LAC). To achieve these aims, we will describe an observational survey of the retail environment conducted by the LAC Department of Public Health (DPH) that found 136 out of 166 tobacco retailers (82%) sold cigarillos. We will also describe two undercover youth decoy operations: one by DPH that found 11 out of 53 retailers (21%) were willing to sell cigarillos to youth and the other conducted by LAC Sheriff’s Department that found 5 out of 28 retailers (18%) illegally sold cigarillos to youth.

Benefits: Participants will learn about the rising  marketing of cigarillos in LAC and policy options local jurisdictions could consider that go beyond the FDA Act to restrict sales of cigarillos.