Tobacco control research, policy and advocacy are replete with ‘tobacco-free’ terminology. For instance, there are tobacco-free initiatives targeting removal of tobacco use, imagery and branding from major entertainment media.1 2 There are also policies promoting tobacco-free college campuses,3 parks,4 pharmacies5 and workplaces6 which help protect the environment from tobacco product litter, reduce exposure to secondhand smoke and denormalise tobacco use. The goals of these and other efforts are to create a tobacco-free generation7 and even a tobacco-free world.8
In recent years, tobacco manufacturers have begun using tobacco-free terminology to market tobacco products. Tobacco-free marketing has been used in at least two contexts. The first is to claim that the product’s nicotine source is not tobacco-derived (ie, ‘tobacco-free nicotine’, also known as synthetic nicotine). For example, in 2021, the most popular e-cigarette brand among US high…