419 



March 25, 1994 Page 31 



adsorbed onto carbon black (pat. no. 3,584,630), the patent that 



spoke frankly of the need the industry had to carefully control 



nicotine delivery to achieve optimally satisfying smoke and the 



desired physiological activity, William Dunn described the 



cigarette in the following lyrical manner: 



...the cigarette is in fact among the most awe-inspiring 

 examples of the ingenuity of man. Let me explain my 

 conviction. 



The cigarette should be conceived not as a product but as a 

 package. The product is nicotine. The cigarette is but one 

 of many package layers. There is the carton, which contains 

 the pack, which contains the cigarette, which contains the 

 smoke. The smoke is the final package. The smoker must 

 strip off all these package layers to get to that which he 

 seeks . 



But consider for a moment what 200 years of trial and error 

 designing has brought in the way of nicotine packaging: 



Think of the cigarette pack as a storage container for a 

 day's supply of nicotine: 



1) It is unobtrusively portable. 



2) Its contents are instantly accessible. 



Think of the cigarette as a dispenser for a dose unit of 

 nicotine : 



1) It is readily prepped for dispensing nicotine. 



2) Its rate of combustion meters the dispensing rate, 

 setting an upper safe limit for a substance that 

 can be toxic in large doses. 



3) Dispensing is unobtrusive to most ongoing 

 behavior. 



Think of a puff of smoke as the vehicle of nicotine: 



1) A convenient 35 cc mouthful contains approximately 

 the right amount of nicotine. 



2) The smoker has wide latitude in further 

 calibration: puff volume, puff interval, depth 



