Reasons for Pack Size Purchase among US Adults Who Purchase Cigars

Abstract

With municipalities across the US establishing minimum cigar pack size regulations, it is critical to understand what drives pack size preference. The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify reasons for cigar pack size purchase. We used Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to survey adults who had purchased cigars and reported past 30 day use. Participants responded to an open-ended item asking their reasons for purchasing their usual pack size. Responses were double-coded and categorized. Of 152 respondents, 61 used traditional cigars, 85 used cigarillos, and 36 used filtered cigars. Across all cigar types, most participants (73.7%) purchased boxes rather than singles; 5–9-packs were the most popular pack size category (19.7%), followed by 20+-packs (18.4%). We identified 16 reasons for pack size purchase across seven categories: price, consumption, social aspect, convenience, product characteristics, availability, and general preferences. Reasons varied according to whether the consumer purchased larger or smaller pack sizes. In this exploratory study to identify reasons for cigar pack size purchases, findings were consistent with those identified through tobacco industry documents and in the cigarette literature. Future research should examine the prevalence of these reasons, including as a function of demographic and use characteristics, to help inform the understanding of potential minimum cigar pack regulations.