Acrolein Yields in Mainstream Smoke From Commercial Cigarette and Little Cigar Tobacco Products

Many carbonyls are produced from the combustion of tobacco products and many of these carbonyls are harmful or potentially harmful constituents of mainstream cigarette smoke. One carbonyl of particular interest is acrolein, which is formed from the incomplete combustion of organic matter and the most significant contributor to non-cancer respiratory effects from cigarette smoke. Sheet-wrapped cigars, also known as "little cigars," are a type of tobacco products that have not been extensively investigated in literature.

This study uses standard cigarette testing protocols to determine the acrolein yields from sheet-wrapped cigars. Sheet-wrapped cigar and cigarette products were tested by derivatizing the mainstream smoke with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) solution and then quantifying the derivatives using conventional analytical systems.

The results demonstrate that sheet-wrapped cigars can be tested for acrolein yields in mainstream smoke using the same methods used for the evaluation of cigarettes. The variability in the sheet-wrapped cigars and cigarettes under the International Organization for Standardization smoking regimen is statistically similar at the 95% confidence interval; however, increased variability is observed for sheet-wrapped cigar products under the Health Canada Intense (CI) smoking regimen.

The amount of acrolein released by smoking sheet-wrapped cigars can be measured using standard smoking regimen currently used for cigarettes. The sheet-wrapped cigars were determined to yield similar quantity of acrolein from commercial cigarette products using two standard smoking regimens.

This article reports on the measured quantity of acrolein from 15 commercial sheet-wrapped cigars using a validated standard smoking test method that derivatizes acrolein in the mainstream smoke with DNPH solution, and uses Liquid Chromatography/Ultra-Violet Detection (LC/UV) for separation and detection. These acrolein yields were similar to the levels found in the smoke from 35 commercial cigarette products measured in the same manner. Although sheet-wrapped cigar data were slightly more variable than those found for the cigarette data, this article reports that the production of acrolein is similar to cigarettes. The results demonstrate that sheet-wrapped cigars can be tested for acrolein yields in mainstream smoke using the same methods used for the evaluation of cigarettes.