What do little kids & African Americans have in common? They like minty flavors.

Perks said:

Does that work for mint chocolate chip ice cream, too? The overlap on the bubblemap of this seems a bit problematic.

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Actually, pretty much, yeah. That's sort of the reverse argument that tobacoo companies use to only make nicotine gum that tastes bad, to prevent children from chewing it.

Don't forget to wash that down with a big old swig of Listerine.

Perks said:

And I can see why flavored things could be seen as more likely to appeal to a child's underdeveloped palate, but I don't understand why the flavor would be tagged as a draw for certain ethnic groups, presumably adults?

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Ok, you got me there. I can't think of anything to justify that part.

All the cool brothers smoke Kools (remember the band Kool and The Gang?). I smoked Kools for a while, I suppose they're a fairly strong cigarette to start with, and then the amount of menthol added to it has to be twice that of any other brand. Salem is the other menthol brand I recall, but that's a pretty mild smoke compared to a Kool.

I don't recall any other menthol brands offhand. I (as a white 'brother') mostly smoked Winston, but all that was in a previous life.

It also leaves no doubt that the tobacco industry is directly responsible for the harm caused by menthol cigarettes because of its targeted marketing of children and African-American and other communities, and its manipulation of menthol cigarettes to appeal to specific target markets.

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This is very true. The marketing is targeted at black people. Children I can't speak on because I don't hang out with them.

Where's Billy Dee when we need him?

"Colt 45 - Now mint flavored!"

Perks said:

Why would black people be more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes? This is what I don't understand. Everybody likes mint. Or not. Still, it doesn't seem like a racial thing.

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I don't know, but most, if not all, of my black friends that smoke, smoke Newports. I think its the marketing

When you pick up smoking, you smoke what your parents have around or what your friends have around. You get used to a certain taste, level of nicotine, etc.

I smoked menthol for a while. I don't remember why I switched, other than some of my friends did. Benson and Hedges. Not an RJR brand, or even an NC one. That didn't go over well in my town (Winston-Salem).

Hold up, who's been puttin' out their Kools out on my floor! Haven't you people ever heard of coasters?

i've never smoked a cigarette in my life, but i know i wouldve looked damn cool if i ever did.

that's all.

Anyone else craving right now? (14 years quit here)

It's certainly the stereotype here that blacks smoke menthol cigarettes and Black'n'Mild cigars. I know plenty of whites who smoke menthols, but they're still seen as a "black brand." When I lived up north in a 95% white town, plenty of people smoked menthols.

I didn't like menthols because they felt weird inhaling and I seemed to cough up nastier stuff in the morning when I did. It had nothing to do with marketing or stereotypes for me.

ETA: Oh, and I think it's silly to say that blacks, children, short story writers--anyone--wouldn't smoke if there were no menthol cigs. I doubt anyone started smoking because the menthol was oh-so wonderful.

That's so racist. But...I love chocolate mint anything. Goodness--I'm propagating the stereotype! *cries* OK, to be serious for a moment, when I was growing up they were in fact seen as "the black brand". No one I knew would smoke a cigarette that didn't have menthol. And the first cigarettes I ever tried as a teen? Newports. I hang my head in shame.

Why is mint so good? Genetic predisposition?

When I first started smoking, I started with Newport Lights, then went to Salem Lights, then was smoking Marlboro Lights Menthol (all three are menthol, btw). Everyone I hung out with smoked either Marlboro Lights or Marlboro Red box, but those always tasted like crap to me. I have no idea how I happened upon smoking menthols at all, now that I think about it. They ones were easier to tolerate than non-menthol, but not exactly what I'd call tasty. From what I can recall (I quit 3 years ago), NONE of them tasted good. At all. I still wonder WTF I was thinking when I started.

Interesting - I work in a 'corner shop' kinda place, only it's national. I sell a lot of ciggies.

Here, it's the girls (not all of them)that buy the menthols. Guys do not (as a rule) smoke them, whatever colour they are.

So I think it must be marketing/image etc. Over here smoking menthol is seen as, um, well not quite what a guy does. It's a 'girl thing'.

Except if you're smoking a certain substance, in which case a menthol fag/filter helps smooth away that harshness. Allegedly.

I smoked Newports and Black Cloves for years. I quit about four years ago. *grits teeth at this thread*

What are they saying? We smell mint and immediately run to smoke? I hear mint and think of ice cream.

I grew up seeing my step-dad smoke Kools. Everyone I know smokes either Newports or Black N Milds.

This is so gross. First that racist anti-abortion billboard now this? What is it with white people acting like black people don't have any bodily autonomy or the brains to make their own decisions?

Please read the article before commenting on it because the way it's presented here is inaccurate. It is NOT saying "African Americans are the same as children." When I went back and re-read it I realized that is not the message at all.

The government/scientific studies simply showed that menthol cigarettes were more popular among certain groups, which they then listed. It then talked about the significance of those findings as far as the goal of reducing the number of smokers. There was nothing racist or sensational about it.

It also leaves no doubt that the tobacco industry is directly responsible for the harm caused by menthol cigarettes because of its targeted marketing of ... African-American

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Implying African-Americans can't make their own decisions.