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This study analytically characterized menthol/mint ENDS products sold in the United States in 2019 and 2023, including ancillary nicotine analysis, to quantify menthol-related and synthetic cooling agent compounds. Among 104 refill e-liquids (2019) and 63 products (2023), menthol predominated in 2019 (87/104), while synthetic cooling agents were rare; by 2023 menthol concentrations declined and WS-23/WS-3 became widespread, driven especially by disposable devices, and label-based flavor categorization showed limited reliability.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/differences-in-minty-flavor-compound-and-synthetic-cooling-agent-presence-in-us-marketed-menthol-mint-ends-products-analytical-characterization-2019-2023/454560/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/differences-in-minty-flavor-compound-and-synthetic-cooling-agent-presence-in-us-marketed-menthol-mint-ends-products-analytical-characterization-2019-2023/454560.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Fahsai","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",11,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What minty flavor compounds were analyzed in menthol/mint ENDS products?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"The study distinguishes menthol-related compounds that drive peppermint and spearmint aromas, including menthol, menthone, menthyl acetate, and 1,8-cineole, as well as L-carvone for spearmint and methyl salicylate for wintergreen. It also measured synthetic cooling agents WS-23 and WS-3.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How did menthol and synthetic cooling agent presence change from 2019 to 2023?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"In 2019, menthol was prevalent (87/104 products) while synthetic cooling agents were rare (WS-23: 1/104; WS-3: 11/104). In 2023, menthol concentrations decreased (mean 8.3 mg/g) and synthetic cooling agent use increased substantially (WS-23: 43/63; WS-3: 23/63).",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"Why does the study say flavor labels may not reliably reflect actual compounds?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Mint-, peppermint-, and spearmint-labeled products often contained overlapping flavorant profiles across both test samples. The findings also report that nicotine content matched labels more closely for pod-based products than for disposable devices.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},454560,1791412410,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":145,"read_time":146,"preview_page_count":4},549768702563,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/8000c4aa63b76e948b?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786536092046926083","Yale University [https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3443-9794](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3443-9794)  \nYale University  \nYale University  \nLycée Pierre-Gilles-de-Gennes – ENCPB, Paris, France  \nLycée Pierre-Gilles-de-Gennes – ENCPB, Paris, France  \nYale University  \nYale University  \nYale University School of Medicine [https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4777-5172](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4777-5172)  \nThe John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, CT, USA [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6422-4092](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6422-4092)  \nYale University School of Medicine  \nYale University School of Medicine [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3272-9782](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3272-9782)  \nYale University [https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5392-312X](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5392-312X)  \ne-cigarette, e-liquid, ENDS, disposable, synthetic cooling agent, WS-23, WS-3, ¬avor, menthol, mint, nicotine, peppermint, spearmint, wintergreen  \n December 16th, 2025  \n [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8355233/v1](https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8355233/v1)  \n 􀁱 􀅏 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License  \n The authors declare no competing interests.  \nMenthol and mint ¬avors consistently rank among the most popular ¬avor categories in electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) . While menthol/mint is often as a combined ¬avor category, different distinct “minty”¬avors arise from a range of chemically distinct compounds to produce peppermint aroma (menthol, menthone, menthyl acetate, eucalyptol), spearmint aroma (L-carvone), and wintergreen aroma (methyl salicylate) . In addition, the synthetic cooling agents WS-23 and WS-3 have gained popularity since 2019. This study analytically characterized menthol/mint ENDS products marketed in the United States in 2019 and 2023 for these compounds, alongside ancillary nicotine analysis.  \nA total of 104 re«ll e-liquids purchased from online vendors in 2019 and 63 products purchased from online vendors in 2023 (including re«ll e-liquids, disposable devices, and pod-based products) were analyzed. In 2019 samples, menthol was prevalent (87/104 products; mean content 15.6 mg/g), whereas synthetic cooling agent use was rare (WS-23: 1/104; WS-3: 11/104) . 2023 products showed decreased menthol concentrations (mean 8.3 mg/g), while synthetic coolant use became much more widespread (WS-23: 43/63; WS-3: 23/63) . Synthetic coolant use prevalence was largely driven largely by disposable devices, all of which contained WS-23 at higher concentrations (mean 28.7 mg/g) . Mint-, peppermint-, and spearmint-labeled products frequently contained overlapping ¬avorant pro«les in both test samples, indicating limited reliability of label-based ¬avor categorization. Nicotine content closely matched labels for pod-based products but deviated substantially for disposables.  \nOverall, results indicate a marked shift from menthol toward synthetic cooling agents in U.S. marketed ENDS products between 2019 and 2023, particularly in disposable products. This underscores the importance of analytical veri«cation of menthol/mint ENDS products, but also suggests that regulatory efforts to limit the use of menthol due to its known cooling effect should not be limited to the compounds menthol, but should encompass all compounds that activate the relevant receptor TRPM8 .  \nThe menthol/mint ¬avor category has regularly ranked among the top 3 ¬avor categories in surveys of those who use electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) across age groups.1–5 Notably, a big uptake in youth preference for the menthol/mint category was observed in the US PATH study wave 5 (Dec. 2018 – Nov. 2019) . This uptake coincided with the decision by the manufacturer of the then-popular Juul to stop selling mango, fruit, creme, and cucumber ¬avors in retail stores in Nov. 2018,6 while continuing to market both menthol and mint ¬avors until Nov. 2019,7 when mint ¬avor was also pulled voluntarily from the market likel","cbCaioEByNgRGPwS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioEByNgRGPwS","pdf",974342,17,"English","# Analytical characterization of menthol/mint ENDS (2019 vs 2023)\n## Minty flavor compounds and synthetic cooling agents\n## Product sampling and compound prevalence\n## Label reliability and nicotine consistency\n## Regulatory implications for TRPM8 activation","[{\"question\":\"What minty flavor compounds were analyzed in menthol/mint ENDS products?\",\"answer\":\"The study distinguishes menthol-related compounds that drive peppermint and spearmint aromas, including menthol, menthone, menthyl acetate, and 1,8-cineole, as well as L-carvone for spearmint and methyl salicylate for wintergreen. It also measured synthetic cooling agents WS-23 and WS-3.\"},{\"question\":\"How did menthol and synthetic cooling agent presence change from 2019 to 2023?\",\"answer\":\"In 2019, menthol was prevalent (87/104 products) while synthetic cooling agents were rare (WS-23: 1/104; WS-3: 11/104). In 2023, menthol concentrations decreased (mean 8.3 mg/g) and synthetic cooling agent use increased substantially (WS-23: 43/63; WS-3: 23/63).\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the study say flavor labels may not reliably reflect actual compounds?\",\"answer\":\"Mint-, peppermint-, and spearmint-labeled products often contained overlapping flavorant profiles across both test samples. The findings also report that nicotine content matched labels more closely for pod-based products than for disposable devices.\"}]","Differences in minty flavor compound and synthetic cooling agent presence in US-marketed menthol-mint ENDS products - Analytical characterization (2019-2023) | PDF",1790740895,43]