Do Flavors Increase the Addiction Potential of Nicotine?

The FDA has concluded that flavors (e.g. menthol) are associated with greater addiction potential in tobacco cigarettes (Gottlieb March 13, 2019). Whether the same is true for e-cigarettes and non-menthol flavors is unclear and our study should help answer this question. Our major hypothesis is that the pharmacological effect of nicotine to induce addiction will be greater with use of a preferred e-cigarette flavor than with use of a non-preferred flavor. The pharmacological effect will be measured by how much a larger nicotine dose increases addiction potential compared to a smaller dose.