Ohio youth are using cigars and smokeless tobacco products and it is a continuously growing problem..

March 4, 2008 - Other tobacco products (OTP) include non-cigarette forms of tobacco like cigars, smokeless tobacco, and hookah tobacco. While high school students have decreased their use of cigarettes, they have not decreased their use of smokeless tobacco or cigars. These products come in candy flavors and kid-friendly packaging and are often displayed in convenience stores near candy and snacks. The tobacco industry spends over $2 million a day promoting smoking and chewing tobacco to Ohioans, even in places kids go, like convenience stores. Columbus is the test market for Camel Snus marketed by RJ Reynolds. Young African Americans, Appalachian Ohioans, and young males are especially at risk. Little cigar use is especially high among young, African-American males, and smokeless use is a special problem for males in Appalachian Ohio. Among males 18 to 24, over 37% use some form of tobacco product other than cigarettes.In 2007, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco sent mailers to smokers in Ohio encouraging them to use smokeless tobacco when in smoke-free public places. When legislators increased the cigarette tax in 2003 and 2005, they failed to also raise the OTP tax which covers non-cigarette forms of tobacco. Investing in Tobacco-Free Youth: Protect children, Save lives, Reduce health-care costs by A. Presutti, Ohio.com, 3/3/2008) Related news briefs: A study from the University of Georgia, School of Journalism found that smokeless tobacco advertising is on the increase. Dean Krugman, the lead author, is concerned about the test marketing of Marlboro and Camel branded smokeless products which will have an instant appeal to youth; Philip Morris' Black & Mild is the most popular brand of cigars for smokers 12 and older. Nearly a quarter of 18- to 24-year-old blacks in the Baltimore smoke B&M cigars, Experience of a High School Student Using Camel SNUS and Cigarette retail marketing practices increase the likelihood of youth smoking.. . (TobaccoWatch.org)- Incomplete..