More people smoking, dipping herbs

New York Times News Service

But the unregulated tobacco substitutes concern federal health officials, who warn that smoking or prolonged chewing of any substance should be avoided because of potential health risks. The trend has also raised concern among anti-smoking groups, who fear that the products may lead young people to the real thing.

The substitutes -- which are made of blends of herbs, flower petals and other materials, including honey-soaked tea leaves and processed, flavored lettuce -- carry names like Herbal Gold and Honeyrose but come in cigarette packs, pouches and snuff cans that closely resemble those of tobacco brands like Camel cigarettes or Skoal snuff.

But because the herbal products contain no tobacco or nicotine, in all but a few states they are not subject to laws that bar tobacco sales to minors or that require health warnings on packaging. Unlike tobacco products, they can be advertised on television.

"When a product has a natural aura to it, that's misleading," said Dr. Michael Thun, vice president for epidemiology of the American Cancer Society. "It isn't natural to burn these things."

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration said the herbal smoking and chewing products were being reviewed to see whether more regulation is warranted.

Publicity about the harmful effects of tobacco, coupled with an advertising blitz for nicotine gums, patches and other aids for quitting, has created a fast-growing industry serving people who are trying to end their tobacco addiction, executives of herbal cigarette- and snuff-makers said.

That trend has created a demand for their nicotine-free products, many of which are intended to be used with conventional aids for quitting that contain nicotine. The herbal products are said to provide the comforting ritual of smoking or chewing while the craving for nicotine ebbs.

'Quit without quitting'

The goal, executives said, is not to create new smokers or snuff users, but to offer an alternative to tobacco or an aid for quitting.

The lack of nicotine in herbal cigarettes assures that there is nothing to addict new smokers, said Ben Zaricor, the president of Fmali Herb Inc., the importer of the most popular herbal cigarette brand, Honeyrose. "Even if minors smoked the product, the worst they're getting is the low tar," he said.

Dr. Puzant Torigian, president of Safer Smokes Corp., a company in Hackensack, N.J., that makes the lettuce cigarettes, acknowledged that smoking anything carries risks. "There cannot be a safe cigarette," Torigian said.

But he cited several independent clinical studies, published in medical journals, that have shown that, unlike tobacco, his product does not constrict blood vessels, quicken the pulse or raise blood pressure.

He said his goal was to end smoking, but he also said his company was preparing to sell a small lettuce-filled cigar for people who wanted to give up tobacco but to continue to smoke.

In a few other cases, companies selling herbal cigarettes or snuff appear to be trying to attract long-term users, not just quitters. Dipstop, a company in Selma, Ala., that makes herbal snuff, Bacc-Off, promotes its product as a way to "quit without quitting."

Even herbs can be harmful

Dr. Samira Asma, an epidemiologist for the Office on Smoking and Health of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the herbal products were a concern for several reasons.

Dr. Asma said that chewing tobacco or substitutes could lead to mouth and throat cancer or other illnesses. The relatively low-temperature combustion in any kind of cigarette creates tars, other cancer-causing chemicals and harmful gases like carbon monoxide, she said.

Herbal products occupy only a tiny niche in the gargantuan smoking and snuff industries -- far less than 1 percent. But sales appear to be growing. Several of the largest companies marketing herbal snuff and cigarettes said sales had climbed 25 percent to 40 percent a year for the last several years.

Oregon Mint Snuff Co. has been selling 4 million to 6 million tins of mint snuff a year, said William Geiger, the owner of the company.

Some local health officials in California say there are signs that herbal snuff products can help wean young people from tobacco habits. A Colusa County program aimed at stopping tobacco use among adolescents has given Golden Eagle Herbal Chew -- a hibiscus- and ginger-flavored herbal mix -- to children who were using two of the most popular tobacco snuffs.