The Canadian Cancer Society is calling for a government ban on flavoured cigarillos after a national survey found a high proportion of teens are experimenting with the products.

Cigarillos appeal to teenagers because they come in flavours such as fruit, candy and ice cream, cancer society spokesman Rob Cunningham said.

Cunningham said that cigarillos could be a starter product for kids who would otherwise never begin smoking, and that they are just as addictive and harmful as cigarettes.

Cigarillos can even be cheaper than cigarettes because they come in smaller quantities and are also easier to obtain, he said.

Health warnings on packs of cigarillos are much less prominent than those on cigarette packages and there are no health warnings at all on individually packaged cigarillos.

The 2006-2007 Youth Smoking Survey, released by the University of Waterloo on Monday, found that 35 per cent of Grade 10 to 12 students reported trying cigars, cigarillos and little cigars.

The survey of 71,000 students in Grades 5 to 12 from across Canada found that 48 per cent had tried cigarettes.