Effects of public policy on adolescents' cigar use: evidence from the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

To determine the effect of prices and regulations on youth cigar demand, we estimated logistic regression models of the probability of current cigar smoking among students in grades 6 to 12 with data from the 1999 and 2000 waves of the National Youth Tobacco Survey. We found that youth cigar demand is sensitive to price but not state tobacco-control regulations. The results suggested that raising excise taxes on cigars could reduce cigar use prevalence among youths.