91 



has gone to significant lengths to develop technologies to mask 

 the flavor of increased levels in cigarettes. As I have already 

 noted, the industry's own patents reveal that increasing nicotine 

 in fact usually produces an unacceptably harsh and irritating 

 product, and that the industry has had to take special steps to 

 mask the flavor of increased nicotine in low tar cigarettes. 



This should not come as a surprise. The Merck Index, the 

 authoritative encyclopedia of chemicals, describes nicotine as 

 having "an acrid, burning taste." Webster's 7th New Collegiate 

 Dictionary defines acrid as "sharp and harsh or unpleasantly 

 pungent in taste or odor; irritating, corrosive." In fact, U.S. 

 patent 4,620,554 uses the word "hazardous" to describe the taste 

 of nicotine. 



What appears to be true is that smokers become accustomed 

 to, and associate, the sensory impact of nicotine (burning in the 

 throat) with the resulting psychoactive effects of nicotine, and 

 thus look for those sensory signals in a cigarette; this is 

 called "conditioned reinforcement*'." 



Moreover, if nicotine is just another flavorant in tobacco, 

 why not use a substitute ingredient with comparable flavor, but 

 without the addictive potential? For example, it has been 

 repeatedly shown that substitute ingredients, such as hot pepper 

 (capsaicin)" and citric acid'°, have similar irritating sensory 

 effects . 



20 



