The tobacco industry is known for adding chemical additives to its products to make them more irresistible to consumers and hard for smokers to quit.
This practice goes back the aftermath of World War 2 when the first studies linking cigarettes and cancer were published. The cigarette industry consequently developed low-tar cigarettes to answer growing health concerns. But smokers didn’t like their taste and these cigarettes were a commercial flop. The industry started to look at ways to improve the smoking experience through additives. And this is how they came up with Pyrazines.
Indeed, Pyrazines are added to make light cigarettes taste more flavorful, with a rich and smooth feeling similar to nicotine. The perfect solution for cigarette manufacturers that had trouble selling their low-tar cigarettes.
These additives enhance the taste and flavor or cigarettes but have effects that enhance tobacco dependence. « Pyrazine compounds used as additives in tobacco products appear to enhance addiction by increasing product appeal. They make it easier for nonsmokers to initiate smoking, more difficult for current smokers to quit. And much easier for former smokers to relapse into smoking, » Dr Alpert explained in Medscape Medical News.
The tobacco industry was convinced that additives could promote high consumer acceptance and loyalty to their products. So they continued using them.
Some vaping companies also use additives in their products
While e-liquids and e-cigarettes are generally presented as less harmful than traditional cigarettes, pyrazines are sometimes also added in e-liquid composition, making e-cigarettes extremely addictive as well.