This paper describes perceptions of relative harmfulness of menthol cigarettes in a sample of 923 adult smokers who participated in the New Zealand Health Survey. Smokers who were older, Māori, Pacific, Asian, financially stressed and who had higher levels of individual deprivation were more likely to agree with the statement that “menthol cigarettes are less harmful than regular cigarettes”. Most of these associations were statistically significant in at least some of the logistic regression models (adjusted for socio-economic and smoking beliefs and behaviour). In a fully-adjusted model, this belief was highest among Pacific smokers (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 7.36) and menthol smokers (aOR 4.58). In this national sample, the majority of smokers (56%) and menthol smokers (73%) believed that menthols are “smoother on your throat and chest”.
