Project 3: The abuse liability and substitution profile of removing cigarette ventilation in the experimental tobacco marketplace

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ABSTRACT Cigarette filter ventilation is a major design feature of the majority of cigarettes sold in the United States and abroad. Although filter ventilation was initially intended to produce a lighter tasting and potentially safer cigarette by diluting mainstream cigarette smoke, data have since suggested that ventilation instead increases total harm from smoking by inducing compensatory smoking (e.g., increased puff volume and/or more cigarettes smoked per day due to reduced nicotine yields) and may increase cigarette abuse liability (addictive potential). The goal of this project is to use the recently developed Experimental Tobacco Marketplace to assess the effects of removing filter ventilation, thereby modeling a regulatory environment in which filter ventilation was banned, on behavioral economic measures of abuse liability. In a series of studies featuring both between- and within-subject design components, the research team will compare purchasing and consumption of unventilated and ventilated cigarettes across a broad range of prices, as well as examine how filter ventilation impacts the degree to which an array of alternative nicotine delivery systems (e.g., electronic cigarettes, smokeless tobacco) serve as economic substitutes for cigarettes. Moreover, we will model electronic cigarette regulatory restrictions on flavor and available nicotine concentrations to examine how such restrictions interact with cigarette filter ventilation to affect tobacco consumption. Together, the findings from this project could be used to inform and maximize the efficacy of regulatory action regarding cigarette filter ventilation and alternative nicotine delivery systems.