Nov. 10--In a Louisville, Ky., Holiday Inn, Brown and Williamson researchers brainstormed novel ways to sell tobacco.
It was 1992, and the goal was to find "socially acceptable" ways to use it, according to one of the company's internal research and development documents. It needed to be smokeless, spitless, and not produce an odor. It needed to be fire safe, readily available and not subject to federal regulations.
Their ideas ran the gamut: tobacco pills and lotion, beverages and toothpicks. They even considered a tobacco-derived salted snack and perfume or aftershave.
Nearly two decades later, the tobacco industry's answers are showing up in test markets around the country. Utah health officials say they expect to see them rolled out across the country, and in the state, before long.
That's why they are warning consumers now: The new products look like candy and come packaged in slick, colorful containers. And they may be especially appealing to children.
"You don't look at that (the packaging) and think 'evil,'" said David Neville, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Health's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. "You look at it and think, 'That's cute.' "
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the manufacturer of Camel and 10 other brands, says it is only gathering input from consumers in its lead markets: Columbus, Ohio; Portland, Ore. and Indianapolis, Ind. It's unsure when -- or even if -- these new kinds of smokeless
tobacco will take root as products, said spokesman David Howard.
"I wouldn't begin to speculate what our future plans on this are," he said.
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'Candy-like' tobacco. -- Camel's Orb -- small, brown-colored pellets -- could be easily mistaken for a Tic Tac. A 1-year-old who weighs about 23 pounds could suffer from severe toxicity or death if he or she ate as few as 10.
"It doesn't look quite as shiny or appealing," said Ellie Brownstein, a University Hospital pediatrician, "but how many kids go rifling through their mom's purse for a mint?"
Jeffrey Wigand, Brown and Williamson's vice president of research and development until 1993, believes these products' appeal to youth is no mistake. He says senior executives in the company had a mantra: "Hook em' young, hook em' for life."
"What bothers me most of all is it's very candy-like. And whose that for?" said Wigand, who founded the nonprofit organization Smoke-Free Kids. Without the estimated 3,000 youth a day who become addicted to nicotine, he said, "the industry wouldn't have a business. They have to offset the millions of people a year who die from tobacco use and they have to offset the people who quit."
Smokeless tobacco, Wigand said, is a gateway to cigarettes -- the ultimate nicotine-delivery device. "I can't stick a needle in your arm and get it to your brain any faster."
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Under parents' radar. -- Jake, a Hooper teenager, said he's tried Camel's frost-flavored Snus, spit-free tobacco that comes in small, tea bag-like pouches. Snus, which also come in a mellow flavor, hit Utah shelves last year, packaged in a cell-phone shaped metal tin.
Snus is especially popular among girls, who want to use tobacco but don't want to reek of smoke, the 17-year-old said. He asked not to use his last name because he isn't old enough to buy it.
The teen said he's tried it many times. "The main reason is because after you do it, your breath doesn't smell like tobacco. It smells like Orbitz gum."
And it's discreet. His friends take it to class and are able to stay under their parents' radar. "It is obviously not aimed at adults," said Jake, a tobacco user since age 13 who quit five months ago.
Howard, spokesman for R.J. Reynolds, disagrees. He points out that the new products are clearly labeled a dissolvable tobacco product and carry the same warnings as cigarettes. They're sold on the same shelves in retail stores, are age-restricted and come in child-proof containers -- a decision the company made voluntarily.
"As these are different products, we felt the right thing to do was pack them in child-resistant packaging," he said.
But Neville worries that youth using the new products -- not in the tell-tale shape of a cigarette pack or snuff can, and popped into a user's mouth like gum --are tough to spot. And because products like Snus contain more nicotine, a highly addictive drug, using them could grow into a habit that is much harder to kick, he said.
U. pediatrician Brownstein agrees: "I think the potential for addiction and the lack of regulation ... and the fact we can have teens or kids using them when parents are unaware, makes them particularly scary."
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Smoke-free, not hazard-free. -- Companies are advertising smokeless tobacco as a new way to enjoy tobacco anytime, anywhere. Ariva, a dissolvable tobacco tablet available in wintergreen, java and natural flavors that hit Utah shelves in 2001, offers Web testimonials from four users, including a Little League coach who didn't want to dip in front of kids.
"I'm not giving up my tobacco," said Todd, 43, from Richmond, Va., "I'm simply changing with the times."
With smokers being driven out of public places, health officials fear more people will migrate to smokeless tobacco. They may also be under the impression its safer; but recent research shows its dangers may go beyond the mouth, playing a role in other cancers, heart disease and stroke, according to the National Institutes of Health.
No clinical trials have proven these products safe, Wigand said. And because the tobacco companies rolled them out prior to the passage of Congress' Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act law earlier this year, they're not required to disclose what's in them.
Wigand -- who made headlines when he left Brown and Williamson and revealed its efforts to minimize the health impacts of tobacco -- said smokeless tobacco is being tested on consumers without their knowledge or consent. That may be grounds for an injunction being contemplated by several attorneys general.
Paul Murphy, a spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's Office, said in an e-mail smokeless tobacco "is a regular topic of discussion for all attorneys involved in the tobacco enforcement working group," but there are no immediate plans to take action.
While it's true the products were released without prior clinical testing, and the company has not disclosed their contents, they are similar to other kinds of smokeless tobacco that have been studied extensively, Howard said.
Sitting outside a Beans & Brews Coffee House in Salt Lake City, Friedrich Vonapp, a nearly pack-a-day smoker for 25 years who has tried to quit many times, said he might check out a dissolvable product. He's tried chew before and didn't like it.
But "being a smoker, I can still find plenty of places to smoke," said the 40-year-old. He once made it two weeks without a cigarette in his early 20s, when he was arrested on a warrant for an unpaid speeding ticket and went to jail.
His habit is expensive -- about $150 a month. And he doesn't smell as nice as he'd like to -- and there are plenty of pretty women he wants to kiss.
"I am addicted," he said. It's the "one thing on my mind that drives me the craziest."
lrosetta@sltrib.com
Hazardous for children
Some of the new smokeless tobacco products being tested have as much as three times the amount of nicotine as the average cigarette, putting children at higher risk for tobacco-related poisonings.
A 1-year-old who weighs about 23 pounds could suffer from severe toxicity or death if he or she ate 10 to 17 Camel Orbs, or 17 Strips, or three to four Sticks, according to information provided by the Utah Department of Health. A 4-year-old who weighs about 35 pounds would have to eat 16 to 27 Orbs, 27 Strips and five Sticks. Amounts less than that could lead to mild or moderate toxicity.
Last year alone, the Utah Poison Control Center took 102 tobacco poisoning calls, 88 of which were for children age 4 or younger, said Marty Malheiro, the Center's coordinator of outreach education. Those tobacco cases included chew, cigarettes, cigars, filter tips, snuff and unknown tobacco products.
Want free help quitting?
Call Utah's Tobacco Quit Line at 888-567-8788. Its lines are open Monday through Sunday, from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m.
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