The base survey revealed that the use of alternate tobacco products is extremely low amongst teens. Despite the speculation that cigar and smokeless tobacco use is on the rise, there is no reason to believe that this is the case. Not only are usage rates lower amongst teens that for all B.C. residents but the proportion of lifetime abstainers is higher and the proportion of past experimenters/beginners is lower for cigars and pipes and the same for smokeless tobacco.

Cigars were the only type of alternative tobacco mentioned in the focus groups. The majority of teens reported seeing cigars at parties or large social gatherings but it was almost universally seen as a occasional product to be shared with friends, not one that would be purchased and used on a regular basis. The view is that you never smoke a whole cigar yourself, in fact, it was seen as impossible to smoke a whole one yourself without "your head exploding." Some of the fascination with cigars appears to be linked to the recent attention given it has been given in films, magazines and other media. A movie example was Independence Day where Will Smith’s character uses cigars as a celebratory device. The use of celebrities on the cover of cigar magazines were also mentioned.