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Expanding the E-Liquid Flavor Wheel: Classification of Emerging E-Liquid Flavors in Online Vape Shops

Author

Listed:
  • Shaoying Ma

    (Center for Tobacco Research, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43214, USA)

  • Zefeng Qiu

    (Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

  • Qian Yang

    (Center for Tobacco Research, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43214, USA)

  • John F. P. Bridges

    (Department of Biomedical Informatics, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

  • Jian Chen

    (Department of Computer Science and Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

  • Ce Shang

    (Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA)

Abstract

Introduction: Electronic cigarettes are the most popular tobacco product among U.S. youth, and over 80% of current youth users of e-cigarettes use flavored e-cigarettes, with fruit, mint/menthol, and candy/sweets being the most popular flavors. A number of new e-liquid flavors are currently emerging in the online e-cigarette market. Menthol and other flavored e-cigarettes could incentivize combustible tobacco smokers to transition to e-cigarette use. Methods: From February to May 2021, we scraped data of over 14,000 e-liquid products, including detailed descriptions of their flavors, from five national online vape shops. Building upon the existing e-liquid flavor wheel, we expanded the semantic databases (i.e., key terms) to identify flavors using WordNet—a major database for keyword matching and group discussion. Using the enriched databases, we classified 14,000+ e-liquid products into the following 11 main flavor categories: “fruit”, “dessert/candy/sweets”, “coffee/tea”, “alcohol”, “other beverages”, “tobacco”, “mint/menthol”, “nuts”, “spices/pepper”, “other flavors”, and “unspecified flavor”. Results: We find that the most prominent flavor sold in the five online vape shop in 2021 was fruit flavored products, followed by dessert/candy/other sweets. Online vendors often label a product with several flavor profiles, such as fruit and menthol. Conclusions: Given that online stores market products with multiple flavor profiles and most of their products contain fruit flavor, the FDA may have issued marketing denial orders to some of these products. It is important to further examine how online stores respond to the FDA flavor restrictions (e.g., compliance or non-compliance).

Suggested Citation

  • Shaoying Ma & Zefeng Qiu & Qian Yang & John F. P. Bridges & Jian Chen & Ce Shang, 2022. "Expanding the E-Liquid Flavor Wheel: Classification of Emerging E-Liquid Flavors in Online Vape Shops," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-14, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:13953-:d:954636
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lei Wang & Yongcheng Zhan & Qiudan Li & Daniel D. Zeng & Scott J. Leischow & Janet Okamoto, 2015. "An Examination of Electronic Cigarette Content on Social Media: Analysis of E-Cigarette Flavor Content on Reddit," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Kim AGJ Romijnders & Erna JZ Krüsemann & Sanne Boesveldt & Kees de Graaf & Hein de Vries & Reinskje Talhout, 2019. "E-Liquid Flavor Preferences and Individual Factors Related to Vaping: A Survey among Dutch Never-Users, Smokers, Dual Users, and Exclusive Vapers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-15, November.
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