Cigarette filter vent blocking: effects on smoking topography and carbon monoxide exposure

Two studies were conducted using smokers of unventilated cigarettes to determine the effects of filter vent blocking on smoke exposure (Experiment 1) and smoking topography (Experiment 2). In both studies, subjects were exposed to ultra low yield cigarettes that had 0%, 50%, and 100% of their filter vents blocked with tape. In Experiment 1, carbon monoxide (CO) exposure from eight 60 ml puffs increased in an orderly fashion as a function of filter vent blocking. By blocking filter vents, smoke was no longer diluted with air as it passed through the filter, and hence, exposure to smoke constituents was increased. In Experiment 2, when puff and inhalation parameters were allowed to vary, subjects took significantly more puffs, and larger puffs from unblocked cigarettes than from completely blocked cigarettes, but CO exposure from the completely blocked cigarette was double that from the unblocked cigarette (8.96 ppm vs. 4.32 ppm). The increased number and volume of puffs taken from ultra low yield cigarettes with unblocked filter vents may be due to changes in physical characteristics of the cigarette, and not to smokers actively compensating for reduced smoke constituent yields.