RESPONSE TO SMOKING AS A FUNCTION OF PRIOR SMOKING AMOUNTS

Smoking patterns are changing to accommodate new environmental smoking restrictions. The current study explored the effects of prior smoking amounts on the behavioral, physiological, and subjective effects of s moking a single cigarette. Ten smokers (six females, four males) each participated in four laboratory sessions of 6 h duration. During each session, they smoked 0, 2, 5, or 11 cigarettes which were evenly space d throughout the 6-h period at intervals ranging from 30 min (11 cigar ettes) to 120 min (2 cigarettes), with condition order determined by a Latin square. At the end of each session, all smoked a final cigarett e. Response to the last cigarette of the 6-h session was influenced by pretreatment smoking amounts. Number of puffs drawn from the cigarett e (15.0, 14.1, 13.3, and 10.1) was inversely related to prior smoking density, as was heart rate increase (5.8, 4.0, 2.4, and 1.3 bpm). Thre e physical symptoms of smoking, dizzy, lightheaded and tingling, were significantly greater when preceded by 6 h of no smoking than when pre ceded by smoking at 30-min intervals. However, these symptoms were rat ed as mild (19-27 on a 100-point scale) even when no cigarettes had be en smoked. These results suggest some dissipation of acute tolerance a fter 6 h of smoking abstinence. Liking and satisfaction ratings were i nversely related to the pretreatment density of smoking. Liking scores for the last cigarette were 85, 71, 68 and 48 (on a 100-point analog scale) when 0, 2, 5 and 11 cigarettes had been smoked. Overall, the st udy showed that physiological and subjective effects of smoking are mo dulated by recent histories of smoking. Smokers who are forced to spac e cigarettes widely due to environmental smoking bans or who smoke aft er periods of voluntary abstinence may subsequently smoke more intensi vely, perceive stronger effects, and derive more subjective pleasure f rom each cigarette.