Effects of the grade/price and thickness of cigarette on the PM2.5 concentration of smoke

Abstract

Background: Due to lower tar and nicotine, high grade/price and slim cigarette are believed as "safe cigarette" and cause less tobacco smoke pollution (TSP) advocated by cigarette producers. However, cigarette smokes comprise thousands of harmful constituents, only two substances cannot represent TSP. Then in this study, we wanted to discover if the grade/price and thickness of cigarette affect TSP.Methods: Slim (S) and regular (R) cigarette with different grades/prices were selected to investigate TSP via measurement PM2.5 in a closed chamber (1 m 3 ). Sidestream smoke was collected through cigarette combustion. Mainstream smoke was collected using piston-operated smoking machine.Results: In sidestream smoke, cigarette grade/price did not affect PM2.5 of R or S cigarette. But in mainstream smoke, grade/price acted discrepancy roles in different thickness cigarette. In R cigarette, PM2.5 of lowest grade/price (R5) was lowest. While in S cigarette, PM2.5 of lowest grade/price (S5) was highest. Cigarette thickness obviously affected PM2.5. PM2.5 of R cigarette was 116% higher than S cigarette in sidestream. In mainstream smoke, magni cation was down to 31%, despite PM2.5 of R cigarette was also higher.Conclusions: Irrespective of sidestream or mainstream smoke, the grade/price of cigarette did not obviously affect PM2.5. But which was signi cantly in uenced by cigarette thickness. Although S cigarette PM2.5 was signi cantly lower than R cigarette, it cannot mean that S cigarette was less harmful. Because harmfulness of smoke was not only affected by cigarette but also by smoker inhale habits. It needs further experiments to evaluate the harmfulness of slim cigarette.