Cent Eur J Public Health 2012, 20(1):58-61 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3721

Variations in Nicotine Yields between Single Cigarettes

Maciej Ł. Goniewicz^1,2, Bartosz Koszowski¹, Jan Czogała¹, Tomasz Kuma¹, Michał Gawron¹, Leon Kośmider¹, Jakub Knysak¹, Andrzej Sobczak^1,3

¹ Department of General and Analytical Chemistry, School of Pharmacy and Laboratory Medicine, Medical University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland

² Tobacco Dependence Research Unit, Wolfson Institute on Preventive Medicine, Queen Mary University of London, UK

³ Institute of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health, Sosnowiec, Poland

Introduction and Aims: It is beyond any doubt that nicotine yield in cigarettes as determined using standard ISO method bears almost no relation to smokers' actual intake. However, the ISO method is still in use in many countries where the government is responsible for controlling and monitoring cigarette quality. The aim of the study was to measure the nicotine yield in single cigarettes and to evaluate their statistical distribution among the same brand.

Materials and methods: Nicotine yields were measured according to the ISO method in single cigarettes of the twenty most popular Polish brands of cigarettes.

Results: Relative standard deviation of nicotine yields in single cigarettes of the same brands varied from 16% to 34%. Relative differences between nicotine yields in a single cigarette of a particular brand and the mean value varied from -65% to +76%. Discussion and Conclusions: The results indicate high variation in nicotine yields between cigarettes of the same brand. Such variation might affect compensatory smoking. This provides another reason why yields estimated using the standard ISO method are potentially misleading to smokers. Further studies are needed to better understand the implications of within-brand variability in yields for tobacco product regulation.

Keywords: nicotine, cigarettes, tobacco smoke, cigarette smokers, ISO, FTC

Received: September 16, 2011; Revised: December 20, 2011; Accepted: December 20, 2011; Published: March 1, 2012  Show citation