State Flavored Tobacco Product Laws Methodology

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Flavored tobacco products have long played an important role in youth starting to use tobacco products and in the case of menthol keeping people, particularly Black persons in the U.S., addicted. According to CDC’s 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS), 87.6% of high school and middle school students who use e-cigarettes use a flavored product.1 According to the 2023 NYTS, 86.9% of youth who use tobacco used a flavored product.2

Menthol cigarettes play a key role in addicting youth who smoke and keeping people hooked. The 2024 Surgeon General’s report on tobacco noted that “the tobacco industry adds flavors, including menthol, to its products; flavors help to increase the appeal of tobacco products among individuals and groups with higher aversions to the effects of tobacco smoke.”3 Black Americans are disproportionately impacted with close to 80% of Black persons who smoke using menthol cigarettes.4 Menthol cigarette use is also elevated among LGBTQ+ individuals, women and persons with lower incomes.5 A recent study showed that while overall cigarette use declined by 26% over the past decade, 91% of that decline was due to non-menthol cigarettes.6

Given the key role that flavors play in getting and keeping people addicted to tobacco products, and the slow pace of action by the federal government on the topic, a new grade was added to “State of Tobacco Control" 2021 evaluating states on whether they have prohibited the sale of all flavored tobacco products. This grade replaced the Minimum Age grade from “State of Tobacco Control” 2020 and earlier years. Grades are based on the strength of a state’s restrictions on flavored tobacco products with exemptions for certain products or in certain locations decreasing the grade.

GradeGrades break down as follows:
AThe sale of all flavored tobacco products is prohibited
BThe sale of most flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, is prohibited with some narrow exemptions
CThe sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, is limited to over age 21 stores/locations
DThe sale of one type of flavored tobacco product is completely prohibited (i.e., flavored e-cigarettes or flavored tobacco product restrictions that completely exempt menthol cigarettes)
FNo state law on flavored tobacco products or the sale of one type of flavored tobacco product restriction that exempts menthol.

There is one situation that creates an exception to the grading system:

Local Ordinances: States without a statewide law or weaker statewide restrictions on flavored tobacco products may be graded based on local ordinances. Local ordinances that prohibit the sale of all flavored tobacco are considered according to the percentage of population covered in the state. States with over 95% of their population covered by local flavored tobacco product ordinances will receive an “A,” over 80% a “B,” over 65% a “C” and over 50% a “D.” Local ordinances that cover less than 50% of the population will not be considered for evaluation under this exception.

  1. Park-Lee E, Jamal A, Cowan H, et al. Notes from the Field: E-Cigarette and Nicotine Pouch Use Among Middle and High School Students — United States, 2024. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2024;73:774–778

  2. Birdsey J, Cornelius M, Jamal A, et al. Tobacco Product Use Among U.S. Middle and High School Students — National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2023. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:1173–1182.

  3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities—A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2024.

  4. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's public online data analysis system (PDAS). National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2023.

  5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Eliminating Tobacco-Related Disease and Death: Addressing Disparities—A Report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2024.

  6. Delnevo CD, Ganz O, Goodwin RD, Banning Menthol Cigarettes: A Social Justice Issue Long Overdue. Nicotine Tob Res, 2020 Oct 8;22(10):1673-1675. https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntaa152.

Page last updated: January 17, 2025