NICOTINE BLOOD-LEVELS MEASURED AFTER SMOKING CIGARETTES DESIGNED TO RELEASE NICOTINE BY HEAT EVAPORATION (INSTEAD OF BURNING)

Nicotine addiction is a major reason for the resistance of the smoking habit to smoking cessation efforts. Tobacco manufacturers have develo ped cigarettes with reduced tar and nicotine dose to reduce the toxici ty of cigarettes. The Premier(R) cigarette is one extreme example of s uch an effort. This product almost totally eliminates toxic constituen ts, with the exception of nicotine. The authors studied the effectiven ess of this product for nicotine delivery by measuring plasma nicotine levels in smokers who were novices to the Premier(R) product and comp ared the results with the nicotine levels each smoker attained after u se of his/her usual cigarette. Smokers attained a nicotine level of 19 .3 +/- 8.5 ng/ml by smoking their own cigarettes compared to a level o f 9.6 +/- 6.0 ng/ml (p < 0.01) with the Premier(R) product. A subjecti ve survey of study subjects indicated that satiation with the new prod uct was less than with the subjects' usual cigarettes.