7 \ 
RELATION OF NICOTINE TO QUALITY OF TOBACCO. 15 
constructed that the air could be drawn through the cigars either in 
an uninterrupted current or intermittently, and the rate of smoking 
was so regulated that about thirty minutes would be required for the 
complete combustion of a cigar. In one series of experiments ap- 
proximately two-thirds of each cigar were smoked, while in a second 
series only one-half of each was consumed. The results obtained are 
recorded in Table III, but it is to be understood that the values 
shown are only approximate, since they are influenced by a multitude 
of factors which can not be rigidly controlled. In experiments 1 
and 3 the cigars were smoked by intermittent “ puffs,’ while in ex- 
periments 2 and 4 they were smoked by a constant current of air. 
In every case the results given in the columns designated by “A ” 
refer to cigars made of tobacco to which citric acid had been added, 
while those under columns headed “B” refer to cigars from the 
natural leaf. All results are expressed in percentages and are the 
averages obtained from smoking a number of cigars. The cigars 
used contained 2.2 per cent of nicotine. The percentages of nicotine 
given in the table are all calculated to the amount of nicotine in the 
portion of the cigar actually smoked, and not to that contained in 
the whole cigar. The values for nicotine include at least a portion of 
the pyridin formed by the partial decomposition of the nicotine, in- 
asmuch as no method has been devised for the quantitative separation 
of these two substances. 
TABLE III.—Nicotine in the smoke of cigars made from tobacco to which citric 
acid had been added and those made from natural leaf. 
Experiment 1.| Experiment 2. | Experiment 38. | Experiment 4. 
A. | B. A (eB. | a. Bee 
Portion of total weight of cigars | Perct.| Perct.| Perct.| Perct.| Perct.| Perct.| Perct.| Per ct. 
TE SEs ee ee a eee ee Te 70 | 60 63 49 50 48 | 51 
Nicotine of smoked tobacco found 
i OR ae. ee 25.5 34.5 | 27 RS Beret ee ieee 22 | 26.3 
Nicotine-of smoked tobacco recoy- : 
ered from residual ends.......... 14 8 4 42 29 18 48 40 
Nicotine destroyed in process of 
smoking or expelled directly into 
the air from the burning end of : | 
DEE ee A og ON Eee 60.5 57.5 19 ite Pre re eo) ase: Ss Se 30 33.7 
It will be seen that when about two-thirds of a cigar are smoked 
about 30 per cent of the nicotine of the smoked portion passes into 
the smoke, while from 10 to 20 per cent collects in the unsmoked por- 
tion, and the remainder is either destroyed or escapes into the air. 
The striking increase in the amount of nicotine which collects in the 
unsmoked portion of the cigar when it is smoked by means of a con- 
stant current of air instead of by intermittent “ puffs ” is due to the 
circumstance that in the first case practically all of the nicotine is 
drawn into, or through, the unburned portion of the cigar, while in 
the latter case a large portion of the nicotine escapes into the air 
141—1 
