○ The rate of use of flavor capsule cigarettes has rapidly increased worldwide, and it is a major concern in tobacco regulations since it has been perceived as a gateway product to initiate smoking, especially for new smokers such as teenagers, wome...
○ The rate of use of flavor capsule cigarettes has rapidly increased worldwide, and it is a major concern in tobacco regulations since it has been perceived as a gateway product to initiate smoking, especially for new smokers such as teenagers, women, and young adults. So far, no independent research has been conducted except the report of the foreign regulations on flavor capsule cigarettes. Therefore, we aim to determine the national distribution of flavor capsule cigarettes, to understand consumers‘ perceptions, to propose policy regulating flavor capsule cigarettes in this study.
○ A focus group interview in which a group of 41 people including male and female young adults in the metropolitan area are asked about their smoking behaviors and perceptions. Through the interview, we were able to understand the process of smoking initiation with flavor capsule cigarettes by current smokers and non-smokers as well as social environmental factors, product factors, and individual factors such as knowledge and attitude toward the products that can affect the use of flavor capsule cigarettes. The investigation can provide insights for further quantitative studies related to the perception of consumers and purchasing behaviors.
○ Since the Ministry of Strategy and Finance does not maintain the list of flavor capsules cigarettes that are sold in the current market, we could not get the official documents. The information is not managed based on the product brands, and official data regarding sales volume was not available, either. Thus, we collected and compared the data from the price reports of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, distribution lists of retail stores, the websites of tobacco companies, and also news articles for newly marketed products. We made a draft list with the data, and confirmed with the customers service centers of each tobacco company.
○ As of April 2016, a total of 32 flavor capsule cigarette products are being sold in the current market. Since March 2015, 6 products were discontinued, and 6 products are newly released. Most of the new products were flavor capsule cigarettes, and it is inferred that the turnover rate is high. The 50% of the current products are manufactured from KT&G. According to the sales document from KT&G published in press, KT&G gained 8.41% in market share and sold a total of 4.686 billion cigarettes in 2014. Almost all products have 20 cigarettes per single pack, and each cigarette contains one capsule. Unusually, a certain product from A company has 5 different types of capsules, and each cigarette randomly contains one of five capsules. For another product from B company, each package contains 15 cigarettes with menthol capsules embedded in the filter and another 5 cigarettes with double capsules. Price range is from KRW 4100-4700.
○ With regard to approximately 30 cigarette brands with capsules marketed in South Korea, we conducted qualitative analysis for the ingredients in capsules and quantitative analysis of menthol. Menthol, being used the most among the priority substances, was quantitatively analyzed, and the validity of the analysis including specificity, linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantitation, and reproducibility were evaluated. The most of the substances from qualitative analysis are able to be used as flavoring substances.
○ The United States, Canada, Germany, France, Turkey, Australia, Brazil, Chile and Ethiopia have controlled the use of flavor capsule cigarettes employing various approaches such as ingredient controls, distribution regulations, display regulations and disclosure of information in that flavor capsule cigarettes that encourage smoking initiation among adolescents and women. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 9 advises to regulate flavoring substances which affect the attractiveness of cigarettes to reduce the prevalence of smoking and user dependency. On the contrary, South Korea has not implemented any regulations except the restriction on display of flavoring contents, and make packages of flavor capsule cigarettes more attractive to young adults.
○ There needs to be comprehensive review for the FCTC guidelines, examples of other countries, and the attractiveness, hazards, toxicity, and nationwide trends in use of flavoring substances which would render strong evidence for the introduction of flavoring regulations on domestically manufactured and imported tobacco products. Very little is known about flavor capsule cigarettes which are threatening public health. This study is a preliminary research; expected sales, user characteristics, process of smoking initiation, consumer awareness and attitudes, the attractiveness of new and existing products, short-term and long-term dependency, and risk assessment methods and results need to be further investigated.