This study will investigate the relative appeal (abuse liability) of novel tobacco products, how the appeal is modulated by relative price, user type, and how novel products may substitute for one another.
An important aim of tobacco control is to reduce demand for the most harmful products. Therefore, a priori knowledge of substitutability across novel and widely used tobacco products may forecast the impact of policies on product switching. This study will use a novel method, the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM), to characterize the relative substitutability and appeal (abuse liability) of tobacco products (e.g., conventional cigarettes, nicotine vaping products \[NVP\], heated tobacco products \[HTP\], and nicotine pouch products \[NPP\]), and how the appeal is modulated by relative price, user type, and regulatory environment. Exclusive cigarette smokers and dual cigarette/NVP users, stratified by age, will complete multiple scenarios in the ETM.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
443
Nicotine/tobacco products available in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at market price. Note that all participants will complete all the specified conditions.
Availability of nicotine vaping products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at 1/2 market price. Other nicotine/tobacco products at market price. Note that all participants will complete all the specified conditions.
Availability of heated tobacco products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at 1/2 market price. Other nicotine/tobacco products at market price. Note that all participants will complete all the specified conditions.
Fralin Biomedical Research Institute
Roanoke, Virginia, United States
Cigarette demand
Participants will complete purchasing trials in an Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) with cigarettes increasing in price. Other product prices in the ETM will depend on the experimental condition. The degree to which other nicotine/tobacco products substitute for conventional cigarettes as a function of novel product (e.g. nicotine vaping products, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouch products) prices will be assessed. To obtain dependent measures of demand, participants' purchasing of the price-manipulated commodity in the ETM task will be fit to a modified exponential equation to quantify the relationship between the price of each commodity and purchasing: Q=Q0\*10k(exp(-αQ0C)-1) where Q is purchasing of the commodity, C is the price, Q0 is the derived initial purchasing without cost constraints (demand intensity), k is the span of the function in logarithmic units, and α is the demand elasticity.
Time frame: 1 day
Nicotine/tobacco products substitution
Participants will complete purchasing trials in an Experimental Tobacco Marketplace (ETM) with cigarettes increasing in price. Other product prices in the ETM will depend on the experimental condition. The degree to which other nicotine/tobacco products substitute for conventional cigarettes as a function of novel product (e.g. nicotine vaping products, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouch products) prices will be assessed. To obtain estimates of substitution of price-constant products in the different ETM conditions, the investigators will use ordinary least squares regression to model the relationship of the price-manipulated product to predict total quantity purchased of the price-constant product.
Time frame: 1 day
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Availability of heated tobacco products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace at 1/2 market price. Other nicotine/tobacco products at market price. Note that all participants will complete all the specified conditions.