The Dynamics of Exhaled Aerosol Following the Usage of Heated Tobacco Product, Electronic Cigarette, and Conventional Cigarette

Abstract

Heated tobacco products (HTPs) and electronic cigarettes (ECs) represent a potentially less harmful alternative to traditional tobacco products, such as conventional cigarettes (CCs), with growing popularity amongst adult smokers worldwide. Their users exhale a very dynamic aerosol to indoor air which undergoes rapid transformations. In the present study, we assessed the dynamics of the generated exhaled aerosols following use of a new HTP (branded as "Pulze", operating in eco and standard modes) and an e-cigarette ("myblu") in a chamber environment by three volunteers, controlling for the distance to bystander, ventilation intensity and microclimate. The HTP and EC data was compared against conventional cigarette data. HTP generally resulted in lower aerosol number concentration during puffs reaching 1.66E+06 # cm -3 at 0.5 m from bystander, compared to EC (averaging 4.3E+06 # cm -3 ), and CC (1.47E+08 # cm -3 ). No significant difference was observed between "eco" and "standard" modes of HTP. At the same time, EC concentration decrease after puffs was also faster, indicating higher volatility of particles. EC also featured higher mode during puff (120 nm) compared to HTP (90 nm), which was significantly different from conventional cigarette (165-200 nm). The evaporation/shrinkage of particles has been observed within 10 sec after puff with the HTP and EC. Distance to a bystander was shown to be as a significant factor affecting aerosol dynamics, however ventilation intensity and relative humidity did not have statistically significant effect.

Long-Term Characterization of Indoor Air Quality at a Research Area Building: Comparing Reference Instruments and Low-Cost Sensors

“…In their experiment, carried out inside a traveling car, traditional cigarette, e-cig, and HNB BC emissions were compared, resulting in HNB as the only smoking device with no spike in BC concentration. Looking at Figure 7, significantly lower concentrations of both UFP and fine particles were found for HNB compared to e-cig and traditional cigarettes in accordance with the recent literature on the matter [66][67][68][69][70][71]. However, comparing, for example, the similar experiments carried out by [67,68], where emissions from two HNB devices with different sticks were analyzed, an elevated variability in particle emission is evident.…”

Particle emissions from heated tobacco products

“…In addition, several different flavors are available for each kind of device. However, aerosol production depends on various factors, and thus, every type of device should be subjected to detailed studies for the determination of its emissions 8 . Despite these facts, the published data about the emissions so far do not cover all available devices and flavors.…”

Exhalation of alternative tobacco product aerosols differs from cigarette smoke—and may lead to alternative health risks

“…[6][7][8] Not only do ATP constituents and toxicity profiles tend to differ from those of combustible tobacco cigarettes, [9][10][11] but consumer demographics and puff topographies also can vary by tobacco product. [12][13][14][15] Importantly, product-specific behaviors can affect health risk: Inhalation depth (a measure of how deeply into the lungs tobacco smoke is inhaled) is greater among cigarette smokers than persons who smoke other combustible tobacco products. [16][17][18] In fact, physicians have attributed increased incidence of chronic bronchitis in cigarette smokers to this cigarette-specific behavior for more than a century.…”