From now on, cigarettes will all have a taste of ... tobacco! This Wednesday, May 20, menthol-based varieties (including roll-your-own tobacco) are definitively withdrawn from the shelves of tobacconists, under a European tobacco directive dating from 2014.
The other types of flavored cigarettes, vanilla or fruit for example, had already disappeared from display in recent years, but a stay had been left to their menthol competitors, whose volume of sales in Europe was higher. The packs of “convertible” cigarettes, allowing inhaled menthol smoke after having pinched a capsule present in the filter, had not waited for Wednesday to leave the market.
One million smokers affected
Despite their watered down taste, "menthol" cigarettes are no less harmful to health. According to a study published in Molecular Pharmacology in 2015, they paralyze nicotinic receptors and reduce the feeling of irritation of the lungs, prompting smokers to pull more heavily on cigarettes and keep smoke longer in the lungs.
According to the review Le Monde du tabac, menthol products represent 8% of tobacco sales in tobacconists in France and concern one million users. Note that cigarillos and menthol-heated tobacco remain on the market.
