Nov. 27, 2023 By Claretta Bellamy

A ban on menthols has long been sought by public health experts and advocacy groups, and it would have a disproportionate effect on Black smokers.ct on Black smokers.

As the Biden administration moves closer to banning menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, major health organizations are pushing to get the word out to Black smokers that help is available for those who want to quit.

The vast majority of Black smokers in the U.S., 85%, use menthols, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. In 2020, nearly 81% of Black smokers used menthols, compared to 34% of white smokers, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

The disparity is the result of decades-long advertising practices from the tobacco industry, which specifically targeted menthol cigarettes to Black communities, said Carol McGruder, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, an anti-tobacco public health and advocacy group. 

Compared to regular cigarettes, menthols are notoriously addictive and particularly difficult to quit. The rate at which menthol smokers successfully quit is lower than that of nonmenthol smokers, and Black menthol smokers may be even less successful than other groups, according to the CDC. 

But across the country, programs that help smokers quit are being underused, as smokers try to quit cold turkey or by taking medications prescribed by their doctor with little to no counseling, said Jennifer Folkenroth, the American Lung Association’s national senior director of tobacco programs.

There is a need, Folkenroth said, for more trained and certified facilitators in Black communities, like churches, “to really assist these quitters in their journey to freedom.”

More than 45,000 Black people die from smoking each year, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. 

These include mothers, fathers, grandparents and other Black people who are instrumental in strengthening the community, McGruder said. “When we lose those people, it destabilizes the familial unit, it destabilizes the church, and it destabilizes our community.” 

What makes menthol cigarettes so addicting?

There’s a simple reason menthol cigarettes are so appealing: their mint flavor, said Sven-Eric Jordt, an associate professor of anesthesiology, pharmacology and cancer biology at the Duke University School of Medicine. 

To start, menthol has a cooling effect that suppresses coughing and makes tobacco smoke less irritating to the throat, making it easier to inhale, said Jordt, who is also a research project director and teaching faculty member at the Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science at the Yale School of Medicine. 

Mint can also act as a “very strong” behavioral cue, he said. “When people or smokers smell mint, or something like that, they develop this craving to basically smoke the next cigarette.” 

Nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco products, binds to receptors in the brain to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter and hormone that plays a role in various bodily functions, including pleasure and motivation, Jordt said. The menthol flavoring in cigarettes creates greater nicotine dependence by enhancing the effects of nicotine on the brain, therefore making it more addictive, according to the CDC. 

“It’s also a fact that it’s harder to quit smoking with menthol cigarettes,” Jordt said. “Why that is — it’s still unclear. But this behavior has been observed in many studies as just harder to quit.”

‘Something had to change’

Millie Martinez was 15 when she was introduced to menthol cigarettes. It was the 1980s and she was a high school student in New York City.  

“I started being part of the crowd and I just started smoking my Newport menthol cigarettes — and I got hooked,” said Martinez, who is now 55 and lives in the Bronx. “It was downhill from there. Once you start, it’s very difficult to stop.”

Millie Martinez, 55, starting smoking menthol cigarettes when she was 15.

Martinez said she had tried to quit but couldn’t. She knew something had to change after visiting her infant grandson in March. 

“It really bothered me”  that she smelled like cigarettes, Martinez said, and she didn’t want her grandson exposed to the scent. 

Martinez said that around May she came across an advertisement on Craigslist for a cessation program offered by Truth Initiative, a nonprofit that pushes for bans on tobacco products and also supports programs to help people quit. She joined its Ex Program online in June, and finally put down her last cigarette a month later.