Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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Studies testing novel tobacco products often provide participants with free product and assess consumption. Some, but not all, studies find that providing free cigarettes increases smoking. We tested changes in smoking when free cigarettes were provided to nondaily, intermittent smokers, who constitute one-third of US adult smokers. ⋯ The study shows that providing nondaily smokers with free cigarettes increases cigarette consumption, but does differentially for different subgroups and cigarette types, while also decreasing smoking intensity. This suggests the value of using free-cigarette baseline data in studies where interventions provide free cigarettes.