Measuring cigarettes

Smoking machine is used for a standard method of measuring the components of tobacco smoke. It has long been recognized that the mode of smoking machine is different from the human smoking behavior. Moreover, the consumers themselves smoke differently, and the same smoker can smoke differently depending on situations.

Despite this, most governments in the world rely on the standard machine technique for measuring tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke, adopted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This allows a uniform way to measure and indicate cigarette packs unified performance tar and nicotine content, expressed in milligrams (mg) per cigarette.

The machine uses the standard method of cigarette "smoked" that every minute draws in for 35 milliliters (ml) of smoke for two seconds until the cigarette almost to the filter. Tar level is measured by removing water and nicotine from cigarettes. Despite the fact that the standard method allows consistent way to measure the content of tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide in the smoke of different types of cigarettes, the machine can not measure how much tar from smoking cigarettes actually get taken separately smokers. Smoker can do more puffs, inhale more or smoke more than a smoking machine used in the standard method of measurement, and thus get more tar than in the standard machine measurement.

This means that the levels of tar, given a pack of cigarettes, do not match the amount of tar consumed by proper smoker. For example, if someone is smoking cigarettes, which are indicated "5 mg tar" on the pack, this does not mean that they get exactly 5 mg tar (maybe they get much more or much less). It does not mean that a smoker gets half the tar than when smoking cigarettes, which is written on the package "10 mg of tar."

Scientists are working over filtration analysis to determine the amount of smoke and its components really gets into the smoker in the ordinary - no laboratory - conditions. To measure the content of tobacco smoke in different kinds of cigarettes with the individual manner of smoking, the researchers measured levels of tar and nicotine in cigarette butts smoked by people. This allows you to determine the levels of various substances in cigarette smoke that smokers inhale through the filter.

Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2012