Understanding long-term cigarette and tobacco trends by race is critical for addressing equity gaps in tobacco prevention and control. Evidence suggests that some racialized groups may experience slower or delayed declines, raising concerns about equity in public health gains. Authors analyzed data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) spanning 2003–2023. Trends in current smoking were examined separately for non-Latino Black and non-Latino white adults. Current use of flavored tobacco products were also assessed, given California’s statewide ban enacted in 2021. 

Findings: Smoking prevalence declined from 17.2% in 2003 to 5.2% in 2023 among white adults and from 19.9% to 9.0% among Black adults. This represents a 12.0 percentage point (69.8%) decline for whites compared with a 10.9 percentage point (54.8%) decline for Blacks. For flavored tobacco use, prevalence decreased from 8.0% to 4.7% among white adults but only from 11.9% to 10.8% among Black adults. This corresponds to a 3.3 percentage point (41.3%) decline for whites compared with a 1.1 percentage point (9.2%) decline for Blacks. Although both Black and white adults in California experienced reductions in smoking over the past two decades, white adults showed larger declines in both absolute and relative terms. Disparities were even more pronounced for flavored tobacco use, where declines were minimal among Black adults despite the statewide ban.