Herbal cigarettes have become a new alternative to tobacco cigarettes by providing the look and feel of smoking cigarettes with an assumption that the health concerns that coincide with smoking tobacco cigarettes vanish. In order to evaluate this, smoke samples of herbal cigarettes were collected on charcoal tubes, desorbed with solvent and characterized by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The compounds detected fell roughly into three categories: compounds formed by the combustion of the plant matter (ethylbenzene, xylenes), compounds added to the cigarette filter (triacetin), and volatile compounds from the plant matter or flavor additives (d-limonene, camphor, eugenol). The smoke of the commercial herbal cigarettes are compared to the smoke of hand rolled single component cigarettes of various commercially available herbs in an effort to identify the components of the herbal cigarettes. The respective bioactivities of the compounds detected are examined in an attempt to address the question of whether inhaling herbal cigarette smoke can be more harmful than tobacco cigarette smoke, less harmful than tobacco cigarette smoke, or even beneficial to smokers.

Chemical characterization of compounds found in herbal cigarette smoke as a first step in bioactivity analysis

2019 Spring National Meeting

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