Tobacco is Changing: Learn the Products
Tobacco is getting tougher to recognize
Cigarette use may be dropping among Wisconsin’s young people. However, newer and less recognizable tobacco and nicotine products are gaining popularity with teens. These “tobacco-free” products are made with synthetic nicotine that’s just as addictive as the plant-based original.
Tobacco companies are making nicotine products cheaper and easier to get and hide from adults than ever. These products deliver high levels of addictive nicotine designed to get teens hooked for life, and come in a wide range of shapes and styles that children are attracted to. From game vapes that turn puffing into play to tiny oral nicotine pouches that are the size of a fingertip to wearable e-cigarette and vaping gear like hoodies and backpacks, it’s all about getting young people to try and adopt nicotine use wherever and whenever possible.
Here’s what you can do about it: Learn how to spot these new products that your kids are finding in stores and ads, at parties, and on YouTube.
Know the products
Our helpful Know the Products fact sheet gives parents, and other caregivers, an overview of the tobacco industry’s latest, dangerous, teen-tempting products, including:
- E-cigarettes—like single-use vapes and refillable devices
- Cigar products—including little cigars and cigarillos
- Oral nicotine products—like pouches, dip, snus, and chew
Take a closer look at tobacco's addictive products
The more you know about the tobacco industry’s dangerous product lineup, the easier it will be to talk to your kids about the serious damage youth tobacco use can do.
Learn to spot nicotine in disguise
One way to keep teens hooked on nicotine? Keep family members at home (and teachers at school) from finding out that the young people they look after are addicted. Tobacco companies are selling a range of products specifically designed to look like everyday objects: vapes hidden in hoodies and backpacks, e-cigarettes that look like toys or video games, make-up compacts, or pens and nicotine-filled flavor pods that can pass as USB drives. Tobacco products are getting harder and harder to spot.
What to look for:
"Tobacco-free" synthetic nicotine
Tobacco companies may call these new products “pure” or “clean,” but the synthetic nicotine in new “tobacco-free” vapes and other products is still powerfully addictive. In fact, many of these products contain more kid-hooking nicotine than ever before.
Smart vapes
Smart vapes are typically small with screens that young people can customize with photos or digital games, or may be designed to look like small handheld gaming devices or smartphones.
Oral nicotine pouches
If you overhear young people mentioning “lip pillows,” or “upper/lower deckies,” be aware: These are slang for the tiny, oh-so-easy-to-hide pouches that look like chiclet-style gum, and may be packaged in tins or boxes to look like candy, gum or mints.
Toy-like shapes and colors
Electronic smoking devices come in many shapes and sizes, but many of the most popular products come in slick shapes and fun, flashy patterns and colors. They may remind you of fidget-spinners and other small toys.
Stealthy wearables
Watch out for products that integrate e-cigarettes into items that young people like to carry or wear—like a backpack, hoodie, or smartwatch. Their secret pockets, hidden tubes, and mouthpieces help kids vape unnoticed.
Look-alike devices
You may need to give the items in your child’s backpack a second look. Tobacco companies are making vaping products designed to look just like everyday objects, making it easy to mistake an e-cigarette for a makeup compact, a USB drive, a writing pen, or highlighter.
Deceptive shipments
Tobacco companies make it easy for young people to purchase vaping products online, using credit, debit, or gift cards. Few online retailers actually verify a customer’s age, and many promise “discreet” billing and shipping—including plain packages and purposely vague invoices and shipping labels—just in case parents check the mail.
Candy flavors in single-use vapes
They’re cheap, candy-sweet, and way too easy for young people to purchase.
Single-use vapes are just one of the many dangerous tobacco products unaffected by federal restrictions on flavored e-cigarettes.
Support adding e-cigarettes to Wisconsin’s smoke-free law
Currently, Wisconsin’s smoke-free air law protects the public from secondhand smoke, but not the secondhand chemicals found in vape clouds.
You can help change that. Find out how you can support comprehensive tobacco policies for healthier communities in the state.
Take the next step
Knowledge is power.
Find out how the tobacco industry creates, packages, and markets its dangerous products to hook young people in your community.
