Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 7 
Table 3 
Smoke analysis of cigarettes made from puffed, expanded, and freeze-dried tobaccos 
and from control cigarettes 
Smoke 
Component 
Puffed 
Tobacco 
Expanded 
Tobacco 
Freeze-Dried 
Tobacco 
Control 
Carbon Monoxide (mg) 
9.33 
11.80 
12.30 
18.00 
Nitrogen Oxides (^g) 
247.00 
293.00 
235.00 
269.00 
Hydrogen Cyanide (pg) 
199.00 
287.00 
234.00 
413.00 
Formaldehyde (pg) 
20.70 
21.70 
33.40 
31.70 
Acetaldehyde (pg) 
814.00 
720.00 
968.00 
986.00 
Acrolein (pg) 
105.00 
87.70 
92.40 
128.00 
Tar (mg) 
15.60 
18.20 
16.30 
36.70 
Nicotine (mg) 
0.78 
0.74 
0.82 
2.61 
Benz(a)anthracene (ng) 
13.70 
11.80 
15.30 
37.10 
Benzo(a)pyrene (ng) 
11.80 
8.20 
9.20 
28.70 
Source: National Cancer Institute, 1976b. 
The use of puffed, expanded, or freeze-dried tobacco, together with the 
use of filter tips and reconstituted tobaccos, has had a major impact on the 
amounts of leaf tobacco needed per average U.S. cigarette. In about 1950 
1,230 mg of leaf tobacco were required for one cigarette, whereas only 
785 mg were needed in 1982 (Grise, 1984). 
Physical As the length of a cigarette increases, there is more opportunity for air 
Parameters to enter through the paper and for certain gaseous components, for 
of Cigarettes example, carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide, to diffuse out of the 
paper into the environment. Assuming that all other factors remain 
Length the same and only the length of the cigarette increases, there will be 
a higher smoke yield of tar and nicotine because more tobacco is burned 
(Moore and Bock, 1968). In the past, it was claimed that tobacco absorbs 
only slightly less of the smoke particulates than a cellulose acetate filter tip 
(Dobrowsky, 1960). This may have been true in the early 1960's, but modern 
cellulose acetate filter tips are more efficient in retaining smoke particulates 
than the tobacco column of a cigarette. 
Circumference With the packing density remaining constant, a decrease in 
circumference of a cigarette reduces the amount of tobacco available for 
burning. As a result, tar and nicotine yields in the smokestream are reduced 
ri able 4) as are the yields of carbon monoxide and several other volatile 
smoke constituents (DeHardeleben et al., 1978). 
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