E-cigarette concept flavors in the United States: An analysis of product packages from online stores

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Flavor is a key driver of e-cigarette appeal, particularly among youth. This study examines concept flavors in U.S. online e-cigarette marketing, which are ambiguous descriptors used by the industry to evoke sensory experiences while circumventing flavor restrictions. We scraped product-level data of e-liquids and disposables in 2021 and 2024, respectively, from six popular online retailers. Flavor information was extracted from source code, product descriptions, and images. Using an expanded e-cigarette flavor wheel, we linked concept descriptors on packages to 12 explicit flavor categories. We also identified concept flavors suggesting cooling agents (e.g., “ice”). Among 5369 e-liquid images from 2021, 1102 (21 %) featured concept flavors; among 3917 disposable images from 2024, 1256 (32 %) featured concept flavors. Across both years, we identified 760 unique concept flavor terms without ice mentions and 137 with ice mentions. Fruity and sweet flavors had the highest number of concept descriptors without ice mentions, whereas fruity, sweet, and menthol flavors had the highest numbers of concept descriptors with ice mentions. Concept flavor labeling is common in U.S. e-cigarette products. Our database facilitates rapid surveillance of e-cigarette products by the Food and Drug Administration and enables timely policy actions to regulate non-characterizing flavor labeling. • Most comprehensive database of e-cigarette concept flavors to date. • Concept flavors mapped to explicit flavor categories. • Novel rapid surveillance tool to identify and assess emerging concept flavors. • Closing concept flavor loopholes can strengthen flavor policy enforcement.