Objective The majority of tobacco users have had their first contact with nicotine at a young age. The aim of this study was to explore the association between the first tobacco or nicotine product tried and the transition to regular product use in 28 European countries.

Methods A secondary analysis of participants aged 15–40 years (n=8884) from 28 countries was conducted (Eurobarometer wave 93.2; August–September 2020). Participants who reported having ever tried tobacco or nicotine products were asked which product they tried first. Self-reported history of tobacco use determined whether they were established users (≥1 time weekly) of a range of products at any point in their life. Multilevel logistic regression was used to measure the association between first product tried and becoming a regular user of tobacco or nicotine products.

Results There was large variation between countries in the proportion of participants aged ≤40 years that ever tried tobacco or nicotine; Estonia had the highest proportion of ever users (85.8%) and Poland had the lowest (38.9%). Among those who had ever tried tobacco or nicotine, boxed cigarettes were the most common first product (72.3%) and pipe was the least common (0.4%). Compared with those who first tried e-cigarettes, the odds of ever becoming a regular user of any tobacco or nicotine product were higher among those who first had hand-rolled cigarettes (adjusted OR, aOR 2.23; 95% CI 1.43 to 3.48) or boxed cigarettes (aOR 2.08; 95% CI1.43 to 3.02) and lower among those who first tried waterpipe (aOR 0.22; 95% CI 0.14 to 0.34).

Conclusions Although this study cannot infer causality, the findings show that odds of becoming a regular tobacco user differs widely depending on the first product used. Better understanding of the associations between first product use and regular tobacco use could be informative to tobacco control policy-makers and help tailor prevention programmes.