Abstract
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed a nicotine-limiting standard, which would increase the unit price of nicotine in cigarettes and could cause people who smoke and are unable/unwilling to quit nicotine to switch to other products. This study examined the substitutability of little cigars/cigarillos (LCCs), e-cigarettes, and other nicotine products for cigarettes using the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace. Participants (N = 145) recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk completed hypothetical purchases for 7 days' worth of nicotine/tobacco products in the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace. Purchases required participants to allocate their usual weekly expenditure across products at five escalating cigarette prices while alternative product prices remained fixed. Purchases were made in three marketplaces: (a) with a range of products, including e-cigarettes and LCCs, (b) without e-cigarettes, and (c) without LCCs. Participants were 45.7 (mean; SD = 10.3) years old and primarily female (70.3%) and White (82.1%) and smoked 17.6 (mean; SD = 8.9) cigarettes/day. Cigarette purchasing decreased as price increased (p < .001). When all products were available, the most appealing substitutes were e-cigarettes, followed by nicotine replacement therapy, LCCs, and chew (p < .05). Findings were similar for products other than e-cigarettes and LCCs in marketplaces without e-cigarettes and LCCs, respectively. Findings demonstrate the potential for noncombusted and combusted products to substitute for cigarettes, with experimental evidence that LCCs substitute for cigarettes, although less effectively than other products. Results underscore the importance of regulation that limits the potential for LCC substitution for cigarettes and maintains noncombusted alternatives in the marketplace to promote harm reduction among those unable to quit nicotine. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).