Mouth Level Intake of Nicotine from Three Brands of Little Filtered Cigars with Widely Differing Product Characteristics Among Adult Consumers.

Little filtered cigars are tobacco products with many cigarette-like characteristics. However, despite cigars falling under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority, characterizing flavors, which are still allowed in little filtered cigars, and filter design may influence how people use the products and the resulting exposure to harmful and potentially harmful constituents. We estimated nicotine mouth level intake (MLI) from analyses of little cigar filter butt solanesol levels, brand characteristics, carbon monoxide boost, and puff volume in 48 dual cigarette/cigar users during two repeat bouts of ad lib smoking of three little filtered cigar brands. Mean nicotine MLI for the three brands was significantly different with Swisher Sweets (0.1% ventilation) Cherry at 1.20 mg nicotine, Cheyenne Menthol (1.5%) at 0.63 mg, and Santa Fe unflavored (49%) at 0.94 mg. The association between nicotine MLI and puff volume was the same between Cheyenne Menthol and Santa Fe unflavored. However, these were different from Swisher Sweets Cherry. At least five main factors─flavor, ventilation, filter design, nicotine delivery related to tar, and user puff volume─may directly or indirectly impact MLI and its association with other measures. We found that users of little filtered cigars that have different filter ventilation and flavor draw dissimilar amounts of nicotine from the product, which may be accompanied by differences in exposure to other harmful smoke constituents.

Early Changes in Puffing Intensity When Exclusively Using Open-Label Very Low Nicotine Content Cigarettes.

INTRODUCTION: In response to reducing cigarette nicotine content, people who smoke could attempt to compensate by using more cigarettes or by puffing on individual cigarettes with greater intensity. Such behaviors may be especially likely under conditions where normal nicotine content (NNC) cigarettes are not readily accessible. The current within-subject, residential study investigated whether puffing intensity increased with very low nicotine content (VLNC) cigarette use, relative to NNC cigarette use, when no other nicotine products were available. AIMS AND METHODS: Sixteen adults who smoke daily completed two four-night hotel stays in Charleston, South Carolina (United States) in 2018 during which only NNC or only VLNC cigarettes were accessible. We collected the filters from all smoked cigarettes and measured the deposited solanesol to estimate mouth-level nicotine delivery per cigarette. These estimates were averaged within and across participants, per each 24-h period. We then compared the ratio of participant-smoked VLNC and NNC cigarette mouth-level nicotine with the ratio yielded by cigarette smoking machines (when puffing intensity is constant). RESULTS: Average mouth-level nicotine estimates from cigarettes smoked during the hotel stays indicate participants puffed VLNC cigarettes with greater intensity than NNC cigarettes in each respective 24-h period. However, this effect diminished over time (p < .001). Specifically, VLNC puffing intensity was 40.0% (95% CI: 29.9, 53.0) greater than NNC puffing intensity in the first period, and 16.1% (95% CI: 6.9, 26.0) greater in the fourth period. CONCLUSION: Average puffing intensity per cigarette was elevated with exclusive VLNC cigarette use, but the extent of this effect declined across four days. IMPLICATIONS: In an environment where no other sources of nicotine are available, people who smoke daily may initially attempt to compensate for cigarette nicotine reduction by puffing on individual cigarettes with greater intensity. Ultimately, the compensatory behavior changes required to achieve usual nicotine intake from VLNC cigarettes are drastic and unrealistic. Accordingly, people are unlikely to sustain attempts to compensate for very low cigarette nicotine content.

Determination of Free Solanesol Levels in Cigarette Filters by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

Solanesol, a naturally occurring constituent of tobacco, has been utilized as a good marker for environmental tobacco smoke particulate and as a noninvasive predictor of mainstream cigarette smoke tar and nicotine intake under naturalistic smoking conditions. A fast and accurate method for measuring free solanesol to assess tobacco smoke exposure is highly desirable. We have developed and validated a new environmentally friendly, high-throughput method for measuring solanesol content in discarded cigarette filter butts. The solanesol deposited in the used filters can be correlated with mainstream smoke deliveries of nicotine and total particle matter to estimate constituent delivery to smokers. A portion of filter material is removed from cigarette butts after machine smoking, spiked with internal standard solution, extracted and quantitatively analyzed using reverse-phase liquid chromatography coupled to a triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer. The new method incorporates a 48-well plate format for automated sample preparation that reduces sample preparation time and solvent use and increases sample throughput 10-fold compared to our previous method. Accuracy and precision were evaluated by spiking known amounts of solanesol on both clean and smoked cigarette butts. Recoveries exceeded 93% at both low and high spiking levels. Linear solanesol calibration curves ranged from 1.9 to 367 µg/butt with a 0.05 µg/butt limit of detection.