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Universal smoking machine adaptor for tobacco product testing
  1. Ahmad El-Hellani1,2,
  2. Clifford H Watson3,
  3. Michelle Huang3,
  4. Clark W Wilson2,4,
  5. Clint C Fleshman2,4,
  6. Ryan Petitti5,
  7. Mary Pancake5,
  8. Chad Bennett6,
  9. Brittney L Keller-Hamilton2,7,
  10. Jeremy Jones8,
  11. Hang Tran3,
  12. Roberto Bravo Cardenas3,
  13. Darren Mays2,7,
  14. Wei Ye9,
  15. Robert P Borthwick9,
  16. Jason Schaff9,
  17. Raymond L Williamson9,
  18. Theodore L. Wagener2,7,
  19. Marielle C Brinkman2,4
  1. 1Division of Environmental Health Sciences, The Ohio State University College of Public Health, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  2. 2Center for Tobacco Research, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  3. 3Tobacco and Volatiles Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  4. 4Division of Epidemiology, The Ohio State University College of Public Health, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  5. 5Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  6. 6Medicinal Chemistry Shared Resource, Drug Development Institute, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  7. 7Division of Medical Oncology, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Department of Internal Medicine, Columbus, Ohio, USA
  8. 8Produced Better, Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
  9. 9Center for Tobacco Products, US Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Professor Marielle C Brinkman, Division of Epidemeology, The Ohio State University College of Public Health, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; brinkman.224{at}osu.edu

Abstract

Significance Historically, tobacco product emissions testing using smoking machines has largely focused on combustible products, such as cigarettes and cigars. However, the popularity of newer products, such as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), has complicated emissions testing because the products’ mouth-end geometries do not readily seal with existing smoking and vaping machines. The demand for emissions data on popularly used products has led to inefficient and non-standardised solutions, such as laboratories making their geometry-specific custom adaptors and/or employing flexible tubing, for each unique mouth-end geometry tested. A user-friendly, validated, universal smoking machine adaptor (USMA) is needed for testing the variety of tobacco products reflecting consumer use, including e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, cigarettes, plastic-tipped cigarillos and cigars.

Methods A prototype USMA that is compatible with existing smoking/vaping machines was designed and fabricated. The quality of the seal between the USMA and different tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos, was evaluated by examining the leak rate.

Results Unlike commercial, product-specific adaptors, the USMA seals well with a wide range of tobacco product mouth-end geometries and masses. This includes e-cigarettes with non-cylindrical mouth ends and cigarillos with cuboid-like plastic tips. USMA leak rates were lower than or equivalent to commercial, product-specific adaptors.

Conclusion This report provides initial evidence that the USMA seals reliably with a variety of tobacco product mouth-end geometries and can be used with existing linear smoking/vaping machines to potentially improve the precision, repeatability and reproducibility of machine smoke yield data. Accurate and reproducible emissions testing is critical for regulating tobacco products.

  • Electronic nicotine delivery devices
  • Non-cigarette tobacco products
  • Public policy
  • Tobacco industry

https://doi.org/10.1136/tc-2023-058428

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    Footnotes

    • X @TheodoreWagener

    • Contributors MCB, TLW and RLW conceptualised the project idea and MCB and CHW designed the study. MCB, TLW, CHW, RP, MP and CF designed and fabricated the prototype universal smoking machine adaptor. JJ designed and fabricated the flexible ferrules. RLW, RPB, JS and WY provided advice and guidance on key aspects of the study. WY directed design and development of the DFMEA. MH, CW, CF, CB, HT and RCB conducted the experimental work. AEH, DM, BLKH, TLW and MCB wrote the first and final drafts of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version.

    • Funding This project is supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award [FAIN] totaling $5M with 100% funded by FDA/HHS. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the US HHS, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the FDA. Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not constitute an endorsement by the US HHS, CDC or the FDA. Photographs used in this work are produced by the co-authors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.