Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 7 
Table 4 
Inferences (percent) about tradeoffs between tar deliveries and number of cigarettes smoked 
Tar Levels (mg) 
Inference (relative to a 10-mg tar cigarette) 
Very 
Low 
1-5 
Low 
6-10 
Medium 
11-15 
High 
16+ 
Cannot 
Determine 
Person Probably Could Smoke More Than One, 
but These Numbers Cannot Tell You How 
Much Less Tar the Person Would Take in 
From the 1-mg Tar Cigarette 
28 
33 
31 
40 
39 
Person Could Smoke More Than 1 or 2 but Less 
Than 9 or 10 of the 1-mg Tar Cigarettes Without 
Taking in More Tar 
18 
33 
22 
25 
22 
Person Could Smoke About 10 of the 1-mg Tar 
Cigarettes Without Taking in More Tar 
44 
25 
31 
21 
21 
None of These/Do Not Know 
10 
10 
16 
14 
18 
SMOKERS' USE The final issue under study in this survey was whether smokers 
OF ADVERTISED reported having used these tar numbers to make judgments about 
TAR NUMBERS the relative safety of different brands of cigarettes. In answering 
this question, only 14 percent of the sample indicated doing so. Once again, 
the smokers of 1- to 5-mg tar cigarettes were different: 56 percent of them 
reported using advertised tar numbers to make judgments about the relative 
safety of various cigarettes. 
CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates inherent difficulties in using advertised tar 
yield numbers to communicate meaningful information to consumers. 
Most smokers do not seem to pay careful attention to the numerical values 
per se, even to the extent of having a strong sense of the range of numerical 
values. Smokers of cigarettes with low- to high-tar content had considerable 
uncertainty about the health implications of switching to lower tar cigarettes. 
However, very-low-tar numbers seem to have a strong appeal to a particular 
group of smokers and may convey a message of absolute safety. 
QUESTION-AND-ANSWER SESSION 
DR. TOWNSEND: Dr. Cohen, can you tell me if you also asked the subjects 
the category of cigarettes that they smoked; for example, was it regular or | 
lights or ultralights? I 
I 
DR. COHEN: We did not ask them their perception of their cigarette. We I 
asked them exactly what they smoked in terms of the size and whether their | 
cigarettes were menthol or plain and hard pack or soft pack — but we did not 1 
ask them their perception. i 
I'.iZ 
