Sales Trends in Price-Discounted Cigarettes, Large Cigars, Little Cigars, and Cigarillos—United States, 2011–2016

Abstract

Introduction Tobacco manufacturers continue to implement a range of pricing strategies to increase the affordability and consumption of tobacco products. To demonstrate the extent of retail- and brand-level price discounts at the point of sale, this study assessed national sales trends in price-discounted cigarettes, large cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos. Methods Retail scanner data for tobacco product sales were obtained for convenience stores (C-store) and all-other-outlets-combined (AOC) from September 25, 2011, to January 9, 2016. The proportion of price-discounted sales, average nondiscounted unit price, and average discounted unit price were examined by product category and brand. JoinPoint regression was used to assess average monthly percentage change. Results Overall, price-discounted sales accounted for 11.3% of cigarette, 3.4% of large cigar, 4.1% of little cigar, and 3.9% of cigarillo sales. The average difference between nondiscounted and discounted prices was 25.5% (C-store) and 36.7% (AOC) for cigarettes; 11.0% (C-store) and 11.2% (AOC) for large cigars; 19.2% (C-store) and 9.6% (AOC) for little cigars; and 5.3% (C-store) and 14.7% (AOC) for cigarillos. Furthermore, price-discounted sales of top-selling tobacco brands comprised up to 36% of cigarette, 7.4% of large cigar, 7.7% of little cigar, and 4.2% of cigarillo unit sales. Conclusions These findings highlight the use of price discounts by tobacco manufacturers to reduce the cost of cigarettes, large cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos to consumers. These sales patterns underscore the importance of sustained efforts to implement evidence-based strategies to increase prices and reduce availability and consumption of combustible tobacco in the United States. Implications This study highlights the prevalence and provides a baseline of price-discounted cigarettes, large cigars, little cigars, and cigarillos. Surveillance of tobacco sales data, including state-level trends and additional product types, is critical for informing approaches to reduce tobacco consumption. These approaches include countering tobacco product price-discounting practices and raising and maintaining a high sales price for all tobacco products. The implementation of evidence-based population-level interventions, together with local, state, and federal regulation of tobacco products, could prevent tobacco initiation, increase tobacco cessation, and reduce overall tobacco use among US youth and adults.

Changes in cigarillo availability following implementation of a local flavoured tobacco sales restriction

“…This study has several limitations. First, our results might underrepresent the universe of available cigarillo UPCs sold by retailers in Providence and ROS because scanner data are not collected from tobacco specialty stores, vape shops and other independent retailers lacking point-of-sale barcode readers or from online sources34; however, retail sales surveillance studies suggest that most cigarillos are purchased locally through retailers that use scanner systems or participate in Nielsen in-store audits 33 35 36. Second, our flavour categorisation methodology, based on coder interpretation of Nielsen’s product descriptor variables and online product information, could contribute to misclassification errors; nevertheless, this methodology has been used in similar analyses 26 27.…”

Little cigars and cigarillos harbor diverse bacterial communities that differ between the tobacco and the wrapper

“…Grover, NC, USA). Swisher and Cheyenne products were selected for testing because they make up the highest percentages of the market share of cigarillos and little cigars, based on tobacco sales data reported by the Nielsen Research Company [20]. Tobacco and wrapper from three lots of SSO, CFF and CMB, and two lots of SSC were tested in replicates of six, for a total of 132 samples (66 tobacco and 66 wrapper samples).…”

“I Crave a Blunt, I Don’t Crave a Cigarillo”: A Focus Group Study on Perceptions of Nicotine and Addiction among US Adults Who Currently Smoke Little Cigars or Cigarillos

“…Furthermore, nicotine delivery from LCCs is similar to cigarettes [ 11 ]. Despite their similarities, cigar products are taxed at lower rates than cigarettes in both the US and UK, resulting in lower prices [ 12 , 13 ]. In the US, weaker advertising restrictions apply to products labeled as cigars than to cigarettes [ 14 ].…”