Cigarettes (US market)

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2025: California approves world's first ban on filter cigarettes

At the end of September 2025, it became known that Santa Cruz County in the west of the central part of the US state of California is introducing the world's first ban on the sale of filter cigarettes. This measure is designed to reduce the negative impact on the environment.

As noted, cigarette butts are one of the most common forms of garbage on Earth. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are thrown out globally each year, littering oceans, rivers, city streets, parks and beaches. At the same time, cigarette filters contain microplastics, which in the process of decomposition pollutes the soil and harms ecosystems. In addition, all the costs associated with the consequences of pollution are not borne by enterprises of the tobacco industry, but by the state, and therefore by taxpayers.

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Фото: Freepik

WHO calls for cigarette filters to be treated the same as any other single-use plastic product, proposing to ban them in order to protect public health and the environment, says the UN website.

Santa Cruz County officials say the ban on the sale of filter cigarettes aims to reduce pollution levels and reduce costs associated with improving the environmental environment. It is emphasized that, contrary to the statements of representatives of the tobacco industry, there is no reason to believe that filters protect the health of smokers. Some studies suggest that the filters only create the illusion of the softness of cigarette smoke, contributing to its deeper inhalation. And this increases the risk of developing lung malignancies. Santa Cruz County authorities have therefore decided to ban filter tobacco products: The approved rules take effect from 2027.^[1]

2023: Americans use marijuana more often than tobacco for the first time

In the United States, there is a trend towards an increase in the popularity of marijuana exceeding cigarettes, due to a change in ideas about the potential harm of two substances. This is evidenced by an analysis conducted at the end of October 2025 by specialists from the University of New York and the University of Kentucky. The study, covering the period from 2015 to 2023, found a steady decline in tobacco smoking amid rising cannabis use. Read more here.

2022: U.S. e-cigarette sales rise 1.5-fold in 2 years due to teens

In 2022, sales e-cigarettes United States in increased 1.5 times compared to 2020 due to the distribution of flavored devices among adolescents. This is evidenced by data from a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), as well as organizations of the CDC Foundation and Truth Initiative. The statistics were released at the end of June 2023.

Efforts to limit flavored e-cigarettes preferred by teens have failed as new brands have hit the market, experts said. Flavored e-cigarettes accounted for 41.3% of total e-cigarette sales at U.S. retailers in December 2022, up from 29.2% in January 2020, the organizations found, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP). Total U.S. e-cigarette sales rose about 47% during the period. The sales surge came despite federal measures that imposed additional restrictions on flavors and tobacco product marketing.

Sales of e-cigarettes in the United States increased 1.5 times

Citing the appeal of flavored e-cigarettes to children, the FDA announced in January 2020 that it would ban the sale of pre-filled, sweet and fruity flavored e-cigarette capsules, leading to the demise of major brands such as Juul and Vuse. Between January 2020 and December 2022, the share of pre-filled cartridges decreased from 75.2% to 48%.

The tobacco industry is well aware that flavors attract children, and young people are particularly vulnerable to nicotine addiction! While we are encouraged by the FDA's actions to restrict illegal marketing of flavored e-cigarettes, we still have to work to protect our nation's youth from all flavored e-cigarettes, including disposable ones, "said Truth Initiative CEO and President Robin Koval.

Taste restrictions, however, did not affect disposable cigarettes, which at the end of 2019 accounted for only 15% of total e-cigarette sales at U.S. retailers, according to CDCP data. From January to December 2022, the share of single-use e-cigarettes increased from 24.7% to 51.8% of total sales. At the end of 2022, they account for more than half of the American e-cigarette market.

Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm the brain of a teenager who continues to develop until about age 25, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. What's more, the agency found that most popular brands of disposable e-cigarettes on the market - Puff Bar, Elf Bar and Breeze Smoke - are not FDA-approved and illegal. The FDA has only authorized NJOY Daily brand disposable e-cigarettes, which come in two tobacco flavors.^[2]

2020: U.S. sales of cigarettes rise for the first time in 20 years

At the end of October 2021, information appeared that cigarette sales in the United States increased in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which was the first annual growth in the last two decades. The biggest cigarette makers sold 203.7 billion units in 2020, up from 202.9 billion units in 2019, according to a U.S. Federal Trade Commission report on cigarette sales.

Percentage of the population in US states who smoke tobacco in 2020

Altria Group, Marlboro's U.S. manufacturer, said sales of smoking products jumped in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers made mass purchases and negative ads pushed older smokers to return to cigarettes again from vaping products. Recall that research in 2018 questioned the idea that vaping is less harmful than smoking cigarettes. There are signs that the shift may not last long because in the four weeks of September-October 2021, ending October 9, 2021, cigarette production fell by 9.4% compared to the same period in 2020.

In the United States, cigarette sales increased for the first time in 20 years

The amount spent on advertising and promoting cigarettes increased from $7.62 billion in 2019 to $7.84 billion in 2020. Price discounts paid to cigarette retailers of $6.07 billion and wholesalers of $876 million were the two largest spending categories in 2020. Total cost of price discounts accounted for 88.5% of all industry costs.

For the first time, data for 2020 includes information on the tastes of smokeless tobacco products of companies. Smokeless menthol-flavored tobacco products accounted for more than half of all sales revenues of 54.5%, while tobacco-flavored tobacco products, that is, without added flavors, accounted for 43.4%. Smokeless tobacco products with fruit flavors accounted for only 2.5%.^[3]

2018

USA - in 4th place in the world in the number of smokers

Data for 2018

U.S. cigarette sales decline 70% over 38 years

U.S. cigarette sales fall 70% in 38 years

1955

In the United States, cigarettes were sold in vending machines in 1955, which accepted only coins of 25 cents, and a pack of cigarettes cost 23 cents. And manufacturers, instead of raising cigarette prices, put 2 cents in a pack.

1938

A vending machine for the sale of already lit cigarettes, 1930s.

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