Mainstream Smoke Levels of Volatile Organic Compounds in 50 U.S. Domestic Cigarette Brands Smoked With the ISO and Canadian Intense Protocols

Conclusions:
Overall, machine generated "vapor phase" amounts (µg/cigarette) are primarily attributed to smoking protocol (e.g., blocking of vent holes, puff volume, and puff duration) and filter ventilation. A possible cause for the disproportionate increase in monoaromatic compounds could be increased pyrolysis under low oxygen conditions associated with the CI protocol.

Implications:
This is the most comprehensive assessment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in cigarette smoke to date, encompassing 21 toxic VOCs, 50 different cigarette brand varieties, and 2 different machine smoking protocols (ISO and CI). For most analytes relative proportions remain consistent among U.S. cigarette brand varieties regardless of smoking protocol, however the CI smoking protocol did cause up to a factor of 6 increase in the proportion of monoaromatic compounds. This study serves as a basis to assess VOC exposure as cigarette smoke is a principle source of overall population-level VOC exposure in the United States.

Source: Nicotine and Tobacco Research - August 9, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Pazo, D. Y., Moliere, F., Sampson, M. M., Reese, C. M., Agnew-Heard, K. A., Walters, M. J., Holman, M. R., Blount, B. C., Watson, C. H., Chambers, D. M. Tags: Original Investigation Source Type: research