HERBAL TOBACCO SUBSTITUTES ON RISE AND SO ARE WORRIES

A growing number of herbal substitutes for cigarettes and snuff are being
sold in convenience stores, smoke shops and health food stores, directed at
people who are trying to quit smoking or who want the look and feel of
smoking or snuff chewing without the tobacco.

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 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. Some herbal snuff advertisements appear
regularly on some cable sports channels.

"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."

Referring to Bravo, a new brand of lettuce cigarettes, he said, "You're
supposed to eat your vegetables, not smoke them."

Officials at the Food and Drug Administration said the herbal smoking and
chewing products were being reviewed to see if more regulation was
warranted. Publicity about the harmful effects of tobacco, coupled with an
advertising blitz for nicotine gums, patches and other aids for quitting,
have 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. The goal, executives said, is not to create new smokers or snuff
users, but to offer a safer 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 carried 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, called a Fumarillo, 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." On its Web site, Dipstop also says:
"Bacc-Off is recommended by dentists, athletes and sportsmen as a healthy
alternative to smokeless tobacco."

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. She said no one has proved
through clinical trials that chewing or smoking a tobacco substitute helped
anyone quit permanently. At the same time, evidence exists of health risks
from smoking any kind of cigarette or from habitually placing any substance
in the cheek or along the gums for prolonged periods. Dr. Asma said that
chewing tobacco or substitutes could inflame the delicate lining of the
mouth, potentially leading to mouth and throat cancer or other illnesses.
The relatively low-temperature combustion in any kind of cigarette creates
a variety of tars and other cancer-causing chemicals, as well as harmful
gases like carbon monoxide, Dr. Asma said.

She added that although the herbal products were being marketed as quitting
aids, they could entice some young people to take up harmful smoking or
chewing habits by offering the look of the real thing, without restrictions
on sales. "It's the kind of thing that looks good in a young person's
pocket," she said, referring to a can of herbal snuff.

For now, at least, she and other federal health officials said, illegal
sales of conventional tobacco products to minors remained a far greater
problem than the herbal products.

The herbal products still occupy only a tiny niche in the gargantuan
smoking and snuff industries -- far less than 1 percent. And officials at
several big cigarette companies said they had no plans to produce similar
products. 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, although all the companies
are privately owned, so sales figures are not public.

Oregon Mint Snuff Co., based near Portland, has been selling 4 million to 6
million tins of mint snuff a year, with new outlets carrying the product as
groceries and supermarkets expand health food sections, said William
Geiger, the owner of the company.

Dr. Richard J. Gray, a sports dentist who has worked with baseball players
from the Milwaukee Brewers, Anaheim Angels and other professional teams,
said he knew of many players and coaches who had switched from tobacco to
Mint Snuff and Bacc-Off, or had quit the chewing habit completely with the
help of these products.

Quitting altogether is still best for anyone, he said, but for many
players, the feel of a cheek full of something is a psychological
necessity. Some local health officials in California say there are at least
some signs that the herbal snuff products can help wean young people from
their tobacco habits. In rural areas, tobacco chewing among teen-agers,
especially girls, has increased, said Lorraine Davis, the director of
tobacco education for Colusa County, Calif., population 16,000, which is 60
miles north of Sacramento.

A Colusa County program aimed at stopping adolescent tobacco use has given
cans of Golden Eagle Herbal Chew -- a hibiscus and ginger flavored herbal
mix made by Coltsfoot Inc., in Grants Pass, Ore. -- to children who were
using Skoal and Copenhagen, two of the most popular tobacco snuffs. "It
seems to satisfy them," Ms. Davis said.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)