Cigarette Mouth Insertion Depths Among Chinese Smokers

Vent blocking - where filter ventilation holes are intentionally or unintentionally, partly or completely covered by smokers’ lips during smoking - is an aspect of smoking behavior which can alter mainstream smoke yields. This study was designed to determine if, and to what extent ventilation holes were blocked by smokers’ lips in two cohorts of Chinese smokers. In this study, two groups of samples were collected. One group (1742 butts) was collected randomly from public places in six chosen cities. Another (1037 butts) was obtained by collecting the butts from identified smokers in Kunming. In this paper, the mouth insertion depth among Chinese smokers was studied for the first time by a staining method employing ninhydrin in ethanol. The results indicate that Chinese smokers exhibit a mouth insertion depth ranging from 1 to 17 mm with an average value of 7.5 AA± 2 mm. In this study, 95% of the ventilated filters examined showed that the vent zone was neither completely nor partially covered by smokers’ lips.