A Comparison between Cigarette Topography from a One-Week Natural Environment Study to FTC/ISO, Health Canada, and Massachusetts Department of Public Health Puff Profile Standards

Abstract

Standardized topography protocols for testing cigarette emissions include the Federal Trade Commission/International Standard Organization (FTC/ISO), the Massachusetts Department of Health (MDPH), and Health Canada (HC). Data are lacking for how well these protocols represent actual use behavior. This study aims to compare puff protocol standards to actual use topography measured in natural environments across a range of cigarette brands. Current smokers between 18 and 65 years of age were recruited. Each participant was provided with a wPUM™ cigarette topography monitor and instructed to use the monitor with their usual brand cigarette ad libitum in their natural environment for one week. Monitors were tested for repeatability, and data were checked for quality and analyzed with the TAP™ topography analysis program. Data from n = 26 participants were analyzed. Puff flow rates ranged from 17.2 to 110.6 mL/s, with a mean (STD) of 40.4 (21.7) mL/s; durations from 0.7 to 3.1 s, with a mean (STD) of 1.5 ± 0.5 s; and volumes from 21.4 to 159.2 mL, with a mean (STD) of 54.9 (29.8) mL. Current topography standards were found to be insufficient to represent smoking across the wide range of real behaviors. These data suggest updated standards are needed such that emissions tests will provide meaningful risk assessments.

Assessment of nicotine delivery and uptake in users of various tobacco/nicotine products

“…Despite of that, not all correlations between the 3 nicotine biomarkers (Nequ, plasma Cot and saliva Cot) and the daily consumption on Day 3 were found to be statistically significant ( Table 3 ), indicating that other product use factors, in addition to daily consumption, are pivotal for the nicotine uptake. For the inhalation products (CC, EC, HTP), puffing topography as well as extent of inhalation (depth and duration) are assumed to be important determinants for the uptake of smoke/aerosol constituents ( Appleton et al, 2015 , Jones et al, 2020 , Robinson et al, 2020 , Vansickel et al, 2018 ). A striking finding was that no correlation at all was observed between the nicotine biomarkers and number of puffs in vapers ( Table 3 ).…”

Feasibility of Using the Hexoskin Smart Garment for Natural Environment Observation of Respiration Topography

“…This is currently a focus of our future development. For this, we will leverage our wPUM topography monitors [ 27 ] to identify the start and end of a puff relative to the lung volume waveform measured by the WRM. This will help in discriminating the breaths that are associated with smoking from the natural tidal breaths.…”

Nominal Operating Envelope of Pod and Pen Style Electronic Cigarettes

“…Some studies have reported emissions in terms of the HPHC mass ratio, f HPHC (mg/mg) (i.e., the mass of selected HPHCs per unit mass of TPM) (17,26,30,31,33). Previously proposed smoking machine standards such as (34) provided a basis for product comparisons but did not reflect the range of user behaviors observed (35), thus limiting their utility for public health assessments. Similarly, recent vaping machine standards (36) provide some basis for product comparisons, but also do not reflect the range of use behavior anticipated in the natural environment.…”