An Easily Built Smoking Machine for Use by Undergraduate Students in the Determination of Total Particulate Matter and Nicotine in Tobacco Smoke

What is it about?

Sampling mainstream cigarette smoke is a challenging and stimulating laboratory activity for undergraduate students. In addition to the public health significance, cigarette smoke is an unusual source of analytes to examine the differences between gaseous matrices versus liquid or solid matrices. Sophisticated automated smoking machines complying with international standards are not affordable for educational purposes. However, a less expensive and simple smoking apparatus can be easily built in any laboratory that yields reproducible smoking conditions and allows several cigarettes to be smoked simultaneously.

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Why is it important?

We describe the construction of such an apparatus utilizing a solid-phase extraction manifold and chamber, and how it can be used by undergraduate students to generate cigarette smoke and trap the total particulate matter (TPM). The TPM can be later gravimetrically quantified and eluted with 2-propanol containing an internal standard to quantify the nicotine content. Because a set of six cigarettes can be “smoked” simultaneously, the proposed procedure allows the comparison of TPM and nicotine content in mainstream smoke from normal and light cigarettes.