During the period of tobacco smoke research from the early 1950s to the mid-1960s it was repeatedly asserted that a) tobacco and many tobacco components were involved in the pyrogenesis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), several of which were reported to initiate tumors on the skin of laboratory animals and b) tobacco additives (flavorants, casing materials, humectants) were highly likely to be similarly involved in PAH pyrogenesis. Extensive knowledge on PAHs was deemed highly necessary because of their claimed importance in the smoking-health issue. The numerous assertions about the generation of PAHs in cigarette mainstream smoke (MSS) triggered extensive and intensive research both within and outside the Tobacco Industry to define the nature of the PAHs, their per cigarette MSS delivery amounts, their precursors, etc. It was not until 1960 that VAN DUUREN et al. (1) reported three specific aza-arenes in cigarette MSS that were asserted to be involved in smokers’ respiratory tract cancer. As noted in a recent Letter to the Editors (2), the presence of these three aza-arenes in tobacco smoke has never been confirmed. Between 1960 and 1965, other MSS components (phenols as promoters, polonium-210,