Puff-by-puff resolved characterisation of cigarette mainstream smoke by single photon ionisation (SPI)-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS): comparison of the 2R4F research cigarette and pure Burley, Virginia, Oriental and Maryland tobacco cigarettes.

Soft single photon ionisation (SPI)-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) is applied for the characterisation and comparison of puff-by-puff resolved and total yields of cigarette mainstream smoke from single tobacco type cigarettes (Virginia, Oriental, Burley, and Maryland) and the 2R4F University of Kentucky research cigarette. Puff-by-puff characteristics of various smoke components within one cigarette type as well as between different cigarette types can differ tremendously. This is demonstrated by means of a few selected compounds. Puff yields vary between 15 and 106 microm for acetaldehyde, 6 and 57 microm for NO, and between 1 and 8 microm for butadiene. Thereby, cigarettes containing 100% Oriental and Burley tobacco exhibit a very unique behaviour for the first and last puff. Different cultivation and processing methods as well as burning characteristics are most likely responsible for this. Since the 2R4F cigarette contains all four tobacco types it combines features of all of them. However, for some smoke constituents, smoking of the 2R4F reference cigarette results in exceptionally high yields which might not be attributable to the four pure tobacco types, but to other factors. In addition, comparison of the different cigarettes was also carried out by normalising the yields to puff resolved particulate matter. This procedure minimises effects caused by unequal smoke formation and represents another approach in evaluating the data.