Noninvasive measurement of smokers' tar and nicotine intake

A simple device for monitoring cigarette smokers' intake of tar and nicotine is described. This device divided the mainstream smoke into two parallel paths, one containing seven parallel capillary tubes and the other containing one capillary tube; a Cambridge filter trapped the smoke passing through the path containing one tube. Analyses of both tar and nicotine trapped in the filter were performed by gravimetric and chemical methods. Calibration tests verified that a constant fraction of the tar and nicotine was retained in the apparatus over a wide range of conditions, allowing the calculation of smoke intake into the mouth. With supplementary methods for measuring the amount of smoke exhaled, the apparatus can be used to measure smoke deposition in the respiratory tract. © 1987 Psychonomic Society, Inc.

Duke Scholars

Author Jed Eugene Rose Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral Medicine & Neur ...