Smoking and Tobacco Control Monograph No. 7 
Table 6 
Tar yields (mg) as a function of number of puffs taken by smoking machines 
Brand® 
Number of Puffs 
6 
8.7^^ 
10 
14 
A 
13 
18 
21 
30 
B 
13 
21 
22 
31 
C" 
13 
18 
22 
31 
D" 
12 
17 
19 
27 
® Four of the most popular brands of king-size filter cigarettes. 
“Mean number of puffs for the standard assay for these cigarettes: A, 8.6 puffs; B, 9.3; C, 8. 1; D, 8.9. 
“ These brands are mentholated. 
Source: Kozlowski, 1981. 
of the low-tar cigarette smokers were experiencing a delivery at or below 
the upper limit of 10.49 mg set for low -tar cigarettes (with 30 percent 
experiencing a higher-than-expected tar delivery). 
Rickert and colleagues (1986) machine-analyzed the nicotine, tar, and 
CO yields of 10 cigarette brands under 27 different conditions (the standard 
condition and 26 variations). Tar, nicotine, and CO yields increased with 
volume of smoke produced per cigarette, but yields per liter of smoke were 
relatively constant across the 27 conditions. 
Woodward and Tunstall-Pedoe (1992) investigated the smoking patterns 
of 2,754 smokers (1,133 males and 1,621 females) to determine intake of 
smoke components by smokers of low-tar cigarettes. This study, perhaps 
the largest naturalistic investigation of smoking behavior ever undertaken, 
included smokers of low-, middle-, and high-tar cigarettes. The researchers 
concluded that tar yield does not accurately reflect the amount of smoke 
components consumed by the smoker. Specifically, tar intake increased 
with tar yield but much less than anticipated; expired-air CO and cotinine 
seemed to peak among middle-tar smokers. For women, thiocyanate 
increased from low- to middle-tar smokers, and for men, from middle- to 
high-tar smokers. I he researchers found that smokers of middle-tar cigarettes 
may consume more of some smoke components than smokers of high-tar 
cigarettes. Middle-tar smokers were noted to have higher levels of 
expired-air CO and cotinine. 
Armitage and colleagues (1988) investigated the influence of changes 
in tar yield when nicotine yield was maintained. I’wenty-one smokers of 
middle-tar cigarettes were studied, with randomization to three categories: 
low tar and low nicotine, low tar and medium nicotine, and medium yields 
of tar and nicotine. With regard to nicotine uptake, there were no significant 
differences noted between rniddle-tar and nicotine-maintained cigarettes, but 
there were significant differences between low-tar and nicotine-maintained 
256 
