WEBVTT - Cigarette Smoking Makes a Comeback During the Pandemic

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<v Speaker 1>It's Thursday. I'm Oscar Emiraz from the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>in Los Angeles, and this is reopening America. Cigarette smoking

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<v Speaker 1>may have had a comeback during the coronavirus pandemic. Americans

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<v Speaker 1>are spending less on travel and entertainment and as a

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<v Speaker 1>result or having more opportunities to light up. We're also

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<v Speaker 1>seeing that some people are moving away from vaping and

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<v Speaker 1>returning to traditional cigarettes after restrictions on e cigarette flavors.

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<v Speaker 1>Jennifer Maloney, reporter at the Wall Street Journal, joins us

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<v Speaker 1>for more. Thanks for joining us, Jennifer, Thanks for having

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<v Speaker 1>me some of the side effects of the pandemic. An

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<v Speaker 1>interesting thing, cigarette smoking is making a comeback. People are

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<v Speaker 1>spending less on travel and entertainment. Uh, they're spending more

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<v Speaker 1>time at home and having more opportunities to light up.

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<v Speaker 1>They're also switching back to traditional cigarettes more from vaping devices.

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<v Speaker 1>Jennifer tell us a little bit about this. Well. The

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<v Speaker 1>maker of Marlborough cigarettes, a company called Ultria UM, makes

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<v Speaker 1>a quarterly disclosure on how it's businesses way, and this

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<v Speaker 1>week they disclosed that the cigarette business is doing a

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<v Speaker 1>lot better than they thought it would be. UM they

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<v Speaker 1>revised their projections and said that, you know, although we've

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<v Speaker 1>been seeing a decades long decline and cigarette sales, that

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<v Speaker 1>actually the picture is looking a lot rosier. And they

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<v Speaker 1>say that it's in part because people are at home,

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<v Speaker 1>not going out and socializing with friends as much during lockdown,

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<v Speaker 1>and have more time to smoke. They say that, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>unemployment numbers are high, but stimulus checks are helping low

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<v Speaker 1>and middle income cigarette smokers afford their packs of cigarettes.

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<v Speaker 1>And at the same time, they say that the recent

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<v Speaker 1>restrictions on e cigarette flavors that the federal government put

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<v Speaker 1>in place have motivated some people to switch back to

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<v Speaker 1>traditional cigarettes. Yeah, I've been a lot of public health

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<v Speaker 1>advocates are not gonna like hearing that mulist checks in

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<v Speaker 1>increased undemployment benefits is making more people still buy them.

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<v Speaker 1>But one of the interesting things that they said though,

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<v Speaker 1>they said that the trend is significant enough to slow

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<v Speaker 1>down the year's long decline. So to be clear, cigarette

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<v Speaker 1>smoking is not necessarily going up. Uh, you know, it's

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<v Speaker 1>not going into other territory. It's just kind of slowing

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<v Speaker 1>that decline right now. Right, So for many, many years um,

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<v Speaker 1>the number of cigarette smokers has been on the decline

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<v Speaker 1>in the US, cigarette sales has still been a very

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<v Speaker 1>profitable business for the big tobacco companies, but they have

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<v Speaker 1>had to adjust to kind of a predictable decline. Every

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<v Speaker 1>year they've seen like a four to six percent decline

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<v Speaker 1>and cigarette sales. But this year that number is looking

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<v Speaker 1>a lot better for them, So they revised their projections

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<v Speaker 1>for the year and they said that cigarette sales are

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<v Speaker 1>expected to decline only between two and three and a

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<v Speaker 1>half percent. That's a big difference for them. On the

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<v Speaker 1>e cigarette side, i'll Tria, as you mentioned, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>they owned Marlble Marlborough. They made a big wager on

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<v Speaker 1>e cigarettes in eighteen. They bought a huge steak in

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<v Speaker 1>Jewel Labs. But you know, Jewel Labs went through a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of different problems that you said. The f D

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<v Speaker 1>a kind of limited the sales of the fruity h

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<v Speaker 1>and mint flavors of the cartridge cigarettes, and then there

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<v Speaker 1>was that whole vaping related lung illness, which actually wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>really related to the cigarettes themselves. It was more vaping

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<v Speaker 1>products with THHC. But still overall that kind of put

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<v Speaker 1>a damper on the e cigarette business. It did, so

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<v Speaker 1>it was it was a rough year, uh for e cigarettes.

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<v Speaker 1>If you think back to last fall, UM, there are

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<v Speaker 1>headlines in the news every day around vaping and e cigarettes,

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<v Speaker 1>whether it was the surge in young people vaping and

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<v Speaker 1>public health officials trying to figure out how to stop

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<v Speaker 1>children and teens from vaping. UM. Then there was this

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<v Speaker 1>mysterious long illness that seemed to be linked somehow to

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<v Speaker 1>vaping devices. UM. The c d C put out a

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<v Speaker 1>recommendation not to vape anything, including traditional e cigarettes you

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<v Speaker 1>know that that deliver nicotine. UM. Then they revised that

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<v Speaker 1>advice as more research came in indicating that the illnesses

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<v Speaker 1>were linked to vitamin E oil in marijuana vaping devices.

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<v Speaker 1>But at first they were saying don't vape anything. So

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<v Speaker 1>all of that contributed to kind of a damping effect

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<v Speaker 1>on UM vaping and some people sort of the main

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<v Speaker 1>takeaway from all that news coverage was maybe e cigarettes

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<v Speaker 1>aren't such a great alternative. I'm going to switch back

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<v Speaker 1>to cigarette still. The group that took back to cigarettes

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<v Speaker 1>leaving you know, the vaping scene were Americans older than fifties.

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<v Speaker 1>From what Altria said, and you know, you have to

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<v Speaker 1>obviously they're talking in a business sense but it sounds

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<v Speaker 1>so nefarious sometimes. They said it benefited the entire cigaret

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<v Speaker 1>at category people kind of moving away and going back

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<v Speaker 1>to traditional cigarettes. They have said that the demographic that

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<v Speaker 1>they see shifting back to cigarettes is this fifty plus adults.

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<v Speaker 1>And they further noted that those older adults tend to

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<v Speaker 1>prefer discount cigarettes. So it's actually hurting Marlborough's share right

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<v Speaker 1>now of the cigarette category because as these older adults

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<v Speaker 1>switch back from the cigarettes to cigarettes, they're not buying

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<v Speaker 1>premium brands like Marlborough, They're buying the cheaper ones um

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<v Speaker 1>and so that's chipping away at Marlborough's market share. Wow,

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<v Speaker 1>what an interesting look and to see, you know, how

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<v Speaker 1>things change over time and throughout you know, a pandemic

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<v Speaker 1>as we're going through. Jennifer Maloney, reporter at the Wall

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<v Speaker 1>Street Journal, thank you very much for joining us. Thanks

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<v Speaker 1>for having me. I'm Oscar Ramires and this has been

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<v Speaker 1>reopening America. Don't forget that. For today's big news stories,

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<v Speaker 1>you can check me out in the Daily Dive podcast

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<v Speaker 1>every Monday through Fridays, So follow us on iHeart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you get your podcast