Assessment of different heavy metals in cigarette filler and ash from multiple brands retailed in Saudi Arabia

Assessment of heavy metal levels in roll-your-own cigarette and water pipe tobacco blends

“…The parallel with published data showed that the average Cd level in the analyzed tobaccos (0.80 mg/kg) was completely in line with the data reported for cigarettes sold in the USA, Malaysia and Portugal, respectively, 0.86 µg/g [17], 0.80 µg/g [24] and 0.79 µg/g [20]. Our results, however, differed to some extent from the data in other studies, being higher than the average Cd concentrations in cigarette tobaccos from Brazil [23], Iraq [21] and Saudi Arabia [25], but lower than those in other countries; 2.71 µg/g [27] and 1.34 µg/g [19].…”

“…The range of Zn variation between the brands was from 28.10 mg/kg (R3) to 35.70 mg/kg (R4). The values were fully compliant with the data for different cigarette brands in Iran (from 18.1 to 42.2 µg/g; average 27.02 µg/g) [27] and for RYO tobaccos in Bulgaria (in the range 25.6 -36.9 mg/kg) [26], but higher than the average Zn concentrations in other studies [20,25]. The average Cu content in the analyzed RYO/MYO tobaccos (12.06 mg/kg) was higher than the respective data (2.61 mg/kg) in a previous study [25], but the results were very close to those for Iranian cigarettes (5.18-17.6 µg/g) [27].…”

“…The values were fully compliant with the data for different cigarette brands in Iran (from 18.1 to 42.2 µg/g; average 27.02 µg/g) [27] and for RYO tobaccos in Bulgaria (in the range 25.6 -36.9 mg/kg) [26], but higher than the average Zn concentrations in other studies [20,25]. The average Cu content in the analyzed RYO/MYO tobaccos (12.06 mg/kg) was higher than the respective data (2.61 mg/kg) in a previous study [25], but the results were very close to those for Iranian cigarettes (5.18-17.6 µg/g) [27]. Four of the samples (R1, R2, R3 and R5) showed nearly identical Cu contents (between 10.90 and 11.90 mg/kg), while one of them (R4) differed significantly with a higher Cu concentration (14.80 mg/kg).…”

“…As seen from the data, Mn content in the regarded RYO/MYO tobaccos varied in a relatively wider range, from 176.60 mg/kg (R1) to 240.10 mg/kg (R2). The average Mn concentration (214.20 mg/kg) was higher than the average values reported for cigarette tobaccos originating from other markets -Portugal (148.4 µg/g) [20] and Saudi Arabia (3.985 mg/kg) [25]. Those differences in current and previous studies suggested that metal content might vary on a national and regional basis, due to the different tobaccos used in the respective blends and the applied technologies for their processing.…”

“…The analysis of HMs in tobacco, based on a pool of 36 brands representing different tobacco products (cigarettes, cigars and water pipes) in Saudi Arabia also suggested that the number and the amount of the identified elements were strongly dependent on product type and brand [25].…”