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Other Tobacco Products

Dissolvable Tobacco Products

Dissolvable tobacco products are one of the latest smokeless tobacco products on the market and don’t require the user to chew or even spit.

Although dissolvable tobacco products showed up a few years ago with the introduction of Ariva lozenges and Stonewall Hard Snuff Tobacco dissolvable pellets, none of the major tobacco companies had entered the market until now.

RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company has recently begun test-marketing, or trying to sell, its three dissolvable tobacco products under the Camel brand name.

Types of Dissolvable Tobacco Products

There are three types of Camel dissolvable tobacco products now being test marketed in selected cities.

• The first are called Camel Orbs, which are mint-sized and last about 10- 15 minutes each before melting away. Each orb contains about 1 milligram of nicotine, almost as much as one cigarette.
  
  
• The second are Camel Strips, which look like Listerine breath strips. The strip dissolves the quickest of the new products- about 2- 3 minutes- and contains about 0.6 milligrams of nicotine.
  
  
• The third are Camel Sticks, which look like toothpicks. The stick lasts the longest of the three products, about 20-30 minutes each, and has the most nicotine, about 3.1 milligrams per stick, similar to the nicotine content in about two cigarettes.

Because these are such new products, little is known about the health effects of using any of these dissolvable tobacco products.

Marketing Dissolvable Tobacco Products

RJ Reynolds began trying to sell the Camel Orbs in January 2009 in Portland, Oregon, Columbus, Ohio, and Indianapolis. The Camel Strips and Sticks hit test markets in the same cities in July 2009.

Although the tobacco companies say that these products are made for adults, many health workers and lawmakers disagree. The products are flavored and labeled either “Mellow” or “Fresh,” and they are packaged and sold in shiny cases. Some of the packaging looks like cell phones, and others look just like breath mints or candy, which could appeal to children.

Lawmakers pushed to have dissolvable products more closely studied under the new FDA Regulation of Tobacco Products law that was signed by President Obama in June 2009. In fact, under the new FDA authority, a committee must issue a report on the impact of dissolvable tobacco products on public health, especially among youth.