For example, packaging for female-oriented brands, including nevertheless tall narrow ��slim�� packs, are particularly effective at promoting brands to young females (Doxey & Hammond, 2011; Hammond et al., 2011). Research to date suggests that plain packages are less attractive and engaging and may reduce the appeal of smoking among youth and adults (Bansal-Travers et al., 2011; Doxey & Hammond, 2011; Hammond, 2009; Hammond et al.,
The authority to regulate tobacco products granted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA) is limited to cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco, and smokeless tobacco products; tobacco products meeting the legal definition of cigars are exempt from that regulation. Although the cigar market is a small fraction of the tobacco market (5.

4% of adults are current cigar users in the United States; CDC, 2011), it is on the rise (Connoly & Alpert, 2008). In 2008, cigar sales increased 8.3% and yielded more than $4 billion in retail sales (CDC, 2011) with a trend toward greater use of cigarillos and small cigars (23%), while cigarette sales declined approximately 20% (Connoly & Alpert, 2008; U.S. Department of Agriculture. Economic Research Service, 2007). Recent survey data show high rates of small cigar use among military recruits, college students particularly at historically black colleges, and inner city youth (Soldz, Huyser, & Dorsey, 2003). Traditionally, a cigar is a tobacco product whose wrapper is at least 70% tobacco (CDC, 2011) that can be sold in small units or singly.

Small cigars differ from the traditional cigars by their smaller size and availability in a wide range of flavors, including some that may appeal to youth (cherry, cream vanilla, menthol, etc.). Since the 1970s, the tobacco industry has produced and promoted cigar products that blur the distinction between cigarettes; small cigars and cigarillos are not subject to the same taxation as cigarettes (Delnevo & Hrywna, 2007). One popular cigarillo Carfilzomib is the Black & Mild (B&M). Internet sites document the practice of ��freaking�� or ��hyping�� the B&M(Freaking, 2011; How to freak a Black & Mild, 2011; Hyping, 2011). This practice involves removing the tobacco from a B&M, taking out the inner paper liner, and repacking the tobacco. It is uncertain how the practice of ��freaking�� arose, but it apparently emanated from the urban legend (belief) that it is the paper liner��sometimes called ��cancer paper����that causes health risks and addiction (How to freak a Black & Mild, 2011).