Flavored cigar availability in Oakland after a partial ban.

Objectives: We report the continued availability of flavored cigars based on our analysis of discarded cigar wrappers collected in February 2019, after a partial flavor ban in Oakland, CA.

Methods: We collected 1,501 discarded cigar wrappers in a stratified random sample of census tracts (n = 15). Collected packages were cleaned, photographed, and coded for product type, brand name, pack size, flavor descriptor, and pricing details.

Adoption of Tobacco 21: A Cross-Case Analysis of Ten US States.

Despite the recent push for Tobacco 21 legislation in the US and the national adoption of Tobacco 21, there is a paucity of data on the process of policy adoption. To explore the key factors that served as facilitators or challenges to the passage of state T21 laws that apply to the sale of all tobacco products to anyone under 21 years of age, we conducted a comparative, cross-case study in ten states that adopted Tobacco 21 between 2016 and 2019. Stakeholders from selected states were identified via snowball sampling, and interviews were conducted from November 2018 to March 2020.

Examination of Voluntary Compliance with New FDA Cigar Warning Label Requirements.

Objectives: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new requirements to strengthen and increase the size of cigar warnings. Although these requirements were challenged in court by the cigar industry, and later struck down, cigar manufacturers had the option of voluntarily complying during the injunction. In this study, we examined voluntary warning compliance on a sample of discarded cigar wrappers.

Availability of menthol cigarettes in Oakland, California after a partial flavor ban.

This study measures the availability of menthol cigarettes in Oakland, California where such products were banned from the majority of tobacco retailers, except for those who sold a significant amount of tobacco (e.g., 60% gross income).

Identifying Counterfeit Cigarettes Using Environmental Pollen Analysis: An Improved Procedure.

Traditional pollen preparation techniques provide clear residues for pollen identification; however, such methods are time-consuming, requiring repeated centrifugation, heating, and digestion with high-concentration hazardous chemicals. Tobacco leaves can effectively trap environmental pollen due to hairy surface and terpene-rich exudates. A new tobacco sample processing method was developed by using different extraction chemistry with surfactant.

Changes in Tobacco Product Advertising at Point of Sale: 2015-2018.

Objectives: Tobacco point-of-sale advertising, particularly in retailers surrounding schools, is associated with youth tobacco use and must be monitored. This study examines how the point-of-sale environment surrounding youth changed over time with regard to diverse tobacco products.

Methods: Each spring from 2015 to 2018, research staff visited the same tobacco retailers ( = 141) within a half-mile of New Jersey high schools.

A discarded cigar package survey in New York City: indicators of non-compliance with local flavoured tobacco restrictions.

Introduction: In 2009, New York City (NYC) restricted the sale of flavoured tobacco products. We assessed product availability as a proxy for potential non-compliance by analysing discarded cigar, cigarillo and blunt wrap packages in New York City.

Methods: A discarded cigar package survey was conducted in 2016, in a stratified random sample of 94 block groups in NYC resulting in the collection of 886 discarded cigar packages.

Categorising characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes: a systematic review of tobacco industry documents.

Background: There is scant research on methods used to identify counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.

Methods: Systematic analysis of internal tobacco industry documents characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.

Results: In the industry documents we identified as relevant, there were 42 characteristics of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.

"I'm gonna get me a loosie" Understanding single cigarette purchases by adult smokers in a disadvantaged section of New York City.

This study seeks to update and expand our understanding of the perceptions and purchasing patterns of smokers of single cigarettes ('loosies') in disadvantaged urban areas. Semi-structured guides were used in thirteen focus groups with 67 self-identified adult smokers from the South Bronx section of New York City in summer 2013. There is wide availability of single cigarettes in the South Bronx, with legitimate stores overwhelmingly being the preferred venue for purchases.

Innovations in counterfeiting tax stamps: a study of ultraviolet watermarks in a sample of discarded New York City packs.

Objective: Document the use of ultraviolet watermark in counterfeit joint New York City/New York State cigarette tax stamps to assess the scale at which distributors of illegal cigarettes adapt to measures protecting the integrity of the system of tobacco tax collection.

Methods: In 2016, we collected 2357 empty discarded cigarette packs along a stratified random sample of block groups in New York City (n=114) and analysed 449 joint New York City/New York State tax stamps using long wave ultraviolet irradiation, light microscopy and taggant testers developed by the tax stamp manufacturer, Meyercord Revenue, to determine whether the tax stamps were counterfeit and how they differed from their genuine equivalent.

Findings: 23% (n=102) of the joint NYC/NYS tax stamps examined were counterfeit.

Presence of Counterfeit Marlboro Gold Packs in Licensed Retail Stores in New York City: Evidence From Test Purchases.

Background: There are no independent studies measuring the availability of premium brand counterfeit cigarettes in New York City from licensed retailers.

Methods: We forensically analyzed the cigarette packaging of Marlboro Gold (n = 1021) purchased from licensed tobacco retailers in New York City, using ultraviolet irradiation and light microscopy to determine whether they were counterfeit.

Results: We find that while only 0.

Spring Breaks and Cigarette Tax Noncompliance: Evidence From a New York City College Sample.

Objective: Estimate cigarette tax noncompliance (tax avoidance and evasion) before and after mid-semester recesses in a New York City college campus, where the majority of students are residents of nearby lower-tax states, using data derived from garbology, an archaeological method that reconstructs patterns of human behavior from discarded materials.

Design: We systematically divided the college campus into four geographic areas and established a total of 12 transects (survey lines) and five quadrats (survey spheres) in those areas to encompass 74 outdoor trash cans. Weekly collections of discarded cigarette packs (n = 174) in the four areas during Spring 2012 and 2013 were conducted to quantify the percentage of cigarette packs that were tax noncompliant.

Identifying counterfeit cigarette packs using ultraviolet irradiation and light microscopy.

Objectives: Develop a method that yields high rates of sensitivity and specificity for determination of counterfeit cigarette packs for three popular brands: Newport, Marlboro ('Red') and Marlboro Gold.

Methods: Using systematic keyword searches, we identified industry documents from the University of California, San Francisco's Legacy Tobacco Documents Library that describe the use of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and close examination of printing quality to distinguish between counterfeit and genuine cigarette packs. Guided by these documents, we identified six markers for counterfeit cigarettes across three popular brands using counterfeit cigarette packs (N=68) seized by law enforcement agencies in the USA.

Investigation of lead and cadmium in counterfeit cigarettes seized in the United States.

Information of toxic elements such as lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) in counterfeit cigarettes offers insight on the potential public health impact of consuming counterfeit cigarettes and the technology used by counterfeiters in the illicit cigarette trade. In this study, the concentration of Pb and Cd in twenty-three packs of counterfeit cigarettes seized in the US by various law enforcement agencies were evaluated and compared with their genuine equivalents using microwave digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis. Both Pb and Cd concentration in counterfeit cigarettes were markedly higher than those in their genuine equivalents, and exhibited greater sample to sample variability.

The intended and unintended consequences of a legal measure to cut the flow of illegal cigarettes into New York City: the case of the South Bronx.

Objectives: We examined the impact of a change in New York tax law on the numbers of untaxed cigarettes bootlegged from Native American reservations and resold in the South Bronx.

Methods: Discarded cigarette packs were systematically collected in 30 randomized South Bronx census tracks before and after the amended tax law went into effect in 2011. Also, administrative data were gathered on the number of taxed cigarettes sold in New York State, including sales to Native American reservations.

The illegal cigarette market in a socioeconomically deprived inner-city area: the case of the South Bronx.

Objective: To determine the scope of the cigarette black market in a socioeconomically deprived inner-city area in the US, taking the South Bronx in New York City as a case study.

Design: The South Bronx Litter Pack Survey collected discarded cigarette packs (n=497) along 30 randomised census tracts to quantify the prevalence of counterfeit, legal and out-of-state tax stamps.

Results: It was found that 76.