Composition of Cigarette Smoke: Effects of Ammonium Sulfamate in Cigarette Paper

Treatment of cigarette paper with ammonium sulfamate was found to cause changes in the composition of cigarette smoke, in the concentrations of components of both the gas and particulate phases. The concentrations of several polycyclic hydrocarbons were reduced by over 25 %, though benzo[a]pyrene was virtually unchanged. The concentrations of two nitrosamines were also reduced more than 25 %, while indole and skatole concentrations were reduced about 15 %. Among the gas phase components, acetaldehyde, acrolein and formaldehyde were reduced about 20 %; only carbon monoxide was moderately increased. Since these tests explored only small segments of the spectrum of cigarette smoke components, it is not known which of the observed reductions, if any, contributed to the reduction of biological activity of the smoke of treated cigarettes reported by Bock et al. (8). The tests indicate only that the nature of the smoke has been modified in several respects. The tar and nicotine yield of the treated cigarette was higher than that of the control cigarette, but this can be compensated for by reducing the diameter or length of tobacco rod available to be smoked