Data were obtained from a national probability sample of 1843 US adult current smokers who were not current ENDS users pooled from the 2017 and 2018 annual, cross-sectional Tobacco Products and Risk Perceptions Surveys. Participants reported their ENDS use, reasons for discontinuing or not initiating ENDS use, quit smoking intentions, perceptions, and use intentions. Weighted proportions and logistic regression models were estimated.

Results

Twenty-three percent of smokers were former ENDS users who reported prior "regular use", and 7.5% were former ENDS users who reported regular use. Three most cited reasons for discontinuing ENDS were: ENDS "didn't feel like smoking" (23%), "only ever tried them to see what they were like" (20%), and "didn't help me deal with cravings for smoking" (14%). Reasons for discontinuing ENDS were associated with the regularity of former ENDS use and ENDS type. Nearly 40% of current smokers had not tried ENDS with the most commonly cited reasons being not wanting to substitute one addiction for another (60%), concerns about their safety (53%), skepticism that ENDS could help them quit smoking (52%), and cost (43%). Reasons were associated with smoking quit intentions, harm perceptions, and age.