An Automated Procedure for CO in Cigarette Smoke, Using a 20-Port Syringe Smoking Machine

A procedure for the determination of CO in the gas phase of cigarette smoke has been developed. Cigarettes are smoked on a 20-port syringe-type smoking machine and the gas phase is sampled by a specially designed sampling unit without appreciably affecting the level of particulate phase components or the operation of the smoker. After mixing, the concentration of CO in the gas phase is measured by nondispersive infra-red analysis. All operations are carried out automatically except the initial start-up, calibration of the analyser, and calculation of results. The procedure has been applied to a variety of cigarette brands with results ranging from 1.2 to 2.0 ml of CO per puff. The precision of the procedure was determined by repeated analysis of a standard cigarette over a four-month period. For a single value representing 100 cigarettes, the relative standard deviation was found to be 2.2 % for ml of CO per cigarette and 1.1 % for ml of CO per puff.