Smoking Behavior and Smoke Constituents from Cigarillos and Little Cigars

Abstract

Objective: Although most cigarillos and little cigars smokers also smoke cigarettes (dual use), there are few studies comparing toxicant exposure and smoking behavior in cigars and cigarettes.

Methods: Two groups of dual users smoked their usual brand of cigarette and either a Winchester unflavored little cigar (N = 21) or a Black & Mild cigarillo (N = 23). Acute exposure of nicotine and exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) and puffing topography parameters were collected. Individual cigar puffing data were used to machine-replicate smoking for analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) in mainstream smoke.

Results: There were significant differences in puff topography, plasma nicotine and exhaled CO after cigarettes, little cigars, and cigarillos. Puff topography differences between cigarillos and cigarettes were due to the difference in the size of the article. Mainstream cigar and cigarette smoke was qualitatively similar; the yield was dependent on the smoking behavior. When smoke yield was adjusted for weight of tobacco burned or puff volume, exposure differences decreased.

Conclusions: There is a wide range of delivery of both SVOC and VOC components of cigar and cigarillo smoke. The difference in exposure is largely dependent on the article size and the amount consumed.

Keywords: SVOC; VOC; cigar; cigarillo; constituents; mainstream smoke; topography.

Figure 1

Distribution of Puff Topography Measures for Cigarettes, Little Cigars, and Cigarillos Note. The line through the center of the box represents the median; the lower and upper ends of the box represent the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively; the ends of the whiskers mark 1.5 times the interquartile range (IQR) below and above the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively; value outside of 1.5 times the IQR is an outlier and represented by a dot on the graph.

Figure 2

Correlation between Machine Smoking and Human Lab Smoking Note. Slopes of a curves were as follows: Total Puff Volume 0.8177x+130.07 (Winchester little cigar); 1.0984x+47.642 (Black & Mild cigarillo); Tobacco consumed 0.7358x+0.1897 (Winchester little cigar); 0.8591x+0.2179 (Black & Mild cigarillo).

Figure 3

Results from Representative VOC (Acrylonitrile) and SVOCs (Nicotine, B[a]P and 2,5-dimethylfuran) Note. The 3 panels illustrate the exposure for each participant in the cigarillo and little cigar smoking groups. Panel (A) shows the total exposure per smoking session; panel (B) shows the exposure per 1000 mL puff volume; and panel (C) shows the exposure adjusted for 1 g of tobacco consumed. Also illustrated is the average toxicant exposure from 5 US domestic cigarettes machine smoked using puff parameters that were the average of the own-cigarette smoking puff parameters of the little cigar and cigarillo group.