From left: adorbs, ugly-cute, just darling Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images; Daniel Maurer/DPA/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
cigarettes cigarettes
Stories About
cigarettes
Despite being addictive and deadly, menthol cigarettes were long advertised as a healthy alternative to "regular" cigarettes — and heavily advertised to Black folks in cities. Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption
Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi speaks to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon during the State Opening of Parliament on December 6 in Wellington, New Zealand. Luxon has called for the abolishment of tough anti-smoking measures — and the Māori Health Authority. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images hide caption
Marijuana plants at Hepworth Farms in Milton, N.Y. Sixteen percent of Americans say they smoke marijuana, with 48% saying they have tried it at some point in their lives. Mary Altaffer/AP hide caption
Left: A Kool cigarettes advertisement targeting Black communities for a sponsored event, the Kool Jazz Festival; Right: A Newport cigarettes ad targeting young Black customers. Stanford Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising hide caption
How the tobacco industry targeted Black Americans with menthol smokes
The Food and Drug Administration says its proposal to ban menthol cigarettes has the potential to significantly decrease disease and death from tobacco by "reducing youth experimentation and addiction." Here, menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products are on sale at a San Francisco store in 2018. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption
The new legislation raises the minimum age to buy cigarettes every year beginning in 2023. It is effectively a permanent ban on cigarettes for those aged 14 or younger. Hannah Peters/Getty Images hide caption
Manufacturers sold 203.7 billion cigarettes in 2020, up 0.4% from a year earlier, the Federal Trade Commission says. Esther Moreno Martinez / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm hide caption
A pack of Marlboro cigarettes at a store in Miami. Philip Morris International's CEO Jacek Olczak said the company will stop selling Marlboro cigarettes in the U.K. in the next 10 years. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Menthol cigarettes and other tobacco products at a store in San Francisco in 2018. U.S. health regulators announced a new effort Thursday to ban menthol cigarettes. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption
This notice on a cigarette packet in Thailand shows the potential impact of reduced blood circulation to extremities because of smoking. Such pictorial warnings are among the anti-smoking measures that are more likely to be found in countries that have limited Big Tobacco's influence on their politics, according to the new Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index. Apichart Weerawong/AP hide caption
Signs in a Chicago shop window advertise e-cigarettes and pods from Juul in September. Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, announced Thursday it would buy a 35 percent stake in the company. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption
The Food and Drug Administration is proposing to cap the amount of nicotine in cigarettes to make them less addictive. Gerald Herbert/AP hide caption
Brenda Fitzgerald, Georgia Department of Public Health commissioner, and Gov. Nathan Deal respond to questions about Ebola victims at Emory University Hospital and efforts to screen for Ebola in 2014. A report in Politico revealed documents showing several new investments, including in a tobacco company, by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Brenda Fitzgerald. David Tulis/AP hide caption
Smoking is the No. 1 cause of death among people with severe mental illness. Luis Diaz Devesa/Getty Images hide caption
Philip Morris' iQOS device heats tobacco but stops short of burning it, an approach the company says reduces exposure to tar and other toxic byproducts of burning cigarettes. Philip Morris via AP hide caption
FDA Panel Gives Qualified Support To Claims For 'Safer' Smoking Device
Because a high pH level makes cigars fairly alkaline, consuming tart candies like Skittles or Starbursts can help neutralize the palate. Kristen Hartke for NPR hide caption
Cigarette smoking continues to decline as taxes on tobacco rise. Gerald Herbert/AP hide caption
Cartons of cigarettes on shelves at Discount Smoke Shop in Ballwin, Mo., in 2012 were much cheaper than cigarettes in most other states. Missouri's tobacco tax is still only 17 cents per pack, but will rise if either of two state ballot measures passes this month. Jeff Roberson/AP hide caption
Why Tobacco Companies Are Spending Millions To Boost A Cigarette Tax
News Assistant Max Nesterak tries to quit smoking using social science research. Hugo Rojo/NPR hide caption
Going slow isn't necessarily the best route to ditching cigarettes. Patrik Stollarz/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
We're using social science to help our News Assistant Max Nesterak quit smoking. Basil Arteomov/Flickr hide caption
Regulators say R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. must stop selling four kinds of cigarettes because the Food and Drug Administration said the company had failed to show they aren't riskier than cigarettes on the market before mid-February 2007. Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption