Little cigar and cigarillo (LCC) use has received increased attention, but research on their modification is limited. Qualitative interviews with 17 young adult African American male LCC users investigated tobacco use behaviors and patterns, including LCC modification. The modification of LCCs for use as blunts emerged as a very prominent aspect of LCC users' tobacco use. Four subthemes regarding marijuana and blunt use are explored in this article, including participants' explanations of how blunts are made and used, concurrent use of marijuana and tobacco, perceptions and reasons for smoking marijuana and blunts, and perceptions of the risks of blunt use.
Keywords: Blunts; cigarillos; little cigars; marijuana
Little cigar and cigarillo (LCC) use has received increased attention in research in the past decade as rates of LCC use rise (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, [
"Blunts" are defined as cigar shells (large cigar, little cigar, or cigarillo) filled with marijuana after some or all of the tobacco has been removed (Dunlap, Benoit, Sifaneck, & Johnson, [
Quantitative and qualitative evidence on blunt use includes use trajectories and patterns of use. Research among rural African American young adult men found that 69.7% of those who used blunts reported cigarettes as their first product smoked (Sinclair, Foushee, Pevear, & Scarinci, [
The literature on tobacco and marijuana use suggests that there are varying perceptions about blunt use and its associated risks. Blunt use is generally considered marijuana use by smokers, but a few studies suggest otherwise (Delnevo, Bover-Manderski, & Hrywna, [
In some studies, smokers were shown to concurrently use tobacco products (including cigarettes, little cigars, or cigarillos) and marijuana (Cullen et al., [
Research has looked at the social aspects of blunt use, the trajectory of use, the content of blunts, as well as risk perceptions of blunt and marijuana users. These studies were conducted with a sample from the general population as well as specified subpopulations, but these patterns have not been widely examined among LCC users despite the relationship between LCCs and marijuana (Cohn et al., [
Participants were recruited using purposive sampling, a nonprobability sampling strategy in which sample characteristics were preselected (Bernard, [
Table 1. Sample demographics (N = 17).
% Married Yes 1 5.9% No 16 94.1% Children Yes 10 58.8% No 7 41.2% Education Some high school 6 35.3% High school/GED 4 23.5% Some college 6 35.3% College 1 5.9% Not reported 1 5.9% Employed Yes 7 41.2% No 10 58.8% Age of initiation to tobacco 18+ 3 17.7% 13–17 8 47.1% 6–12 6 35.3% Product of initiation Cigarettes 8 47.1% Plastic-tipped cigarillos 7 41.2% Not reported 2 11.8% Products currently using Plastic-tipped cigarillos 14 82.4% Cigarettes 10 58.8% Nontipped cigarillos with marijuana 7 41.2% Does not smoke 2 11.8%
Researchers conducted semistructured individual interviews using a guide developed from a review of the literature and input from a research working group (Tramble et al., 2011), which included academic and community partners as well as community residents. The interviews lasted an average of 40 minutes and took place at the public health center where participants were recruited.
Interviews included the identification of four images: cigarettes; plastic-tipped and nontipped cigarillos; large cigars; and small cigars. The images were used to frame the conversation around tobacco products to create a common ground for all participants and researchers. Identification allowed researchers to understand what terms were being used for each tobacco product. For example, participants were shown an image and asked the following questions: "What do you call this product?"; "Are there other names it may be called?"; and "Tell me about anything else that comes to mind when you see this tobacco picture." The first two participants could not identify small cigars (i.e., cigars that are the size and shape of a cigarette but are brown in appearance), so only the first three images were used with subsequent participants. For a card sort activity to elicit rank orders (Bernard, [
Semistructured questions regarding initiation to smoking tobacco products, trajectory of tobacco use, current use context and habits, the benefits and consequences of smoking, and tobacco availability and popularity were asked, and probing was used to elicit more-detailed explanations from participants. For example, participants were asked the following: "I am interested in your use of cigarillos. Do you smoke them as they are when you buy them, or do you modify them?" Participants were then probed about how and why they, as well as other people, modify these LCCs.
Participants received a $20 gift card for participating. Audio recordings of interviews were transcribed and analyzed in NVivo (Richards, [
A codebook of themes was developed through both inductive and a priori approaches (Miles & Huberman, [
This qualitative inquiry yielded four subthemes related to marijuana use. These included the identification of blunts, concurrent marijuana and tobacco use, participant use perceptions, and the perceived risks of blunt use (see Table 2). Each subtheme is expanded upon below.
Table 2. Marijuana use subthemes.
Subtheme Definition Identification of blunts Identification and explanations of products used for smoking marijuana in the form of blunts. Concurrent marijuana and tobacco use The use of marijuana and multiple tobacco products in participants' current and past use. Participant use perceptions Participants' perceptions and reasons for smoking marijuana particularly in the form of cigarillo blunts. Perceived risks of blunt use Participants' attitudes and thoughts regarding the health consequences and addictiveness of cigarillo blunts.
To begin the interview, participants were shown product images, and all participants identified the plastic-tipped cigarillo as a Black and Mild and the nontipped cigarillo as something different, using the terms cigarillo, Swisher, blunt, shell, cigar, or miniature cigar; both images were on the same card. This differentiation occurred without provocation or probing. When the interviewer referred to "Black and Milds" as cigarillos in one interview, the participant responded, "No. For cigarillos I got Swisher Sweets. Black and Milds and cigarillos are two different things" (Participant 1, age 20–24). Participants not only differentiated between the two, but most (76.5%) immediately described how the nontipped cigarillo is used as a blunt to smoke marijuana. This understanding of the term "cigarillo" was made not only by those who had used nontipped cigarillos as blunts (referred to as "cigarillo blunts" for the remainder of this paper) in their lifetime, but also by participants who did not report blunt use. One participant said during the identification section of the interview
Okay, I know those as either Swishers or miniature cigars, and that product I've always known for I've never seen nobody actually smoke them really like normally, or just take out the insides and use them for paraphernalia and for use of controlled substance. For that matter I've never used one of them, but I've seen it happen a couple of times. (Participant 6, age 18–19)
Even in this early identification section of the interview, participants expressed that these products are altered for marijuana use in their communities.
Marijuana use in general and the use of cigarillo blunts emerged as salient themes for participants. Several participants described marijuana use as being popular in their community among young people. As for the use of cigarillo blunts, participants described this as common in their communities. One participant explained, "Around my area, everybody's doing either Black and Mild or they're smoking weed out of cigarillos nowadays instead of papers" (Participant 17, age 20–24). All but one participant identified the nontipped cigarillo as a vehicle for using marijuana during the course of the interview. Nontipped cigarillos were often described as being used exclusively to smoke marijuana. Some participants also indicated they had never heard of anyone smoking nontipped cigarillos without modifications; as described by one participant, "No, I've never actually seen anybody smoke a cigarillo. I've never seen anybody use it for nothing else other than marijuana" (Participant 4, age 20–24). It is of note that three participants did discuss seeing others smoke nontipped cigarillos as sold, and two have done this themselves. When probed about the use of nontipped cigarillos as blunts, one participant said, "I'm not sure like how somebody else would do anything with it. I just consider it a cigar, like you smoke a cigar, like cigar smoke, that's how I think of it. That's all it is to me" (Participant 15, age 20–24). This participant not only had smoked nontipped cigarillos as sold, but also was the only participant who did not relate nontipped cigarillos to marijuana.
In general, participants described the process of converting a nontipped cigarillo into a blunt as removing all of the tobacco inside of the nontipped cigarillo and replacing it with marijuana before rolling it back together. This process is exemplified by one participant who explained
So once you, you lick the shell and you break it down. You've got a straight split down the middle and you take all the tobacco out. You fill it with weed and then you roll it, and you lick it together. I'd have to show you, but you lick it together and then you light it up and then you smoke it." (Participant 3, age 20–24)
In describing the process of modifying nontipped cigarillos for the use of marijuana, none of the participants use the word "blunting" even though this is a term that has been used in literature describing this process (e.g., Cullen et al., [
Although the majority of this article deals with the use of nontipped cigarillos for smoking marijuana, some participants identified other tobacco products as being used as blunts. Both plastic-tipped cigarillos and large cigars were described by a few participants as being used as blunts, although two of them did not equate this practice with the current local scene. One of these participants used to smoke marijuana in this manner while living in Louisiana and described how nontipped cigarillos would not be marketable in Louisiana because of the prevalence of large cigars as blunts. The other participant who discussed this practice said that it is something that used to happen in the past: "Back in the day, people used to take the cigars, the big cigars like the ones right here (points to card with image of cigar), and they'll put the marijuana in them too, but we don't really do that no more. They usually use cigarillos" (Participant 17, age 20–24). While most participants discussed nontipped cigarillos as blunts, these participants demonstrated that the term "blunt" can refer to the modification of other tobacco products as a vehicle for marijuana use.
Twelve participants reported that they had smoked marijuana by using nontipped cigarillos, and over half were still smoking them at the time of the interview, some on a daily basis. A trend among all participants was the use of multiple types of tobacco products. Among the seven who were using cigarillo blunts at the time of the interview, five were also smoking cigarettes and about a third were using plastic-tipped cigarillos. The use of multiple tobacco products, including cigarillo blunts, can also be seen in the smoking history of participants. For participants who had smoked a cigarillo blunt in their lifetimes, other tobacco products, not blunts, were their initiation to smoking. Of the 12 participants who reported smoking cigarillo blunts, eight started with cigarettes, three with plastic-tipped cigarillos, and one did not report the first product smoked. Participants also discussed when they began using different tobacco products, with four describing the use of cigarillo blunts before ever using plastic-tipped cigarillos, and three discussed using plastic-tipped cigarillos before using blunts. The use of cigarillo blunts was common, and among participants who used cigarillo blunts, many also used cigarettes and plastic-tipped cigarillos in their use histories.
Six participants said that they prefer smoking marijuana to other tobacco products. The reasons for smoking marijuana included not having other things to do (e.g., a job), helping them deal with problems, smoking marijuana because women like marijuana, and the effects of the product, which included relaxation and the feeling of the high. Three participants also listed cigarillo blunts as the best tasting product during the card sort activity. Another reason for smoking cigarillo blunts is the perception that the tobacco inside of the nontipped cigarillo is of low quality and thus needs to be replaced, as exemplified when one participant said, "The tobacco is not meant to be smoked and is meant to be thrown in the garbage. That's how I'll put it. I just use it for weed" (Participant 7, age 20–24). One participant even thought that the tobacco inside of this product will "kill you" (Participant 2, age 18–19). Some participants also suggested that tobacco companies use low quality tobacco because they know that the product is being used for blunts. This understanding is exemplified by one participant who said, "cause now that they know people use these for weed, the cigarillos, they changed the tobacco" (Participant 11, age 25–29). Since these participants think that tobacco companies are using poorer quality tobacco in nontipped cigarillos, it perpetuates the need to replace the tobacco with marijuana.
There were varying ideas regarding the risks associated with smoking cigarillo blunts. Participants expressed different views of the makeup of the shell, which related to their understanding of the risks. By replacing the tobacco in nontipped cigarillos with marijuana, some participants felt that the product was less harmful and addictive since the harmful element, the loose tobacco, was being removed. One participant explained
The Swisher, this is the same thing as that. It's the same thing. That's smoking cigars. A Swisher is a cigar for real. It's just people smoke it 'cause you break it down though. But the only thing that give you cancer is tobacco though. The paper, that don't give you cancer, 'cause if it did, then we would get cancer off weed then. (Participant 8, age 18–19)
For this participant, when the tobacco from the nontipped cigarillo was removed and replaced with marijuana, it eliminated the risk of cancer. Other participants felt that the shell of the nontipped cigarillo could pose risks, including being addictive and harmful to their health because of the tobacco it contains, although this was expressed by fewer participants.
Participants also had differing views of the potential risks of the marijuana element of the blunt. Two participants described how the marijuana itself is not addictive. Conversely, one participant felt that marijuana itself is addictive because he would use it in any form, not just in nontipped cigarillos.
Even for the participants who thought that some part of the cigarillo blunt is harmful, there were also some perceived benefits. One participant explained this contradiction of cigarillo blunt use when he said
So you're inhaling more or less some type of chemical, whether it's your marijuana or not. It's still this cigarillo, this shell, whatever that is made of, you're still inhaling it, but it could be beneficial to some people. I believe for me it's beneficial as far as taking a lot of stuff off my chest. (Participant 5, age 20–24)
Although there may be some harm and risk perceived by the participants, cigarillo blunts are a way that participants use marijuana. Several participants expressed their reasons for using marijuana ranging from its physical (i.e., feeling high) and psychological (e.g., stress relief) effects to a preference for its flavor over tobacco.
While blunts are defined as being made with cigar or cigarillo shells in the literature (Dunlap et al., [
Participants in this study reported multiple intersections between marijuana and tobacco use. In our data, participants who had used cigarillo blunts tended to have smoked tobacco products (both cigarettes and plastic-tipped cigarillos) prior to ever using marijuana. All participants who were using cigarillo blunts at the time of the interview were also concurrently using other tobacco products, including immediately after smoking marijuana and blunts.
There are limitations to this study. This was a qualitative study of young adult male African American LCC users. Since the sample consisted of one ethnicity and one gender in a particular urban geographic location, it may not be representative of the broader young adult LCC-using population. The primary focus of the interview guide was on tobacco use behaviors and attitudes, which included questions regarding the modification of LCCs. The modification of nontipped cigarillos for the use of marijuana emerged as a very prominent theme from the data but was not the focus of deeper probing or modification of the interview guide. Nonetheless, this corpus of data generated very rich information with which to conduct the analysis reported in this manuscript. However, additional data on participant preferences regarding cigarillo blunts compared with other methods of using marijuana and the specific context of blunt use and use trajectories need to be further explored among this population.
Understanding cigarillo blunt use can have implications for both tobacco and marijuana control efforts since blunt use is an area that brings both tobacco and drug use behaviors together. At the time of submission of this manuscript and at the time of data collection, marijuana was illegal in Ohio, where our study was conducted. Thus, limiting access to LCCs may also affect marijuana use. LCCs, as compared to cigarettes, have lower taxes and prices (Cantrell et al., [
If cigars continue to be a significant method for smoking marijuana with legalization, this may increase the smoking-related health disparities and risks among African Americans (Haiman et al., [
Our data suggest that more than health education may be needed. Although some participants acknowledged the health risks of cigarillo blunt use, they also had other reasons for continuing their use. A reason given by participants for modifying nontipped cigarillos is the perception that the tobacco is bad and of low quality. There is also the perception by some participants that tobacco companies know that nontipped cigarillos are being used as blunts and therefore put poor quality tobacco in the product. If this perception is widespread, it may play a role in why almost all of the participants discussed the almost exclusive use of nontipped cigarillos as blunts in their communities. Even if FDA regulation and tax equalization do not come to pass, understanding the reasons participants use tobacco products even when knowing about health risks is important for developing campaigns and interventions to counter them. Further research should focus on the reasons for blunt use in this population and explore strategies to reduce and prevent LCC and blunt use.
This publication was made possible by the Cooperative Agreement #1-U48-DP-001930 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Cleveland, UL1TR000439 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) component of the National Institutes of Health, and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the NIH, or other funders.
By Sarah J. Koopman Gonzalez; Leslie E. Cofie and Erika S. Trapl
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